The Legendary Chairman Novel - Chapter 134

134 A Swarm of Great White Sharks
After the 28th round of the league, Leeds United had already won 10 consecutive league matches. After winning 10 consecutive matches, Leeds United were firmly at the top of the Champions League. Now, Leeds United’s points had reached 59 points, occupying the top spot in the Champions League.

Ranked second was Athletics Wigan. Their score was 53 points, which was already six points behind Leeds United. The difference between the two matches was still a little big.

Ranked third was Ipswich. Their current score was 52 points, one point behind Wigan Athletics. They were biting very hard. It seemed that they attached great importance to the spot for direct promotion.

Ranked fourth was Mick McCarthy’s Sunderland team. They now had 50 points. Losing to Leeds United had a huge impact on them. They were three points behind the second-placed Wigan Athletics. They had a long way to go before they could directly upgrade.

Fifth and sixth were Reading and Sheffield United. The two teams had 48 points together, but Reading were ranked fifth in the league after netting goals. This was the team that was currently ranked in the leveling area. The difference in points between them was not very big. They all had chances. Now, the league was only in the 28th round, and there were still 18 matches left. Everyone had some chances.

After this round of league matches, the international competition day began. The members of the national teams of each team left the team and went back to the national team to report. Many teams in the Champions League still have many international players, especially those in the leveling zone. Many teams have Irish, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Finland and so on, while Leeds United have very few international players!

Leeds United now have only two international players, France international Jean-Claude Boumsong and Ireland international Jean-Claude Boumsong. The former is the fringe international of the French national team. In total, he has not been selected into the French national team more than double digits. Moreover, he is still recovering from his injuries, so it is impossible for him to join the national team. Therefore, only Gary Kelly was on the national team in the Leeds RUF.

Such an international day would not have much of an impact on Leeds.

On this international day, Leeds United have two matches to play. One is the FA Cup. Yes, the FA Cup is now in its third lap, and the Champions League and Premier League teams are joining it. The other is against Liverpool in the Carling Cup.

The FA Cup was played on January 7, 2005 and the Carling Cup on January 11, 2005. For Leeds United, these two matches are still important because the Carling Cup will focus on their European qualifications in the future.

Therefore, at this time, Zhong Cheng was prepared to give up the FA Cup!

The current Leeds United battle on both fronts was already extremely strenuous, and they still needed to fight on three fronts? It was obviously unrealistic!

Now for Leeds United, the most important thing is the Carling Cup and the Carling Cup, Zhong Cheng must ensure that nothing unexpected happens in these two matches, so that the FA Cup will have to give up.

Of course, Zhong Cheng did not completely give up the FA Cup. In the FA Cup, Zhong Cheng was preparing to send out young players to see where they could play. If they played well, they would have more chances to win the game. If they were eliminated directly, they would have fewer chances to play in this match.

Therefore, this is entirely up to these young players!

Zhong Cheng told the members of the coaching staff that they agreed with this idea very much. Zhong Cheng also told the young players of Leeds United about this plan. They were very happy and excited when they heard this. All of them were full of motivation, and they were secretly shouting that they would win!

It could be seen that these young players were still hoping to obtain more chances to play!

–Division Line–

On January 7, 2005, Leeds United went away to challenge Birmingham.

This is the third lap of the FA Cup this season, and it’s a draw. Zhong Cheng led the almost full substitute lineup to the away game to challenge Birmingham City.

The position of the goalkeeper was still Zhong Zheng. Although Zhong Zheng was the main goalkeeper of the team, he was still young and needed to accumulate more games. Therefore, he was still the starting lineup in this match.

Danny Pew, Kilgallon, Vermaelen and Sagna at full-backs, Fraser Richardson and Simon Walton at waist, Jamie Winter, Luka Modric and Lennon at midfield and Bendtner at forward.

This starting lineup is really too young, too young to be true. The players in Birmingham underestimated Leeds United, believing that it would be easy for them to win against them, and this was their home ground.

At the beginning of the game, Birmingham launched a fierce attack and bombarded Leeds United.

The young players of Leeds United were playing decently, still playing according to the team’s inherent tactics, defending tightly and waiting for a counterattack.

Moreover, the young players of Leeds United did not have stage fright. Their bodies were full of energy. Although their bodies were still weak, they were not afraid of physical contact at all. They were very proactive and oppressive in defense. Ortega kept nodding and saying, “Not bad, not bad!”

Leeds United’s youngsters had such a performance, which was beyond Zhong Cheng’s expectations.

The tactical discipline of this group of young players was still very high. They had always maintained an overall consistency, more like a piece of iron. Zhong Cheng was very satisfied.

