Xiao Yu's guess was right.

Brighton, Cardiff and Kurosawa all won all of their games in January, and no matter how difficult the game was, they were able to save the day and get the three points.

Thankfully, the new United did not fall behind in this process and also won all of them, with the most difficult game against Scunthorpe on 13 January, when the visitors were aiming to break into the promotion play-off qualifying zone, and set up a set of iron buckets at home for the new United to defend the penalty area, especially in the second half.

In order to get a valuable point, they even did not hesitate to give up the attack completely, and all 11 members of the team were retracted into their own penalty area to participate in the defense, and the manager even replaced the only striker and replaced a central defender, making it clear that he intended to defend to the end.

No matter how good Mourinho is, no matter how good Palacio's skills are, they can't break through Scunthorpe's bucket formation.

At that time, Brighton, Cardiff and Kurosawa had already won against their opponents, and if the new United drew this game, they would inevitably be overtaken by Cardiff and tied on points with Kurosawa.

In the extra time of the game, I believe that everyone had almost given up hope of winning at that time, and perhaps in Mourinho's mind at that time, he had already figured out how to comfort the players and avoid demoralization because of this draw.

But at this moment, Essien, who had adjusted from the influence of Ramadan, suddenly shot from a distance at the edge of the penalty area, and it actually hit a world wave, and everyone was stunned at that time.

Mourinho even ran out of the coach's box, ran to the edge of the pitch, and hugged Essien tightly in celebration.

Although the team's celebration was forbidden by the linesman, Mourinho was so arrogant that he even excitedly took off his blazer and threw it to the new United fans in the back stands.

It was luck, but he had to be thankful that his side survived to pick up the precious three points to keep the pressure on Brighton and bring Cardiff, who had been ahead of the new United for less than ten minutes, back to square one.

According to the schedule, February and March will be the key months for the first three leagues in the English League, although the games in these two months are not tense, but in February, there will be three key games in Brighton and Cardiff, Brighton and Black, and the new Manchester United will meet Kurosawa, and in March, the new Manchester United will encounter Cardiff and Brighton.

After March, there are only six rounds left in the league, and by then, the league can basically be said to be decided.

As fierce as the race for the top three in the league is intensifying, the race for promotion play-off qualification is just as fierce, with seven teams competing for the remaining three spots, in addition to one of the teams currently in contention for the top three.

These include Chesterfield, Hartlepool, Leyton Oriental, Hull, Rochdale, Scunthorpe and Cheltenham, all seven of whom are very close to each other, and are basically just a one-game difference, and if you are not careful, you will be pulled down by the opponent.

It is precisely because of this that many commentators estimate that the most competitive competition in the English League this year may not be the competition for the top three in the league, because once it is March, the top four players in the league will fight against each other, and the situation in the league will begin to become clear, but the competition for promotion play-off qualifications and the fight for relegation.

Although there are only two teams relegated from the English League C to the National League, in addition to Banleyt who have already been considered to have booked a relegation spot, Halifax, Carlisle, Torquay United, and Darlington are all big relegation players, and these four teams are hovering in the relegation zone, not much behind each other, and they are all likely to be relegated.

With 15 of the 24 teams in a league fighting for survival and promotion, it is conceivable why some experts before the season would have thought that this year would be the most competitive in the history of the League C.

…………

…………

"Andy, have you noticed that Jose's hair seems to be a lot grayer lately!"

Xiao Yu stood in front of the window, looking at the training ground in the distance, Mourinho watched the first-team training from the sidelines, and his assistant Faria kept shouting, obviously instructing the players in training.

During this time, the atmosphere of the team was very tense, after all, it was related to whether or not to advance, so from the boss Xiao Yu to the security uncle who guarded the door, they all seemed very nervous, and the entire training base was filled with a smoke of war.

"Well, I see he's been under a lot of pressure lately, working so late every day, and I've heard that he's been staying up late lately watching the opponent's game footage and stats!" Walsh came to Xiao Yu's side and sighed, he really felt that the head coach was really not a human job.

Xiao Yu often hears Mourinho say that the outcome of the field is often decided before entering the court, although Xiao Yu has reservations, but has to admit that Mourinho is the kind of person who is very diligent, so diligent that he can't wait to affect everything that may affect the game, even if it is a minute detail and refuses to let go, sometimes Xiao Yu suspects that he is a little paranoid.

