In the FA Cup round of 32, Derby County's opponent is Birmingham. After returning from West Bromwich Albion, Wan Sheng began preparations for this match.

The game is only two days later, and there is no time to find any targeted response, but fortunately, the game is played at Pride Stadium, and Birmingham is only a Premier League relegation team, even if it is a head-to-head game, Derby County's winning rate is not small.

Wan Sheng is full of confidence in the fans.

Many of the players have already rested for a round and they are well prepared for this game against Birmingham, especially at home, where they have invested almost all of their energy in the league in order to avoid relegation, and they may even give up the FA Cup.

Regardless of whether Birmingham will play at their best, the team will definitely play to the best of their ability to ensure victory

Birmingham's attitude towards the FA Cup is uncertain, but the team has some 'roots' with Derby County.

When it comes to Birmingham, one has to mention their female chief executive, Brady, who is nicknamed the "first-lady" in English football.

Brady was born in London to a wealthy Irish father and an authentic Italian housewife.

In 1993, at the age of 23, she was elected executive director of Birmingham City FC (then in League One) and can be described as the ancestor of English football.

A young girl takes on this important responsibility, and it is conceivable that the outside world is critical and sarcastic about her, and even the players only care about making her pornographic jokes. When she first met with the team, one of the players deliberately molested her, "Hey, your shirt is transparent, I'm looking at your MM." ”

Brady replied with an unchanging face, "No problem, you don't have to worry about it anymore." When I sell you to Crewe, the D-division team, you won't be able to see you. ”

It didn't take long for the player to be sold.

The second act of her struggle with men is on a TV show, where Brady is a British television personality who acts as a judge on a show called "The Apprentice", holding the power of life and death over whether a young talent is qualified for a certain position, and the audience loves her.

Sky TV host Richard Kens and a guest commentator on the Wolves vs Liverpool game, Andy Gray, were angrily criticising the linesman's injustice, and as he spoke, Kens pulled away from the conversation and said Brady, "Did you read today's paper? Brady was blaming sexism. Oh my God, look at her fat body."

The next day, Sky dismissed both men at the same time.

There is no official reason, and everyone knows that this is what happened to someone who offended the so-called "first woman" in English football.

The origins of the "first-lady" are not limited to football, Brady is the author of an autobiography, two novels and a guide to women in the business world called "Get Involved and Win", and is a columnist for The Sun and an advisor to several companies.

To describe her as a football woman is obviously a bit narrow.

Her initial job was to peddle advertising. He was recruited by David Sullivan, one of the owners of West Ham United, and was recruited to the construction company.

The media disclosed that it was Brady that built yì after the company acquired Birmingham, after the acquisition was successful. Brady became the club's executive director, and when she became executive director, almost no one looked favorably on her, and the media was full of questioning remarks. But Brady took the team to the Premier League in a matter of years.

Brady is only 33 years old by now, but her experience could well have been a legendary novel about a woman who went from rags to riches to become CEO of a League One club. He then led the team from League Two to the Premier League and became the first person in Birmingham's management.

During this period, Brady only spent a dozen years.

Wan Sheng had to give a thumbs up after knowing the experience of the female chairman, such a successful person in reality is really rare, but Brady did it, but Wan Sheng understands this, not because he appreciates and worships Brady, but because he is completely listening to gossip.

In fact, the whole Derby County team knows Brady.

Before the match against Birmingham, they also teased Peschisolidor with Brady, because Peschisolidor was Brady's husband

Before the game, there was a lot of gossip news in the media about the match between the two teams.

Birmingham CEO Brady spoke about the game in an interview and she seems to have a plan in her mind. She joked that her job was to get Paolo Pesquisolidor right, "and I was going to keep him awake all night before the game." ”

Brady said: "I'm sure Pesqui Soledo is also eager for us to meet, he has played for Birmingham City before and has a good relationship with manager Bruce. It wasn't the first time he had faced Birmingham, having met Birmingham during his time at Stoke, West Bromwich Albion, Fulham and Sheffield United, but it was the first time in a cup competition. ”

When asked which of their parents the kids support, Brady said, "I think they would want their dad to win because they can see him on the pitch and that's much more glamorous than someone like me who does club administration." ”

In this regard, Pesquisollido was very upset, because his teammates were talking about it, so in the pre-match interview, he sighed and said, "I really wish the coach didn't let me play, so that I wouldn't be too embarrassed and the game wouldn't be about me." ”

But in fact, Wansheng's starting list has his name in it.

Wan Sheng didn't let him start because of the relationship between Peschi Solido and Birmingham, Bolton Reiter has not returned from injury, the team's real main striker is only Cahill, Ian Taylor is not good after all, Wan Sheng prefers to treat him as a substitute for the critical type of call-up, rather than a starter who comes out to fight.

So when it comes to arranging a lineup of two strikers, Pesquisollido is the best choice

Birmingham City boss Bruce was also thinking about the game ahead of the game.

