Chapter 31 Level Thirty-One

When Chen Yingxiong finally reached level thirty-one and was happy for his upgrade, his teammates were being fiercely criticized by the Naples media.

Losing 1:5 to Olympiacos in the away game was a shameful defeat, perhaps the biggest defeat in Napoli's European competition history.

For those Napoli media outlets still immersed in the glory of Maradona, losing to a Greek team was unacceptable.

In a fit of rage, some media even asked Reja: "Why didn't you take Chen Yingxiong? If Chen Yingxiong had gone, we would have had six corner kicks in the whole game. Even if we only seized half of those opportunities, we could have won this game!"

This media outlet seemed to have forgotten that they had previously shouted that Chen Yingxiong was the biggest flop in Napoli's history…

Reja was speechless in the face of such a defeat. He only said that as the head coach, he would take full responsibility and even… consider resigning!

Having coached Napoli for four years, Reja brought the team from Serie C2 to Serie A, and in the first season after the team was promoted to Serie A, he led the team to qualify for the UEFA Cup. It can be said that he made great contributions to Napoli's revival.

He has a very high reputation in the city of Naples.

So when news of his possible departure from the team spread, it also aroused the concern of many fans. Of course, they did not want Reja to leave the team. During training the next day, some people held up slogans supporting Reja on the sidelines.

Supporting Reja was right, but who would be responsible for the team's current situation? The fans easily found a scapegoat—Chen Yingxiong!

So next to the banner "Reja Stay" was this banner: "Go back to the north, you big bear!"

But who should be held responsible for Napoli's disastrous defeat was not up to them to decide.

It was up to the club owner.

※※※

By the time Aurelio De Laurentiis finished his work in the United States, it was two months later. Only then did he remember that he needed to pay attention to his team. He always entrusted his team to Marino and Reja to manage. He once said that Reja "should stay in Naples for the rest of his life"—of course, this was when Napoli was promoted to Serie A.

He is very relaxed about the management of the club, and all specific affairs are handed over to Marino. Because he is busy with work, he can't take care of his team.

Now that he was done, he had plenty of time, and he was ready to fulfill his duties as the chairman of the club.

At this time, he saw the news that Napoli was defeated 1:5 by Olympiacos, that the UEFA Cup group stage was almost certainly eliminated, and that Reja was disheartened and considering resigning…

※※※

Marino had just seen Reja off. He had a good talk with the team's head coach, and the two exchanged opinions. Reja told Marino about the team's current situation. The conflicts in the locker room made him exhausted and seriously affected the team's performance. In addition, after losing 1:5 to Olympiacos, there was too much scolding in the media, which also made him feel a loss of trust and support. He planned to terminate the contract…

Marino, of course, comforted Reja, telling him that the club would always stand firmly behind him no matter what. He told him to put aside those messy thoughts and focus on leading the team well. Although the team's current performance was not satisfactory, there was still plenty of time, and as long as they could qualify for the UEFA Cup again this season.

As for the locker room issue, Marino promised to consider resolving it.

Reja received support from the club manager and finally decided to continue fulfilling the contract, and promised the club manager that the team would try its best to fight for a UEFA Cup ranking this season.

After comforting Reja, Marino felt a little better, but when he thought of the conflict in the locker room, he felt a headache…

Lavezzi was brought in by himself, and he can be said to be very fond of Lavezzi. But Chen Yingxiong was brought in by the club owner, and it can be seen from the fact that he personally drove his private car to the airport to pick up Chen Yingxiong for a medical examination that he also liked Chen Yingxiong very much.

The player he liked had a conflict with the player the boss liked… What could he do?

Moreover, it was really difficult to say whose responsibility it was… Marino knew the reason why Chen Yingxiong and Lavezzi had a conflict, and that was because of the widely publicized matter. Lavezzi is Argentinian and very admires Maradona. Just in the first half of this year, Lavezzi also said that Maradona had praised him and said that his number 10 jersey in Napoli could be left for Lavezzi to wear and did not need to be retired.

Chen Yingxiong, on the other hand, said as soon as he came up that Maradona could go to the museum. How could this not make Lavezzi angry?

But to say that Chen Yingxiong was wrong… From the perspective of Marino, the club manager, he could not agree. He thought Chen Yingxiong's meaning was right, but the way he expressed it was a bit simple and rude, too direct, and then deliberately distorted by the media… and it was over.

So this matter was very difficult to handle.

He knew Lavezzi's personality. Don't look at this Argentinian who usually looks very low-key and simple, but in fact, his personality is very arrogant, and his heart is like a ball of fire, which is the same as most Argentinians.

What about Chen Yingxiong's personality? Although he hadn't been in contact for a long time, he had fully learned about Chen Yingxiong's personality characteristics since the start of the transfer negotiations.

Neither of these two people were easy to talk to.

Just as he was feeling a headache, he received a call from club owner De Laurentiis.

