Dean Richards and his wife, Samantha, who live in one of the apartments in a secluded neighbourhood in East London, arrived at Millwall at a time when the club's neighbourhood was not yet built, and he did not choose the club's free apartment, but saved up to move with his wife to a more upscale neighbourhood in the future.

After dinner, Samantha was washing the dishes, and Richards was sitting on the couch watching TV, and he wasn't in a good mood lately.

He has been playing less and less in the team this year, and it was supposed to be his turn to perform after a lot of rotation in the team in recent months, but he went to the doctor in the medical department because of a dizziness after training, which caused him to not even make the bench list.

He now regrets that the doctors advised him not to play and wait for the medical report.

He was very dissatisfied, but he was just dizzy, which is normal, right? It only shows that he trained too hard.

But no matter how hard the other players trained, their bodies would be extremely tired after that, but he was dizzy, and after two and a half months, he had a physical reaction to vomit, and Richards didn't think there was much of a problem, which was not uncommon on the court.

When Aldridge knocked on the door of his house with a calm expression, Richards was taken aback, at this time the head coach personally came to the door, he must have talked about some very important topics, and his first thought was: I am going to be sold!

After all, in the centre-back position, his rivals are getting better and better, with Elgra being the first choice on the bench and then Materazzi, who is now reduced to competing with Rio Ferdinand's boy.

Is the days at Millwall coming to an end?

Samantha poured water for Aldrich, who sat down and remained silent. Take a look at this ordinary little apartment. It's been a long time. He whispered, "Dean, can we talk privately?" ”

Richards thought pessimistically: Sure enough, he was going to sell me!

Samantha probably thought of this as well, and her mood suddenly became lost, and she walked back to the bedroom with a slightly worried expression.

They certainly didn't want to go, and Richards was adamant that he would have a bright future at Millwall, and that his performances on the pitch would reassure everyone as long as the manager gave him more opportunities. Teammates, fans!

Aldrich still didn't know how to speak, but Richards said in a deep voice: "Boss, are you going to sell me?" If it's true, you can tell me that I can handle it. ”

Aldrich smiled bitterly when he heard this: I, as a bystander, I can't bear it

There was another short silence, and Aldrich handed him the medical report and said softly, "Dean, these past few months. You feel sick after training, after check-ups. The doctor found out that you have a strange disease, and there is no cure for it, the doctor's advice is that you stop training and playing for the time being, if you can be cured as soon as possible, then you can return to the field in good health, if not, I have prepared a new contract for you, you can stay at the club and choose a clerical job, or change to a coach, at the same time, the club will take care of your medical care throughout the whole process, you don't have to worry about the cost. ”

Richards was stunned on the spot, and then he went crazy and flipped through the medical report in his hand, many of which he couldn't understand at all, and Aldrich couldn't understand it, but in the last doctor's diagnosis, the text description used was very popular, that is, it was recommended to stop strenuous exercise, because his symptoms occurred during or after strenuous exercise.

"I don't believe it! It's fake! It's the conspiracy of those bastards! This is a persecution of me! They want to ruin me! ”

Richards yelled uncontrollably, then tore the report in his hand to shreds.

He is still two and a half months away from being 23 years old and is about to step into the prime age of a player, and this stage is very important to him!

But the sudden blow made him lose his mind directly.

Aldrich got up and hugged Richards, who was like a wild beast, and said bitterly: "Dean, don't do this, calm down, calm down." ”

Samantha rushed out when she heard the voices outside in the bedroom, only to see Richards crying like a child in Aldrich's arms with tears streaming down her face.

"Chief, that's not true! This is not true! I'm not sick, I can play, I can play! ”

"Boss, this must be a misdiagnosis, I don't believe it, I'm going to a better hospital for verification, I will definitely be able to play football"

How hard does not being able to play hit him?

That would make his life meaningless, and it would also deprive the newly formed family of their most important source of income.

The beautiful life he and his wife had been dreaming of had reached another unpredictable turning point.

Aldridge didn't want to believe that this was true, but it took Thompson three months to send the report to Aldrich, who had been verified in many ways, communicated with famous professional doctors in the United Kingdom, and even flew to the United States to find top experts through peer relations to make pathological judgments together, but the final conclusion was that this was a rare and strange disease.

There are many kinds of diseases, some are immediate, if you have a symptom to go for an examination, you can immediately find the cause, and some are chronic diseases, Richards's symptoms seem to be insignificant, and even the average player will not take it seriously, and it will pass after a break, but this does not mean that the body is absolutely healthy, maybe the disease factor just has a longer period of incubation, bit by bit to infringe on health, and when the symptoms appear frequently, it may be that the disease is terminally ill and difficult to return.

Aldridge kept comforting Richards, telling him to calm down and face the change with a positive attitude.

