Arriving at Ferguson's home in Cheshire, Aldrich met the legendary Scottish man face to face for the first time.

The first impression is neither the majestic shore that directs the country, nor the majestic and cold momentum that seems to set off a storm.

The old Scottish man fell asleep on a chaise longue in the garden, and in the soft sunset he looked more like a man who smiled when he returned to the field.

Ferguson, who was wearing a casual T-shirt in the middle of summer, was gently pushed awake by his wife, Kathy.

Ferguson had already said that there would be guests at home, but while he waited in the garden, he slept soundly in the afternoon.

After waking up, Ferguson rubbed his eyes, then squinted at the visitor not far away, as if he couldn't see clearly, and he found the glasses on the table next to him and put them on.

Casey brought the tea for the guests and put it on the table, then left.

Ferguson avoided talking about anything football-related at home, and if it wasn't for the guests brought by their favorite son, Ferguson probably wouldn't have chosen to stay at home even if he had agreed to meet Aldridge.

Aldridge thinks he is a very simple person, he does not have the different standards of dealing with people brought about by the influence of geography, race, culture, religion and so on in the bones of the British, he can and is willing to be friends with everyone, which makes him very frank and natural in front of anyone, etiquette and words and deeds, without pretentiousness.

"Hello, Mr. Ferguson."

Aldridge greeted Ferguson with a smile, and Ferguson looked up at him, staring at him for a long time, and then waved at Jason, as if he didn't want outsiders to be present about what was going on.

When Alex Ferguson spoke to Aldridge, a club owner and manager, in his role as manager of Manchester United, there was a lot of stuff that couldn't be heard outside the circle.

Even though Jason is Ferguson's son, he is technically someone outside the football circle.

This is closely related to the conservative tradition of the United Kingdom, football is actually a very small circle, whether it is known to passers-by or strange mysteries, no matter how small, should remain in this circle, sealed in the dust.

Aldridge gave Andrew a look and motioned for him to follow Jason away.

Andrew greeted Ferguson politely, and Ferguson nodded at him with a smile, and then watched the two young men enter the room.

Ferguson stretched out his hand, and Aldridge sat down calmly, a table away from Ferguson, with steaming tea on it.

The British love to drink tea, which has almost become their tradition.

More than 100 years ago, it was the British aristocracy who was crazy about tea, which caused a British trade deficit in international trade, which also indirectly led to the Opium War.

Aldridge and Ferguson took a sip of tea and began to make small talk, which was basically Ferguson asking about Aldrich's current situation.

That is, Aldridge's actions after taking over the club, and Ferguson seems to want to know the stranger he met for the first time from Aldridge's series of crazy moves.

From the bottom of his heart, Ferguson hated Aldridge and the first impression was not good.

No manager would want to be on the scene at a press conference to suddenly learn that the club has a new owner, and to be caught off guard by a halfway shot.

Forcing the first-team coaching staff to resign voluntarily is a defiant defiance.

Ferguson is very curious about Aldrich, if there is only such a thing as the collapse of Millwall's past first team, I am afraid that Ferguson will only taunt and mock Aldridge with the people around him, and as for his own son as an intermediary introduction, Ferguson will directly refuse.

But Millwall's moves in the transfer market this month have been so surprising that it can even be regarded as a summer storm in English football, and although Ferguson has no interest in Millwall, he occasionally looks at the news and finds something that makes him curious.

Although Millwall's summer recruitment is dominated by young players, and the average age of all players may be less than 20 years old, Ferguson, who knows little, has a keen insight that Aldridge's recruitment has really created a new team!

Regardless of the player's ability and reputation, just looking at the player's position, it does look like a team.

Although Ferguson can't grasp the details, after all, there are many players whose positions on the field are uncertain, because there are many players who are penniless in English football, and they are like people who jump out of the cracks in the stones.

After all, information is not as advanced today as it will be ten or twenty years from now.