"Marino, are you free tonight?"

"Ah? I'm free, boss."

"Very good, come to my house for dinner tonight."

"Your house? Ah, you're back?" Marino was a little surprised.

"I just arrived… Okay, I'm just notifying you of this!" After saying that, De Laurentiis hung up the phone.

Going to the chairman's house for dinner was not unfamiliar to Marino. Every time the chairman returned to Naples from Los Angeles, he would call him and invite him to his home. Then, at the dinner table, he would inquire in detail about the club's situation during this period.

So after knowing that he was going to the chairman's house tonight, Marino began to consider how to tell the chairman about the conflict between Chen Yingxiong and Lavezzi.

Let the chairman solve this matter…

※※※

In Aurelio De Laurentiis' luxuriously decorated restaurant, Marino explained the club's situation in the past few months to the chairman in detail.

Of course, he did not forget to report the conflict between Chen Yingxiong and the Argentinian gang led by Lavezzi.

Throughout the entire process, De Laurentiis did not say a word, but listened very patiently.

After Marino finished speaking, he nodded slightly, did not talk about the conflict between Chen Yingxiong and Lavezzi, but asked a question that shocked Marino.

"Marino, do you have any good head coach candidates to recommend?"

※※※

Although the idea of replacing Reja was only confirmed by De Laurentiis in the past few days, he felt that he had considered it carefully.

Reja brought a lot to the team, the most glorious of which was bringing the team into Serie A.

When Napoli was still starting again in Serie C2, this old coach came to the team. Napoli was able to return to Serie A one year earlier than the first five-year plan formulated by De Laurentiis, and he made great contributions. He was a hero of Napoli. After the team was successfully promoted to Serie A, De Laurentiis even emotionally embraced Reja and announced to the fans that Reja should stay in Napoli for the rest of his life.

But after the excitement of promotion passed, De Laurentiis began to calmly consider the team's future. So he formulated what seemed to be a shocking "second five-year plan." Throughout the entire plan, he felt that the biggest problem was the head coach position.

De Laurentiis did not deny Reja's contribution, but his ability was limited to this. He could only bring Napoli to its current height. Reja had coached nineteen teams in his twenty-year coaching career. In terms of experience, Reja was not to be underestimated. But one thing restricted this coach from Friuli, making him unable to become a famous coach: Reja had not coached any giants, which also gave him the nickname "ordinary person." And the current Napoli is no longer the Napoli that struggled in Serie C2 four years ago. The current Napoli must continue to revive, continue to improve its performance, and become a new giant in Serie A! This kind of domineering spirit is not something that "ordinary people" have.

In fact, Reja has also been working hard to cultivate this "domineering spirit," but either he can't stick to it for long, or he simply makes things worse.

If he really had a domineering spirit, he should be tougher when facing Chen Yingxiong, who did not fit in with his tactics and had conflicts with Lavezzi. He should have stripped him from the main lineup and sent him directly to the reserve team—I am the head coach, everything in the team must listen to me, and my authority cannot be violated.

Unfortunately, he did not do this. What people saw was that he would let Chen Yingxiong start when Chen Yingxiong scored a goal, and when Chen Yingxiong did not score a goal, he would use the excuse of rotating the lineup to put him on the bench. Fortunately, Chen Yingxiong was relatively cooperative and almost always staggered his goals, otherwise his excuse would not be very useful…

And when he really wanted to be domineering, the result was that he made things worse.

On October 29, in the ninth round of the league, Napoli played against Reggina. Although the team finally won the game with a score of 3:0, Hamsik received an inexplicable red card in the game. Even Hamsik himself did not understand what was going on after the game, but Reja suddenly did not know what was wrong and wanted to show his "domineering" spirit as the head coach, giving Hamsik a fine within the team.

This not only did not reflect his authority, play a role in maintaining the stability of the team, and make the punished person convinced, but instead caused Hamsik's agent to release the statement "Napoli will not enter the Champions League, and Hamsik will leave." Fortunately, everyone's focus at the time was on the team's locker room conflicts and Chen Yingxiong's fluctuating state, and they did not hype this matter too much, otherwise Reja would only be more overwhelmed.

Even without Chen Yingxiong's matter, De Laurentiis felt that he should change coaches. If the train runs fast, it all depends on the locomotive. If the locomotive is not strong, how can the train run fast? The head coach is the locomotive of a team. Reja is at best a diesel locomotive, which is far from a bullet train.

It is not difficult to see that the current Reja has been unable to make Napoli break through, so in order to continue the road to revival, Napoli must change coaches.

※※※

ps, sixth update, it's rare for a book to have such a crazy outbreak a month after it's released, right?

And I did this with very few manuscripts.

I think regardless of whether you like the plot or not, just based on my dedicated attitude, it is worth everyone's monthly votes and subscriptions, right?

If writers are all likened to players, I think I can definitely rank among the most dedicated professional players!