After all the warm-up matches for Millwall's Asian tour, the team left Shanghai that night and went straight back to London, only Aldridge stayed to prepare for an interview the next morning, in fact he just canceled his day off and the players returned to London for a day of rest.

The next morning, he got up early, dressed up, put on a suit, asked the hotel waiter to prepare coffee, and at half past eight, someone knocked on the door of his hotel suite.

The interview will take place in the living room of the suite.

And this time the host of the interview is Huang Jianxiang.

Aldrich is not surprised, the past few years are the stage of Huang Jianxiang's career to forge ahead, can not be said to be popular, but the limelight is a fact, just went to the scene to explain the European Cup, and soon will go to explain the Olympic Games, is the best sports host selected by many Chinese media.

"Hello Mr. Hall, let me introduce myself when we meet you for the first time, I"

Aldrich's value has soared over the years, his fame has skyrocketed, and he can refuse the BBC's biggest host, accept an interview, and he has long been at peace of mind, and he is also used to the respect that others show in front of his eyes.

The film crew set up the equipment, and Huang Jianxiang took the initiative to chat with Aldrich about the main content of the interview, so that Aldrich had a bottom in his heart.

At first, the other party was worried about Aldrich's Chinese dialect as the outside world preached.

He is most afraid of media hype, Aldrich will say one, two, three, the media will praise the sky, saying that Aldrich can memorize the jerky, difficult ancient Chinese texts like a stream.

After a short contact, he suppressed his doubts, at least the communication was fine. This allows him to ask in-depth questions.

After the opening remarks. Huang Jianxiang's interview officially began.

The content of this interview is sub-topical. The first topic, the focus of the conversation is, of course, Millwall.

Aldrich's question that had been asked countless times was asked again.

What is the secret of Millwall's success? Is it a success in the academy?

"I've answered this question many times, and my answer doesn't change: there's no set path to success. Just like when others evaluate Millwall's tactical changes, I have used 442, 433, 4231, 4321 and other tactics, people will say that Millwall's 433 is the strongest, so the problem arises, since 433 is the strongest. Why would Millwall still play 442? Will you call 4231? The success of the club is like the game, there is no fixed tactic to ensure that you win all the time, to achieve success steadily, to recognize yourself, to observe the situation, to be flexible according to the situation, to ensure that you have an advantage. Straight to the point, I don't think it's fair to attribute Millwall's success to academy success, especially to Thierry Henry. Larson, Nedved. Players such as Gareth Southgate, who are not technically included in Millwall's academy players, are not a big part of Millwall's success, according to the outside world, in fact the opposite. ”

Aldridge's words are realistic, basically the players who came to Millwall before the age of 18 can be included in the team's academy players after three years in the team, and in the Millwall first team, players like Pirlo, Gattuso, Glen Char, Ronaldo, Zambrotta, Materazzi and other players can already be attributed to Millwall's academy players.

But if Millwall's success is simply attributed to the academy definition, Nedved and others are relegated to a secondary role.

Huang Jianxiang was surprised by Aldrich's explanation, and his eyes rolled, as if he had not delved into the question.

Probably the outside world thinks that following Aldrich when Nedved was penniless is a part of Millwall, and directly erases his past history of playing in the Czech league, as if he was born to be a Millwall.

"And what do you think of the academy?"

"I think youth training is an important part of a club's success, for example, Barcelona had a period of time when the team was built to buy stars, Real Madrid emerged in the same era of the Five Eagles, that period, Real Madrid suppressed Barcelona, you can say that Real Madrid used youth training to defeat Barcelona's golden yuan, but Real Madrid did not achieve glory in the Champions League at that time, and the Milan dynasty, there are Baresi, Costacuta, Maldini and other youth players as the basis, they were very strong in that era, very strong, but only with youth training, Can the Milan dynasty be founded? I don't think so, because at that time, it was the Dutch Three Musketeers who shone in Europe, and with their joining, Milan had the capital to create a dynasty. The pinnacle of youth training success is Van Gaal's Ajax, but in the post-Bosman law era, I think this successful model can no longer be replicated, players transfer frequently, famous and financial teams will become stronger and stronger, there will be more and more big-name teams, and competitiveness will also rise sharply. ”

Aldrich's words confused Huang Jianxiang a little.

Aldridge is happy to talk about this with people in the Chinese football circle, and it is better to talk than nothing, and through the media, the voice of the person concerned can be disseminated, and it must be much stronger than ordinary people.

His attitude towards youth training is not particularly dependent, but youth training is very important, and now he is working hard to engage in youth training, in fact, he is playing a signboard, so that Millwall ten years later, after Aldridge was unable to tap the hope star in advance, the star seedlings from all over the world took the initiative to be willing to enter Millwall's arms.

But when Academy players can't be the club's ideal candidates, decisively looking for a more suitable replacement is the best option.

For example, the arrival of Henry and the departure of Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has been with the Millwall Academy for five years and is definitely a Millwall academy player, is an example, and this kind of example is innumerable in Real Madrid now and in the future, and there are also major giants.

Cultivating youth players, in addition to sending blood to the first team, reducing the cost of team building, and the player's sense of loyalty and belonging, there is also a very important point, that is, their own youth players can bring long-term stability to the team and stability in the locker room, regardless of success or failure. The cycle of rebuilding the team, and so on. AC Milan is the best example of this. Generations of veteran Maldini have contributed more than just athletics at Milan.

