Chapter 166 Apology

After the game against Bolton, the European leagues entered another break, and the national team match day took center stage.

Chen Hero usually had nothing to do with national team match days, but this time was different.

Chen Hero was planning to train with the reserve team players as originally planned, in preparation for the League Cup third round match in October.

But he received a call from Dracula.

"TV program alert, Hero."

"Huh?" Chen Hero couldn't react to Dracula's nonsensical sentence. He didn't know what he was talking about.

"Can you get online?"

"Of course."

"Then go online and watch Chinese online TV, the national sports channel. It's starting in about half an hour."

"What is it?" Chen Hero was still confused.

"Don't you remember?"

"Nonsense! If I remembered, why would I ask you so much?" Chen Hero rolled his eyes when he heard a hint of doubt in Dracula's voice.

"Didn't you want them to hold a press conference and apologize publicly?"

"Snap!" Chen Hero slapped his forehead—how could I forget about this!

Half a month had passed, and the games were dense. Chen Hero didn't take the Football Association's contact with him to heart. Anyway, he had already told them his request, and he couldn't control what they did.

Because he didn't take it to heart at all, he didn't pay attention, so he couldn't remember it at this time.

Now that Dracula reminded him, he remembered that there was such a thing.

However, there had been no movement in China, which made Chen Hero think that they couldn't save face and were unwilling to apologize publicly.

Now listening to Dracula... did they really want to hold a press conference to apologize?

This was interesting!

How could he miss such a historically significant moment?

Of course, he had to watch it! If it weren't for the urgent time, he would have flown back to China directly.

※※※

In China, many media outlets received an invitation to attend a press conference jointly held by the General Administration of Sport and the Chinese Football Association.

The invitation letter did not specify what would be discussed at the press conference.

Everyone was confused.

However, it was rare for the General Administration and the Football Association to hold a press conference together. So everyone knew intuitively that this must be big news!

So in one day, all the media in China gathered in the capital.

In fact, the General Administration of Sport and the Football Association only notified them one day in advance because they didn't want too many reporters to come. The more media that came, the more embarrassed and humiliated they would be.

Anyway, Chen Hero wanted a public apology and didn't specify the number of media participating in the press conference, so they played a little trick on this.

But they underestimated the media's "enthusiasm" for the Football Association and the General Administration of Sport... When everyone heard that the General Administration of Sport and the Football Association were jointly holding a press conference, they flocked to it.

Some who lived relatively close and couldn't book plane tickets simply drove there themselves.

When there was still an hour before the press conference started, there were still media rushing to the venue.

In just one day, most of the media that received the notification had arrived.

However, every reporter who entered the venue was told that this was a press conference without a question-and-answer session, so the leaders of the two departments would not accept questions from reporters.

Almost all press conferences have a question-and-answer session, which is the norm.

But now they were suddenly told that they were not allowed to ask questions, which made the doubts in everyone's minds deepen, and at the same time, they realized that this must be a major event!

But Chinese football was stagnant. What major event could there be? Could it be that the higher-ups had dug up another corruption scandal? This time, were enough Football Association officials going in? Oh, that would be a big deal.

But when Nan Yong and others went in before, the Football Association and the General Administration of Sport didn't hold a joint press conference...

The reporters had been talking about it since they entered the press conference hall.

The small conference room was filled with buzzing discussions.

※※※

After announcing the official start of the press conference, there was no eye contact between the three people. Deng Wenjun started directly.

He looked down at a piece of paper in his hand and read mechanically.

But the first sentence he uttered shocked everyone present.

"We are holding a press conference here today. I publicly apologize to Chen Hero and offer my sincerest apologies!"

Pandemonium!

After this sentence was spoken, the entire conference room was like a pot that had been boiled over, and many people exclaimed in surprise.

"Did I hear that right?!"

"What is Deng Wenjun saying? Apologizing to Chen Hero?!"

"This must be an illusion!"

"Did you hear what he said just now?"

"I didn't hear wrong. He was indeed saying that he was apologizing to Chen Hero on behalf of the Football Association and the General Administration of Sport?"

…

"Quiet! Quiet! Please be quiet, everyone! Please keep quiet, reporters!" In just an instant, the order in the conference room was out of control, and the host had to loudly remind the reporters to keep quiet.

As for the three leaders, they were like wooden sculptures on the stage, expressionless, without even a change in action. They just watched the reporters' astonishment with cold eyes.

With the host's reminder, order was finally restored at the scene.

Deng Wenjun was able to continue speaking.