In the process of chatting with Ferguson, Aldrich neither pretended to be profound nor cautious, and said nothing to hide.

He even confessed that he unexpectedly appeared at the press conference to embarrass the team's coach and make the other party voluntarily submit his resignation.

It's not a distraction, it's not an example, it's just that Aldridge has to take control of the team, he has to reinvent the wheel and build a team that he can control.

Chatting and chatting, Ferguson at least let go of the prejudice he had when Aldridge had not met, and it would indeed be difficult for the other party, as the owner of the club, to concurrently serve as the head coach of the team, without the means of the Thunder.

It wasn't until night was approaching that Ferguson remembered to ask the other party for the purpose of his visit.

After chatting with the old man for more than an hour, Aldrich smiled wryly and showed his intentions.

'I'm still a bit thin in my squad, so I want to sign players on loan from Manchester United.

Ferguson stared at Aldrich with a strange expression and asked rhetorically: "Why are you not buying, but borrowing?" ”

The subtext is too obvious.

You've spent more than 10 million pounds, what else is there to fancy, why don't you throw money?

Aldridge scratched his head and said with a wry smile: "To be honest, I have a lot of players in my interest, really, but I can't afford them, and those players will definitely not come. ”

Ferguson nodded, secretly saying in his heart that this young man was still sensible, not the kind of nouveau riche who waved money and thought that everyone would fall down.

"Who do you have a crush on? Maybe I'll be able to sell it to you. ”

Hearing this, Aldrich was stunned, then turned his head to look at the old Scottish man whose eyes narrowed into a line and smiled harmlessly, and suddenly smiled bitterly: Fool me!

"Well, Brother Neville, Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nicky Bhatt, that's it, you offer, up to five million pounds, I'll take it all."

Originally, it was just a joke, but Ferguson's expression became solemn.

The British transfer record is only 3.75 million pounds, but Aldridge is willing to pay 5 million pounds for these young people?

"You mean packing 5 million?"

"They're not cabbage. 5 million pounds per player, if you are willing to let people go, I will smash the pot and sell the iron and take it, how about it? Even if you can't sell them all at once, one or two can always be, right? This is a new transfer record. ”

After Aldridge finished speaking, a smile appeared on his face, and he stared at Ferguson's expression without blinking: "Anti-general!"

Ferguson smashed his mouth and suddenly sighed: "Who are you going to lend?" ”

Aldrich didn't expect this old man to be so cunning, and directly changed the topic.

"David Beckham."

Ferguson thought for a moment and asked, "Playing time?" ”

"At least 20."

"Rental fee?"

'Millwall bears the salary for the loan period and nothing else.'

After pondering for a while, Ferguson raised his head and said: "How about I give you another person and give him 20 games of playing time?" ”

Aldrich frowned, the old man was not only cunning, but also a little climbing up the pole.

He helped his players level up for free, and the other party directly regarded himself as a professional free substitute.

"Who?"

"Phil Neville."

The Gary Neville younger brother was promoted to United's first-team squad this summer, like David Beckham, but like Beckham's fate, he will certainly be on the bench if he doesn't go out on loan this season.

Phil Neville is a backfielder, full-back or midfielder, in Aldridge's squad, the midfielders, especially the midfielders, he has Makelele and Vieira, and the 17-year-old Gattuso, these are all jade, it takes a lot of games to temper, even if it is at the risk of losing, Aldridge would rather give them training and growth.

Aldridge confessed: "Mr. Ferguson, all I can say about Phil Neville is that if Manchester United loan him to my team, Phil Neville will only be at full-back for the next year. ”

Aldridge didn't know what Ferguson's specific development plan for Phil Neville was, and he made his position clear and let Ferguson decide.

"Yes, yes. It's getting late, so let's stay for dinner. ”

Ferguson got up and moved his body, then invited Aldridge and Andrew to stay home for a light dinner.

The next day, Millwall officially announced that the summer transfer was over, and the team will start training for next season on July 21.