At the end of the conversation, Aldridge expressed the expectation of Villa, Ronaldo, Joe Cole, Pedreti, Barzagli and others who came to the team at a young age and were already youth players in the team, believing that they had been trained at Millwall since childhood. Cultivating their sense of belonging, responsibility, honor, etc., is extremely important for the long-term stability of the team, but there is a major premise, that is, their personal strength must be maintained to match the status of Millwall football.

After the conversation about Millwall ended, Huang asked Aldridge personally. Explore his life.

In the eyes of outsiders, Aldrich's life. It seems that from the age of 10, the determination to be a coach is the prologue of the legend, which is unbelievable to others, but perhaps because ordinary people would not do this, Aldridge did it, and finally succeeded, but there is a sense of naturalness.

Coming to this part, except for the lace and football things in his love life, Aldridge spoke freely, including some of his experiences in Europe that made people laugh and cry.

Foreign football people doing interviews in China, in the end, can't avoid a topic.

Huang Jianxiang was silent for a moment before the third theme was revealed, and then asked softly, "Mr. Hall, do you know Chinese football?" ”

Aldridge smiled and shook his head, and said: "Please don't understand that I have no respect for Chinese football, let's put it this way, will the Chinese badminton team and table tennis team learn about the competitive level of South Africa, Norway, Iceland and other places?" ”

Huang Jianxiang laughed dumbly, obviously slapped by Aldrich, but you have to admire him for making you angry.

Yes, Europe is the center of world football, and at best, they will care about South American football, a former competitor, and they will fight over who is the boss before, but who cares about football in other regions?

Just like table tennis, badminton and other sports that are unique in the world, China is the center, not only producing excellent players, but also exporting players and coaches overseas to perform or guide the country in other countries.

Huang Jianxiang smiled bitterly: "Over the years, we have several Chinese players who have played in Europe, have you heard of it?" ”

Aldridge smiled: "Yang Chen, Xie Hui, who plays in the German league, and two players from Crystal Palace, who are neighbors in Millwall and enemies of our club, Fan Zhiyi and Sun Jihai. ”

Huang Jianxiang heard it, this foreigner knows a lot!

"Have you watched their game?"

"No, I've just heard that if I'm honest, the Chinese fans may not be happy."

"We can't count the things that make us unhappy, and it's not a few words short of you."

"Hehe, I am the head coach of the Premier League champion and the Champions League champion, I will not care about the game of the English League team Crystal Palace, nor will I care about the relegation team of the Bundesliga and the Bundesliga, so of course I haven't watched their games, from a work point of view, there is no value, even if we want to study Bayern Munich, but to study Bayern Munich's game in the Bundesliga, we often select game videos that are not too big a difference in strength to study, scouts to observe on the spot, etc."

"Your truth is really hurtful, but this is the reality, the current situation of Chinese players in Europe, and the sight of top clubs, what about the future? You said in an interview before the game a few days ago that you are optimistic about the future of Chinese football, believing that there is a huge population base here, and the probability of nurturing football talents will be very high, Millwall has opened a football school in Japan this year, I heard that the football school project in Chinese mainland is also underway, have you envisaged that there will be Chinese players playing for Millwall in the future? ”

Aldrich closed his eyes and smiled.

Football schools are part of the club's branding, whether it's competitive or not, and the club does it because the commercial value is huge, and the football school makes money, just like they do when they open a club souvenir shop in Hong Kong.

"I think it's very difficult to achieve in the short term, first of all, because of the labour certification system, it will be very difficult for non-European players to join the Premier League. Secondly, if Millwall invests in a player, or develops, then the upper age limit will be 20, 21 years old, because the player is basically 23 years old, the technical ability is completely finalized, we need to shape the player before that, give him time to integrate into the club, but also instill tactical philosophy, football philosophy, etc., and the older the player, the lower the effect of such work, Millwall is at this level, if we bring in players over 20 years old, we will be very cautious, once an agreement is reached, It could be a big deal, like Thierry Henry, Klose and so on, but it doesn't mean that players have to come to the team and contribute immediately like Thierry Henry, but at least they have a lot of potential that we firmly recognize. ”

Huang Jianxiang asked curiously: "Isn't there a Chinese player who has been recommended to go to Millwall?" ”

"Hahaha, there are clubs all over the world that recommend players to our club, China, of course, but, I'm very sorry, maybe the players who perform well in the Chinese league are still far from our recruitment standards."

Huang Jianxiang said helplessly: "This is a very sad situation, Chinese football is not concerned by Europe, and our local training of outstanding players is famous, with fame can attract the outside world, but the age has reached the stage where you say that the technical ability is finalized, and there is no training space, then, even if he is a good seedling, he may not be in the most critical growth stage, and he has not been maximized to tap the potential and get the best training." How to describe it, it's like being a top student in elementary school, but you didn't get to a prestigious school, and then you were opened up in middle school, and when you graduate from college, although you show a certain ability, you can reach a height compared to the original, and the gap is very large. ”

Aldrich thought about it, felt that the other party's analogy had some truth, and nodded with a smile. (To be continued......)