The players of Birmingham were getting more and more unhappy and tired. Gradually, they put away their contempt and began to play seriously against the little fellows of Leeds United.

At this moment, Leeds United suddenly launched a very fast counterattack. Lennon’s high-speed breakthrough on the side messed up Birmingham’s goal, and then he suddenly crossed the ball to Nicklas Bendtner, who was unmarked at the back.

Nicklas Bendtner jumped high and smashed his head into the football. With a bang, the football flew into Birmingham’s goal and the young players of Leeds United took the lead.

Zhong Cheng was extremely surprised. This was truly an unexpected joy!

The conceding Birmingham players were furious that they were lagging behind a group of children. This was simply too embarrassing. They immediately launched a ferocious attack and surrounded Leeds United.

The young players at Leeds United also felt a lot of pressure. Their defense had been very hard, but they were still unable to withstand it. Birmingham’s strength was still very strong.

Seeing this, Zhong Cheng frowned. These young players were still too young.

However, at this time, Leeds United’s young goalkeeper Zhong Zheng was brave enough to save Birmingham’s goal, causing the fans in Birmingham to feel incredulous and their confidence to suffer a heavy blow.

Under Zhong Zheng’s miraculous performance, Leeds United managed to maintain a 1-0 score until the end. In the end, Leeds United defeated Birmingham without being viewed favorably.

The Leeds United youngsters have attracted a lot of praise, especially Zhong Zheng, who is so good that people have forgotten about injured Scott Carson.

Leeds United beat Birmingham 1-0 to advance to the fourth lap of the FA Cup on January 29 against Newcastle United.

Although he entered the fourth lap of the competition, Zhong Cheng still wouldn’t send out his main force to fight for the FA Cup title. His goal was very clear, that is, the League Championship and the Carling Cup Championship!

–Division Line–

After the FA Cup match, Zhong Zheng was blown into the sky.

Countless media outlets have claimed that Zhong Zheng will be England’s future. There are even many media calls for Zhong Cheng to be recruited into England’s U19 and U21 national teams to nurture the next generation of England’s national team.

After David Seaman left England, England’s goalkeeper was the weakest link and the biggest problem for England. Now England was eager to produce a goalkeeper genius. Now that Zhong Zheng had appeared, shouldn’t England cultivate more?

Zhong Zheng’s recent performance was extremely outstanding and astonishing. He did not look like a nineteen-year-old brat at all, making many people look forward to him.

Moreover, former England star David Seaman praised Zhong Zheng, claiming that he was a talented goalkeeper and that he would definitely be England’s future gatekeeper.

Media reporters called out loudly, and at this time Leeds United received offers from other clubs as well.

Alex Ferguson, the old man, sent another offer to Leeds United. This time, Alex Ferguson offered two people. One was Peeker, the other was no longer Ribery, but Zhong Zheng. Alex Ferguson offered Zhong Zheng a million pounds!

It could be seen that Alex Ferguson was also very optimistic about Zhong Zheng, and immediately quoted a million pounds.

However, in the eyes of many people, this was very cheap. Although Zhong Zheng was still very young, and his professional experience was not very rich, he had an English account. This account alone was worth a lot of money.

Didn’t you see how much Manchester United spent on Wayne Rooney at the start of the season? Twenty-seven million pounds, a young striker under the age of twenty, worth so much money? So why is the bell card only worth a million pounds?

Seeing this offer, Zhong Cheng directly slapped him to shreds!

Zhong Cheng immediately asked Julia Olivera to send another message on the official website of Leeds United. The Leeds United players were all not for sale. This winter, Leeds United could only enter and leave!

Julia Olivera could tell that Zhong Cheng was very angry. She nodded slightly and immediately went to release new information.

Right now, Leeds United was just a piece of fat meat, and a huge school of great white sharks was attacking them. This made Zhong Cheng extremely unhappy and furious!

Damn Ferguson, damn Manchester United, damn rich!

Wait for me. Sooner or later, I will make Leeds United into a wealthy family, and then I will play with you like this. See if I can’t kill you in the future!

Of course, in addition to Ferguson’s offer, there are also a lot of offers. For example, Ars è ne Wenger and Jose Mourinho, these guys really treat Leeds United as soft persimmons. If they want to squeeze it, then squeeze it. If they want to squeeze it, then squeeze it!

Zhong Cheng was very unhappy. This feeling was terrible!

Zhong Cheng did not think about this. He asked about the transfer department. Is the new reinforcements in place? However, the news from the transfer department was not good news. This made Zhong Cheng very annoyed. When would he be able to make up for the global team?