The Young Lion

To deal with Henry, a player who has already won the World Cup, Audridge must be very patient and show enough sincerity, so he personally came to the door and communicated openly with the other party. He never put himself in a position above the players. Position, the authority of the head coach is one thing, but the communication between generals is another.

Henry's inquiries about the team's status, Aldridge is also very frank.

If Millwall plays three forward tactics in the new season, the only forwards over the age of 20 are Fanny, Larson, Klose, and Glenn Charles, which are four people, Ronaldinho, Duff, VanderMeder, all Not yet 20 years old, no matter from the perspective of physical fitness or protection of players, Aldridge will give them no more than thirty appearances. Of course, there will be major and minor points, like Ronaldinho, Aldridge will let him in More importantly, Van der Med and Duff are still standing players on the bench.

How many games will Millwall play in the new season?

The Champions League, the League, the League Cup, the FA Cup, the four-line battle, plus the European Super Cup, the Toyota Cup, if the cup is not the first game to return, then the density of a season is likely to be close to 60 games.

This doesn't count as a game where the players themselves are going to play for the national team in one season.

Moreover, the player's state itself has ups and downs. When the state is not good, it should stop and rest, and wait for the state to return to the game.

Aldrich said frankly: "If you are worried about the number of appearances, I can at least assure you that you will get a fair chance of competition. As long as you are in good shape and performing well, I cannot put you on the bench. At times, too many games are not a good thing for players of your age. You need to combine work and rest. You need to calmly adjust yourself when the state is ups and downs, rather than insisting on playing games."

Henry estimated that he was thinking about it.

Several Millwall strikers, Larson and Fanny should be the main players. The characteristics of Glencharr make him play with limitations. Van der Med, Duff, Ronaldinho are all younger than him, and their own ability and In other words, Henry does not think he is worse than these people, is he the main force of competition?

Only when there is competition can there be pressure, and if there are better competitors, can we inspire our potential.

After three hours of in-depth talks, Henry nodded and agreed to join Millwall. The rest is about the details of the contract. Millwall is not short of money and the finances are very loose. The introduction of players like Henry will directly give the second grade. The salary of the team will not be controversial, after all, Henry is the World Cup winner, not an unknown.

Aldridge returned to London with Henry. Henry first stayed in the hotel. The club was looking for a house that met his needs. The small community of Millwall was a bit shabby for Henry players. Of course he was There is a need for a larger house to live a more pleasant and comfortable life.

The next day, Henry received a medical examination from the Millwall Medical Department. The medical department's feedback to Audridge was: minor injuries, as fast as two months, and as slow as March.

Another day later, less than three days before the Premier League was unveiled, Millwall held a press conference to announce the addition of new aid.

Henry in a casual outfit attended the press conference with Aldridge to show the new jersey.

Fleet Street was caught off guard by Millwall.

The other day, I was doing the pre-season tour of all the Premier League teams in the new season. Other teams may still be recruiting. The media will also use speculative or uncertain comments to evaluate.

But for Millwall, Fleet Street is extremely detailed, and the analysis is based on the fact that Millwall has absolutely no new aid.

As soon as the outlook work of various media was completed, Millwall announced the new aid to join, which is indeed a heavy news.

World Cup champion, young winger Henry, who scored three goals for the French team, joined Millwall from Monaco for a transfer fee of 10 million pounds!

"The Sun" reporter Thomson laughed: "Congratulations, Mr. Hall, Millwall has set a record for signing."

Aldridge was in a good mood, and Henry smiled as he sat next to him.

"Oh, yeah, this is the most expensive signing in the club's history, but I think it's worth the money. I won't look at Thierry with the eyes of Mr. Ten Million. He needs a bigger challenge. A good stage, Millwall can give him here. At the same time, with his joining, Millwall's competitiveness will be improved to a higher level. I am confident in the new season."

It sounds a little bit shabby in fact.

Champions League champions, the single record of transfer expenses is only 10 million pounds, which is too lacking in strong teams.

With the full recovery of the Premier League team and the rapid improvement of competitiveness in Europe, last season was the two most influential Cup champions in Europe. Many foreign media also sent reporters to track the Premier League and pay attention to the performance of the English team. Giancarlo of the Milan Sports News is one of them.

He doesn't use money to measure Millwall's transfer operation. On the contrary, he believes that Italian clubs should learn Millwall's business model.

Don't buy expensive ones, only buy right ones!

Giancarlo asked Aldridge in Italian speaking English: "Millwall has won a league title and a Champions League championship in the past two seasons. At the same time, he has also won two major domestic cups in England. It was successful, so where is Millwall’s pursuit in the future? What is the realistic goal this season? Henry is an excellent striker, but Millwall’s overall strength has declined, which is obvious to all.”