"...We have fully realized the mistakes we made before and have made profound reflections... After our investigation, it has now been found that the conflict between Chen Hero and his teammate Zhang Wei during the Olympic team was caused by Zhang Wei deliberately injuring people and maliciously provoking them. Chen Hero was just protecting himself and was not at fault in any way. However, under the instructions of Nan Yong, Chen Hero was framed and eventually expelled from the Olympic team... This is a very serious mistake! I am deeply saddened... Here, we offer our sincerest apologies to the wronged Chen Hero!"

After speaking, the three people stood up in unison, as if they had rehearsed it, and bowed to the camera in unison!

To be honest, the reporters were no longer shocked, because they finally knew what this press conference was about...

The General Administration of Sport and the Football Association would actually bow their heads to Chen Hero, which made them feel that the scene in front of them was like an absurd comedy, quite unreal.

The two most powerful institutions in Chinese sports actually bowed and apologized to a player in unison! This had never happened since the founding of the People's Republic of China!

In fact, when Chen Hero made a bold statement, claiming that he would not consider returning to the national team until the Chinese Football Association and the General Administration of Sport apologized to him, the reporters present felt that Chen Hero's path to serving the country had been blocked.

At that time, they directly announced in the media that everyone could stop fantasizing about Chen Hero being able to wear the red jersey of the Chinese national team one day.

Who would have thought... that Chen Hero would actually make the General Administration of Sport and the Football Association bow their heads to him!

This was... too awesome, right?

※※※

The subsequent program could no longer surprise the reporters. Although it was a leader's speech apologizing to Chen Hero, the same three people stood up and bowed to Chen Hero a second time.

Then they also talked about how the General Administration of Sport would vigorously grasp the reform and development of Chinese football, striving to make Chinese football truly move towards professionalization...

These were all old topics, and everyone's mind wasn't on them. The reporters began to rapidly draft their articles.

The press conference was very short, because it was just two leaders' speeches, and there were no questions from reporters. So after the official of the General Administration of Sport finished speaking, the host directly announced that the press conference was over and thanked everyone for their participation.

The three leaders got up and walked out, while the reporters split into two groups. One group squeezed forward, extending microphones, mobile phones, and recorders towards the three officials, shouting various questions.

The other group of reporters turned around and walked out. They couldn't wait to rush back and write the latest articles.

As for the live broadcast, it had already been broadcast through Weibo and other online means. What they had to do was write in-depth analysis articles.

In addition, they also eagerly wanted to confirm a guess—the General Administration of Sport and the Football Association had now bowed their heads to Chen Hero, so would Chen Hero keep his promise and return to the Chinese national team?

For a time, the scene became somewhat chaotic, with various shouts intertwined.

※※※

Chen Hero didn't see this chaotic scene. The TV broadcast signal ended here. But he felt great.

Especially when he saw the three leaders who were usually arrogant in the media actually stand up twice and bow to him, he felt as good as blowing air conditioning on a hot day. Every pore on his body was expanding and feeling comfortable.

Seeing these most powerful people in Chinese sports and football actually bow their heads to him, he had a feeling of conquest.

But this feeling of elation only lasted for a very short time before it was interrupted by Dracula's call.

"Hero, Vera has received many calls from Chinese media. They want to interview you..."

"Is it about whether I want to return to the national team?" Chen Hero wasn't surprised.

"Yes."

"You let Vera tell them that as long as they recruit me, I will go back."

Chen Hero had long thought very clearly about whether he really wanted to serve the country. He wasn't playing for the national team for the sake of those officials' political achievements, although maybe it would become their political achievements. He didn't have such thoughts subjectively. He also didn't think about leading the Chinese team to achieve any great achievements. Having been cultivated in the Chinese football system since he was a child, he knew a lot about the things in Chinese football and naturally knew the strength of the Chinese team.

He wasn't here to be a savior.

So why was he still coming back?

Because he didn't want to disappoint those fans time and time again.

The Chinese fans were so enthusiastic. Every time he followed Liverpool back to China, even if it was just a commercial game, every game was packed.

Those fans were all there to see him. They weren't just Liverpool fans. Many of them were even fans of other teams. Chen Hero had seen many Chinese fans in the stands wearing jerseys of European teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Napoli, Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich...

Perhaps they were using this deliberate way to show that they weren't Liverpool fans.

But they were Chen Hero's fans.

Chinese fans were almost all Chen Hero's fans.

But when they cheered for Chen Hero wearing a Liverpool jersey, would there be a trace of regret in their hearts?

--How great would it be if that red jersey had a five-star red flag on its chest...

He was just for these lovely, innocent Chinese fans. He wanted to come back and fulfill their wishes, just like he fulfilled the wishes of those Liverpool fans.