Tang En is not from Ningbo, nor is he from Zhejiang, before crossing over, he has only been to three places in the vast China - his hometown, a small city in southern Sichuan; The place to go to university is Yenching, the capital of China; The university graduate work is in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province.

Although Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou belong to China, it is like another world to him, where he speaks a language he does not understand at all, eats dishes that do not suit his taste, and has worlds of difference in customs and culture. He never imagined that he would one day rise up the idea of traveling there.

But now, thanks to the blessing of the soul, he got the opportunity to "travel at public expense" and came to a place that was just a name symbol for him before - Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province.

Of course, he didn't really come for a vacation, in fact, this time he came to China, there was no quirky and likable Shania around him, but a large group of men.

That's right, they're all members of Nottingham Forest.

A year ago, Nottingham Forest acquired a large tract of land in Clifton, southwest of Nottingham city, to build a new stadium. The municipal axe gave them strong support, allowing them to buy the land at a lower price. Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and in return, they have to do something for the Nottingham Municipal Axe.

Now, it's time to repay the political axe.

In essence, Nottingham Forest's trip was a naked gold rush and a profit-seeking businessman's move. But the propaganda aspect is a little higher.

In fact, this is a cultural tour of the city of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and the city of Ningbo in China, and the Nottingham Cultural Promotion Week full of friendly atmosphere will be in full swing with the visit of the European champion Nottingham Forest, and the Chinese in Ningbo do not need to go to the United Kingdom on the other side of the mainland to enjoy the most authentic English culture and British customs.

The relationship between Nottingham and Ningbo dates back to 2005, when the two cities signed a contract to officially become sister cities. As a gift, the University of Nottingham, which is quite famous in the United Kingdom, cooperated with Ningbo Municipal Axe to clone the university as a whole to Ningbo, and built a completely readable University of Nottingham in Ningbo.

With these connections, it's no surprise that Nottingham Forest's visit to China is set in the city of Ningbo.

This is the result of the cooperation between the club and the municipal axe, and without this relationship, Allen. Adams doesn't care about any sister cities, he prefers to visit China in Yanjing or Shanghai. But if you take someone else's land cheaply, you will naturally have to pay some price. Fortunately, what is lost here can be made up for elsewhere - his fanatical pursuit of Beckham is enough to make Alan wake up laughing in his dreams; Southeast Asia and Hong Kong have long been the Premier League's largest viewers in Asia, and Premier League teams are in a position there that no other league can match.

※※※Before coming to Ningbo, the opponent of Nottingham Forest had already been announced, and on the day of the announcement, the name of this opponent surprised Tang En - the Chinese Olympic team.

This is also Alan's masterpiece.

Considering that the scope of influence of the game here in Ningbo is too small, he decided to find an opponent with enough influence for Nottingham Forest. Now that the whole of China is frantic about the Yenching Olympics in August, what better way to promote yourself than to use the Olympics as an east wind?

So he hooked up with the Chinese Amity Company and the Chinese Football Association, hoping to arrange a warm-up match - for industry insiders, this is a "warm-up game", and for ordinary fans, it is a "commercial game". The opponent of the competition is the Chinese Olympic team.

Isn't the national Olympic team currently preparing for the Olympics? They need a high-level opponent to be their warm-up object, and what better team to fit in than the European champions?

For the Football Association, this is a very tempting plan. First of all, they don't have to pay out of their own pockets to invite those high-level foreign teams to play warm-up games; Secondly, the level of Nottingham Forest is indeed very high, and now the whole world knows about this team, and it is very beneficial for the Chinese Olympic team to be able to play against them; Thirdly, European champions Nottingham Forest playing against the Olympic team of the host country will also be very helpful in promoting the Games around the world. Since the torch relay, the opposition to the Olympic Games in some Western countries has not stopped, and it has intensified, and this competition should be able to send another diametrically opposed voice, as long as it is under the premise of the Olympic Games, everything can be done.

The Football Association agreed in principle to this proposal, but they also had their own requirements...... The Chinese Football Association wants to participate in the share of the revenue from the competition.