Aldridge replied calmly: "We lost a few very important players in the summer. This is a fact. The outside world is saying that Millwall's strength has declined. I don't think it is particularly correct because everyone overlooked a little. My ball The team is in an ascending period. Fanny scored 11 league goals last season. He can score at least 15 this season. Ronaldinho had 7 assists and 5 goals last season. He will also score this season. The performance is even better, as well as the improvement of players such as Van der Mede, Duff, Lampard and so on, which has not caused the team's overall strength to decline seriously. Now that we have Henry, you want to know what Millwall is pursuing this season. What is it? Quite simply, the league title is the number one goal!"

Aldrich’s calm confidence that was revealed in his conversation was not a disguise, so he should say this: Millwall is a popular team to win the league!

Giancarlo was in deep thought, and Aldridge’s confidence made it impossible to believe that he was a hard-spoken man.

Ajax also faced a corner after winning the Champions League, but the team can only sell people little by little, and dare not directly sell the team’s main force. After leaving freely, Millwall immediately sold five important players and a good substitute after winning the Champions League. The reason is that in addition to the team’s debt and the huge profit through the transfer market, the team’s foundation It is also one of the important factors.

In the past few years, it has always been said that Millwall is young, but no one will say that Millwall has a thin lineup. Their large number of young players are constantly growing, and the age structure is also very reasonable. There is a clear stepped order. In this way, they even Players who have been sold for the year they were playing will immediately have their successors in place, and there will be no personnel faults.

The deeper Giancarlo thinks, the more unfathomable it is to Aldridge. It is not difficult to construct a pyramid team. The difficulty is that each brick of the pyramid is of excellent quality. If there are young players who are embarrassed, they cannot Inherit the mantle left by the predecessors, then this pyramid will collapse instantly.

"Milwall is regaining the league title, what do you think are the biggest competitors this season?"

Aldrich did indeed focus on the league this season. There are too many uncertainties in the Champions League. First of all, the time span is very long, and the interval between the games is long. No one can say what accidents will happen during the interval. After a group of stars, the league is the foundation of the club’s survival, and Millwall must first allow a new generation of crazy lions to be integrated into the league.

One of the most important reasons is: to measure whether a team is dominant, it depends on the league first. Millwall won the league championship, but if they can’t continue to win the league championship, even if they perform well in the European War, It is also not persuasive enough to improve the team's influence and dominance. The first league, the Premier League champion Blackburn three years ago, who cares about them now?

If Millwall is unable to regain the league title in the next two years, their success will be greatly compromised.

"The biggest competitor is Manchester United first and Arsenal second."

Aldridge replied bluntly.

Richard of the "Daily Mail" asked strangely: "Why didn't Arsenal, the league champion last season, rank first, but instead Manchester United, who was snatched by Millwall in the last minute of the last season, was the biggest threat? ?"

Aldridge laughed: "It's very simple. Arsenal are going to play in the Champions League this year. They have been away from the Champions League for many years, but their team lineup is not thick enough to support the double-line battle. Even if they are out of the group stage, it will affect them as a whole. Half-season game. Maybe many people think that the UEFA Champions League group is not just six games? How much impact can playing six more games? In fact, if you consider each of the six group games to be unmissable Games, then these six games will affect 12 leagues before and after! Especially when the group stage is going to play away in the middle of the week, the test for the team is very big. Last season, a new generation of young Manchester United played in the Champions League, October and 11 What's the performance of the month in the league? Millwall's failure to defend his title last season was also due to too many draws in the first half of the league due to the impact of the European War. I believe the same problem will also happen to Arsenal. Manchester United are ranked first Because their lineup is not worse than Millwall, if Keene was not injured last season, they may have won the championship early. Although they also want to play in the Champions League, they have been in the Champions League quarterfinals and once in the past two years. So that they can handle it calmly, so Millwall’s biggest opponent to the league title is Manchester United, not Arsenal."

"What about Liverpool and Chelsea?"

"I don’t know Liverpool, but Chelsea, yes, they have spent a lot of money to buy people, and they don’t know how much their debts have already been, but it doesn’t matter, Millwall and Manchester United Arsenal, Chelsea is not enough. Qualified to play with us."

After Aldridge finished speaking, the reporters all smiled.

This young marshal is really firm in his stance and contempt for the dead enemy!

After the press conference, Aldridge took Henry to the training ground to officially meet with the team, and asked him to put on a jersey and take a group photo with the team.

After the shooting of Millwall's family portrait in the 98/99 season, he just waited for the start of the new season.

Attached to the new season Millwall lineup list.

Goalkeepers: Bute, Keller, Wright.

Guards: Schneider, Ferreira, Mills, Materazzi, Southgate, Ferdinand, Zambrotta, Neil, Cole.

Midfielders: Makelele, Gattuso, Pirlo, Lampard, Nedved, Duff, VanderMead.

Strikers: Larson, Fanny, Henry, Klose, Glenshare, Ronaldinho.

A total of 25 people.