Bruce is also a legend in English football, having been rejected by clubs such as Newcastle and Bolton Wanderers as a young man for being too short, and for a time had to work in a shipyard, but at the age of 17 he was recognised by Genningham to continue his dream of becoming a player, and then moved to Norwich City and excelled.

Bruce arrived at Manchester United from Norwich City in the winter of 1989 with a record £875,000 for a British defender at the time, and has been a staunch defender for the Reds for the next 10 years, forming the Great Wall of Manchester United's defence with Parestal, who later joined. They worked well together and complemented each other technically, and became the cornerstone of the Ferguson dynasty.

Bruce played hard, played with SAF in all directions, and made a desperate achievement. As well as being excellent defensively, Bruce is a great assister, often helping his team score from corners, and he is also a penalty taker, scoring 19 goals in the 90/91 season, for a centre-back. It's a miracle, he doesn't score as much as a striker.

Bruce's natural leadership qualities earned him the honour of wearing the Red Devils' captain's armband after Brian Robson's retirement. He is also the first Manchester United captain after Setil not to be named in the England national team.

But the years did not forgive, and as he grew older, Bruce had to make way for newcomers, and in 1996, Bruce joined Birmingham and retired from the stage of Dream Theatre history.

Bruce then played for different clubs as a player and manager. He continued his career in the field before returning to Birmingham to take over the coaching of the team.

For a manager with a legacy of football, coaching the team is an insider's job, and he has teamed up with Brady to lead Birmingham City. The team improved very quickly, and in a few years they were promoted to the Premier League.

Birmingham's record in the Premier League is mediocre, but when you think they were a third-tier team a few years ago, you know what Bruce is capable of.

As a matter of fact. Bruce is a very 'realistic' coach.

His managerial philosophy is to get the best results out of the team, and in the first two seasons of promotion to the Premier League, the most basic guarantee is to be able to avoid relegation.

So it's the same as Wansheng thought. Birmingham's focus is indeed on the league.

But that doesn't mean Bruce will give up the FA Cup, he just won't dwell too much on the outcome and let the team play normally, and he doesn't care too much about how far the FA Cup goes.

However, this game Bruce still wants to fight for.

Derby County, the top of the League One table, just won away at Tottenham Hotspur, although it sounds like a strong result, but after all, it is still a League One team, maybe League One teams can sometimes play well and beat Premier League teams, but they can't always be like this, even a strong team is not guaranteed to win all the time, let alone a League One team.

Anyway, Bruce still wants to win.

Before the game, he got the Derby County squad, and he saw that several well-known players were on the list, so he knew that Derby County also cared about the game, and they would definitely play with the full squad.

Even so, Bruce feels there is a good chance for Birmingham.

Even if it is away, even if all the main players of the opponent start, but Birmingham's strength is no worse than Derby County, it is difficult to say who will win and who will lose, and Bruce is more willing to believe that his team is stronger

The pre-match media also reported on the game.

In addition to the gossip news, those media who follow Derby County, after learning about Derby's squad, also have the same idea as Bruce - Derby County must be sending all their main players on the field.

Comparing the game against West Bromwich Albion, Derby County only played on a semi-bench lineup, which made the media wonder - could it be that Derby County's focus shifted to the FA Cup?

Aren't they afraid of affecting the results of the league!?

The media was puzzled by this, but they didn't continue to discuss anything, they have been slapped in the face too many times, they will also learn a lesson, and they plan to continue to see if they will talk about it.

Just as many media outlets watched, the match between the two teams began.

Birmingham City coach Bruce feels that his team is stronger, and the reason why he thinks so is very simple, that is, Derby County is a League One team, and the difference between League One and the Premier League is one level, and Birmingham are relatively easy to relegate in the Premier League, and their natural strength is stronger than that of League One teams.

But the scene of the game did not reflect this.

From the beginning of the game, Derby County had a suppressive advantage over Birmingham, and Bruce was a little puzzled to see this situation, before that, he had not studied Derby County too deeply, but he thought that the League One team should not have the strength to suppress Birmingham.

But that's the way it is

Birmingham were completely suppressed in the first ten minutes, with their attacking passivity and porous defence, and Derby County attacking threatened.

That's what Bruce saw, and that's what everyone in the room saw.

Bruce was incredulous, what was he seeing? It's the exquisite coordination of the whole team, and the smooth all-attacking and all-defensive football, which he has only seen in the games of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

Now a League One side is playing the same fluid attack, and Birmingham have kept him at bay for a while.

Soon he didn't have time to think about it.

In the seventeenth minute, Derby County scored from Pesquisolidosto's cross from the right side of the box, which gave the back of the way to Gary Cahill, who swooped in to head the ball into the Birmingham City goal.

1：0。

Bruce was even more surprised to see the goal, and he somewhat understood why Derby County were able to win away at Tottenham Hotspur. (To be continued......)