When Alan and the head of Ed heard this proposal, they looked at each other. Allen doesn't quite understand this approach, but Amity is a professional company that often operates foreign teams to come to China for commercial matches, and they told Allen that if you want to deal with the Chinese Football Association, this kind of thing that makes you foreigners feel unbelievable will often be encountered, and to be honest, this is not really too much...... It was only at this time that Allen recalled what Don said about "what is China's national condition". It's been half a year since he's been going back and forth from England to China, and he thinks he should be about the same as Don in terms of understanding China, but now that he thinks about it, he realizes that he is still far away from Tony's guy...... Allan. Adams agreed to the Football Association's proposal, and after agreeing on the specific sharing ratio, the Football Association, Amity and Nottingham Forest jointly announced that Nottingham Forest's visit to China would be against the Chinese Olympic team.

As soon as the news came out, it immediately attracted the attention of the media and fans all over China, and the media reported on the upcoming game one after another, introducing Nottingham Forest, promoting Nottingham Forest, and reporting on Nottingham Forest. Fans also expressed a lot of interest in the match. In addition, China's state-level television station has purchased the live broadcast rights of the game.

These are the things Allen wants to see the most, and the Chinese Olympic team's battle plan is very successful.

Tang En has no objection to this opponent, not only that, but he feels that playing the Chinese Olympic Games may be the best choice. If you play against a local team in Zhejiang, Don will find it boring. Playing those improvised league teams can't play the role of training. Playing with a national Olympic team that has been training together for a long time still has a bit of competitive value.

Yes, Allen only thinks about the economic effect, while Donn cares about the competitive value. The spelling of these two words in Hanyu Pinyin is the same, but they are not related. In professional football clubs, it is almost completely opposite.

※※※ When they got off the plane, the Nottingham Forest stars were greeted with a very warm welcome. The light rain could not stop the fans who came to the airport to wait, and there were beautiful little girls queuing up to lay flowers under the ramp of the airport. The enthusiastic and bright Ningbo girl made the Nottingham Forest players happy, except for a few big stars who are still a little reserved and have to maintain their personal image, the younger ones are almost hugging each other and taking intimate photos.

Donn didn't bother with them, which he thought was a sign that his team was in good shape at the moment.

After receiving the wreath from the little girl, the team walked to the airport bus parked outside the terminal. Naturally, along the way, the warm welcome of the fans who rushed to hear the news was indispensable. From the poster portraits held by the fans, it is very intuitive to understand who is the most popular person in the team.

Before coming to China, Nottingham Forest's players were idle and bored to get together to bet - who will be the most popular player in Chinese? Of course, this gamble excluded Beckham from the start...... Now the answer is revealed. In addition to Beckham, the most popular person is George. Wood. Van der Vaart narrowly finished second.

"Wood! Wood! "Enthusiastic Chinese fans hold up George. Wood's poster and caricature portrait shouting his Chinese nickname.

In the face of such a warm welcome from the crowd, George. Wood remained calm, barely smiling. But what he did could only attract him with higher decibel screams and more people.

"Look! That's what a star is! What a surname! ”

"Wood is so cool!!"

"I think he's cute—ah, wood! I love you! ”

…… Ribery, who saw this scene, gritted his teeth and said: "It's unreasonable, zombie faces can have such a high popularity......"

Fortunately, someone soon comforted him with a "wounded little liver". "Ribery! Ribery! Look this way, look this way! "Someone shouted in English.

He hurriedly turned his head happily, but let him see an embarrassing scene:

A Chinese fan held up a sign, and two fans next to him pointed to the sign that read, "How much do you have to stay in Nottingham?!" ”

Apparently it is a satire that he asked for 150,000 pounds some time ago and refused to drink the news that he was going to Real Madrid for a contract extension at the club.

He could only pretend not to see it, and set his eyes on the gray sky.

※※※ "Is this China?" On the way from the airport to the CITIC Ningbo International Hotel, the Nottingham Forest teammates were curious to look out the window.