But his words seemed too pale and weak, as a bystander, his heart was very painful, but he could not fully understand the pain of the other party, and words of comfort were actually useless.

When Samantha understood what had happened, tears welled up in her eyes, and Aldrich sat with the young couple all night.

The next day, Aldrich informed Richards' family and arranged for a new medical examination for Richards, so that in any case, he would be more aware of his physical condition than the narrative of others.

And that afternoon, Aldrich, who had not slept all night, had bloodshot eyes. He was directing the team's Premier League on the sidelines with a sad face.

They travel to Coventry City, a team aiming for relegation. The team's form seems to have been affected by Aldridge's mental malaise. A goal was scored in the first half by Coventry, and a penalty was created in the second half, with Larsson converting the penalty to help secure a draw.

In the same game, Manchester United won Everton by two goals at home, closing the gap to 11 points.

With seven league games remaining, and two games left against Manchester United, Ferguson is keen to revisit the possibility of winning the title, believing that Millwall will not be able to withstand the pressure of the leaders in the closing stages of the league. Or maybe it was the spirit that slackened and was overtaken, after all, in the last few rounds, in addition to the direct confrontation with Manchester United, there were two battles with London's sworn enemies.

Aldridge responded impatiently to the call for a comeback from United: "Do they think they can win the title? Then keep fantasizing. ”

Millwall's players are also aware of Aldridge's unusual form.

For the next week, the atmosphere in Millwall's training ground was a little depressing, and everyone wondered where Chaz had gone, and what was Aldrich's cloudy face for?

At Wembley in midweek, Aldridge sent substitutes against Norway's Bran as they held a four-goal advantage in the first leg. Bran is also starting to look up to Millwall's quality, so the second-leg game was a bit dull. Millwall won by just one goal to secure a ticket to the semi-finals.

With the draw for the European Cup Winners' Cup coming out ahead of the weekend's league kick-off, Millwall are finally set to face a strong opponent on the European stage.

Defending champion: Paris Saint-Germain.

Aldridge didn't react much to this, anyway, anyone is touched, and if you want to win the championship, you must be fearless of all opponents.

They host League Cup winners Leicester City at home at the weekend.

Martin O'Neill has led promoted Malicester City to an excellent record, leading the team to a successful breakthrough in the first six months of taking charge last year, picking up relegation points early on his Premier League debut, and also helping the club to a League Cup trophy.

Aldridge rallied all the players at the training ground the day before the clash with Leicester City, with Richards standing beside him in a suit.

The whole team looked at Richards curiously.

Why did you come in a suit?

Once everyone had arrived, Aldridge stretched out his hand and Richards stepped forward, facing all his teammates, trying to keep his tone calm.

"I'm sorry, guys, I can't play with you anymore."

"For what? Are you going to transfer? ”

Materazon asked bluntly, as he and Richards had been regular substitute partners in the past, and the two had always had a good relationship within the team.

Richards couldn't control his emotions after all, tears flashed in his eyes and he shook his head and said: "No, I, I have a strange disease, I can't play football in the future, but I'll stay here, the boss will teach me to be a coach, that's good, when I can get into the first team coaching staff, you will have to listen to me, hehe, hehehe"

Speaking of the last word, he squeezed out a smile, and two lines of tears dripped down his chin and fell onto the turf.

All the players were shocked.

Materazzi stepped forward and hugged Richards tightly, but Richards eventually lost control, howling and crying, with all his teammates surrounding him.

Aldrich turned his back, eyes closed, trying not to let tears well-up in his eyes.

The next morning, Millwall held a press conference, and Aldridge announced that Dean Richards was temporarily away from the field due to health reasons.

He didn't say that Richards would retire, but if he can't be cured of his strange illness in two to three years, then Richards will not have a chance to stand on the top stage again.

As soon as the news was released, it immediately caused a shock in English football.

Although Dean Richards was a substitute at Millwall, his performance still attracted the attention of insiders, because he was young, and the media even predicted that as long as he could get a stable chance to play at Millwall and continue to improve, then four or five years later, when Adams's generation of excellent defenders entered the twilight of his career, Richards would be an important candidate for England's new generation of backline.

However, no one expected that the highly-anticipated centre-back star would end his career at the age of less than 23, and although Aldridge used words like "farewell for the time being" in the press conference, the outside world agreed that Richards could no longer become a top player.

In the following period, the inside story of Richards' departure from the green field due to "physical reasons" was gradually revealed, and the outside world lamented that God was jealous of the talent, but also praised Millwall's humane management, because Richards' strange illness was just a sign, and no one could say that football would affect his health, but Millwall did not risk the health of the players.

Richards has been coaching the club ever since, starting with the youth team, and after two and a half years the cause was finally identified, and he recovered after eight months of treatment in the United States, but he had to leave the pitch for good after his recovery and remain a coach at Millwall. (To be continued......)