But he is the man who has won the love of the players, and this season the new United have been getting better and better, and now they are a strong contender for the title.

"You talk to Jose and ask if the coaching staff is going to expand the number of people and give him the freedom to form his own coaching team."

At present, the new Manchester United has a large number of first-team coaches, including Boyas, Faria, Darren Lyons, Karl Maternson, and Peter Schmeichel, but Boyas is more adept at spying and scouting, and he is basically not involved in team training, that is, responsible for intelligence gathering and analysis.

Faria is in charge of training, but he can't help Mourinho much in other ways, with Darren Lyons and Karl Marginson, both working and studying, currently taking coaching courses, and obviously can't be expected to help Mourinho.

As for Schmeichel, his form has been affected after the injury, plus he is indeed old, it is likely that he will retire earlier than in history, Xiao Yu has already talked to him before, if he wants to retire, the new Manchester United will provide him with a full-time contract as a goalkeeper coach.

In this way, there is really no one Mourinho can rely on, in the past, Kassel would help him, but now Kassel is more concerned about the academy, and even the training of the first team is rarely come.

In this case, Xiao Yu naturally thought about asking Mourinho to find a few people to help him.

Walsh nodded in agreement, and was about to walk out, when Mark David ran into him.

"Hey, Mark, I'm so happy to meet a beautiful woman!" Walsh teased David.

David shook his head, "No, no, no, Andy, it's more enjoyable than meeting a beautiful woman." ”

Walsh thought David was talking nonsense, and shook his head with a helpless smile and was about to walk out, but who knew that David grabbed him, "Eh, Andy, don't worry, you should also come to discuss this matter together." ”

"What the hell is going on?" Walsh thought it was strange.

David grinned and pulled him to sit down, and then asked for a long time, "Do you know who I've been seeing these days?" ”

Xiao Yu and Walsh glanced at each other, thinking that David was going to say which woman, and they both shook their heads.

"I'm going to meet with the sponsors!"

"What?" Walsh was a little surprised, and even Xiao Yu was surprised.

"I looked at the contract that our club signed with them, and all I can say is that the contract is terrible, it was tied up all of a sudden, you know, before the season we were promoted, but now, we are the most attractive team in the League C, is the value the same?"

Walsh was dumbfounded by David's questioning, and he was the one who signed the contract in the first place.

In fact, Xiao Yu was busy with the transfer at the beginning, and he really didn't care about it, but he just thought, ah, the team has found a sponsor, yes, yes, and then let Walsh take care of it.

"I went and talked to the beer company, and they decided to add 50% to the original sponsorship fee for the second half of the season, and they were willing to rent us two stadium advertisements, and I contacted several sponsors, all of whom were interested in sponsoring our team, and I was going to rent out all the stadium billboards."

Xiao Yu and Walsh were a little surprised when they heard this, they didn't expect that David would solve their biggest headache at once, you know, it is difficult for low-level teams to find sponsors.

"I've done a rough calculation that in the second half of the season we will earn more in terms of sponsorship, which should be £400,000 to £600,000 higher than before."

"Wait!" Walsh listened with some trepidation, "Why are there so many more at once?" ”

David looked like you really don't know how to do business, "Brother Andy, I've seen some of your files, you all go to those small companies near Newton Heath, people naturally won't be much interested, you should look at the city, you know that recently Manchester City Council is helping Manchester City to transform, to vigorously develop the service industry and financial industry, many of these industries are facing grassroots groups, we have an average of 8,000 fans for each home game, not counting the TV broadcast, You know it's a big publicity platform. ”

"And I heard Xiao Yu say that after the end of this season, we will build the north stand, and we can accommodate 13,000 fans by then, I dare to say, if we can upgrade this year, the sponsorship fee will be more next year!" David said with confidence.

It may be that the impression he left on Xiao Yu and Walsh before was too child's play, causing what he said now to be a little unbelievable.

"Are people really interested in sponsoring the English League?" Walsh was still a little skeptical.

"Of course, but this is also thanks to Xiao Yu!" David looked at Xiao Yu in admiration.

The latter didn't quite understand, and said strangely: "What's the matter with me?" ”

"Didn't you start a charity fund before? At that time, the purpose of the fund was to serve the community and fans, and at the same time, it also took into account some charity activities, which greatly raised the image of our club, and those companies were naturally more interested in sponsoring our team! ”

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