"Sun! Grandchild! "The teammates greeted Sun Jihai warmly, wanting him to be a tour guide and introduce the scenery full of the flavor of Jiangnan in China along the way." What is that? And that ...... Ah, this one is so pretty, too! ”

This made Sun Jihai very difficult. Because although he is Chinese, he is not from Ningbo, or even from Jiangnan. He also didn't know anything about Ningbo and Jiangnan.

If you really want to explain it to your teammates, you have to start with China as a very big country, so big that these foreign teammates dare not think of it. In this way, the topic will be bigger, and it will not be clear at all.

"Hah...... Actually, I don't know anything about Ningbo, and I rarely come here......" He could only laugh dryly and express his predicament.

The teammates were very disappointed, and finally there was a Chinese teammate inside, and they thought that when they got to the hotel, they could take him out shopping and spend money, how good is a free local tour guide!

Tang glanced at Tang En, and Tang En quickly narrowed his eyes: "Don't look at me, although I am ...... But I don't know anything about Ningbo either. He almost slipped out, but luckily Chris Rac, who was sitting in front of him, was busy shooting the scenery along the road with a DVV.

There were few people sitting quietly in the seats, and everyone was holding a digital camera or DV and facing out of the window. Don didn't do that, he wasn't interested in what was going on outside, and he wasn't here to travel anyway.

However, he turned his head and saw the tall billboard on the side of the airport road, with a red background and dark stripes of Nottingham Forest and the players of the National Olympic Team, and the advertising slogan on it was a bit interesting, written in both Chinese and English - Warm welcome to the European champion and Premier League champion Nottingham Forest Club to visit our city to play!

He smiled. It really has "Chinese characteristics", and it really makes people feel kind to see this scene...... There are several billboards like this on the side of the road, in addition to these directly promoting the Forest team, there are also signs of sponsors related to Nottingham Forest, as well as advertisements for Amity, and it can be seen that Allen has put a lot of effort into it. Although the game has not yet started, this propaganda war is very beautiful. Seeing such a billboard, he, the head coach of the Forest team, is also very accomplished, proud and proud.

The world outside the window was drizzling, but this did not affect Ningbo's image in the hearts of these foreign guests. Because this dynamic Jiangnan style painting looks more flavorful in the hazy rain and fog, it adds to the mysterious impression of many foreigners on the country of China, which seems to be real and imaginary, like a dream.

※※※After arriving at the CITIC Ningbo International Hotel, a press conference was held in the hotel, and all the members of the team attended after changing clothes in the room, which was a formal introduction to the team from all walks of life in China.

Tony. Don became the protagonist at the press conference, because his love for Chinese culture has long been not news, and even as long as fans know it in China.

Throughout the press conference, he spoke fluently in Mandarin to the media and fan representatives, and each time he was applauded by everyone present, who applauded his fluency in Chinese and familiarity with China.

Don was a little sorry for this. If he goes to Chengdu, Sichuan Province to compete, he can still greet everyone in fluent Sichuanese............ I love China, I love the culture and the hospitable people. I am deeply honored and proud to be able to lead the team to Ningbo to compete! I also hope to introduce the best side of China to my players, and I believe that this trip to Ningbo, China will be an amazing experience for my players! ”

His last words won him a lot of money.

Evan sitting in the back. Dogetty smiled and clapped as he turned his face to Alan next to him. Adams said, "You're still worried that he's getting you in trouble. But look at his performance, it's so perfect! ”

Alan also nodded: "Indeed, I must admit that he is even better than I imagined." He's such a natural orator......"

This concludes the press conference. Next, the players went back to their rooms to rest for a while, and then they were going to ride to the banquet - the welcome dinner for them to be washed by Ningbo Municipal Axe.

While some reporters and die-hard fans were still lingering in and out of the hotel lobby and reluctant to leave, Allen had already approached Donn: "Tony, are you free now?" ”

Don knew that Eren must have something to talk about when he took the initiative to find him, but he didn't know what it was. Could it be the Ryberry affair some time ago?

He nodded: "I have time." What's the matter, Alan? ”

"Go to my room, I have something I want to talk to you about."

Don glanced at Evan, who was standing behind Alan. Dogety, he nodded in agreement.

(To be continued)