Chapter 272 – Season’s End (3)
272
The long first season in the EPL is over.
I wasn’t aware of it during the season, but when I saw that my legs were wobbly as the tension was released the moment the last league game ended, it seems that my body was steadily building up fatigue.
Just because all official matches are over doesn’t mean that the team is given a vacation right away.
Because I was waiting for schedules such as the club’s own event.
However, I was able to take a break early thanks to the club’s consideration of the rest of the official schedule as much as possible, as if my reeling appearance seemed dangerous.
“Guys… Please stop… I won’t come out anymore.”
I have suffered greatly.
“Red? Oh my gosh!? Why is your face… Was the season that hard!?”
“…….”
At the end of the last season, everyone was astonished at my haggard appearance at the club event announcing the end of the season.
Seeing my co-workers with self-blaming faces, my conscience stings.
“I guess I was a bit overworked this season. Don’t worry. Next season, I will prepare thoroughly and come back.”
“Red… !!”
“A guy like you is really….”
“I was able to come this far because I had such a perfect professionalism!!”
Well.
It wasn’t my conscience that stung me, it was my dick.
Officially, the team has also been disbanded, so the only thing left is a vacation… It wasn’t.
“Are you all gathered? Start.”
Although I am the only player with name value, and my presence is dim, Oh Harin is the representative of MH Agency, and Yoon Daye is a personal trainer and manager of the agency.
In a way, the full-fledged agency work started now, so it started with the season’s settlement.
A small office rented as an office.
I heard that they moved to Newcastle and set up a small office, but this is the first time I’ve been there, and the space is smaller than I thought.
Among them, I came out to a room that seemed to be used as a conference room, including Oh Harin and Yoon Daye, to fuck me during the break… No, Elena who came to see me, Heeyeon noona, the reporter noona, and for some reason, even Tina Lott, who was sitting in one seat, were all occupied.
… Really why?
“This season has been more successful than we thought. Both individually and as a team.”
Daye Yoon, who is in charge of the presentation, starts her presentation by opening a PPT on the Beam Project.
When did you make that again?
“From Golden Boot to PFA Player of the Year, PFA Fans’ Choice Player of the Year, PFA Team of the Year and FWA Player of the Year. Unfortunately, except for the PFA Young Player of the Year, who was age-restricted due to a one-year age difference, it was a sweeping victory.”
The Golden Boot refers to the EPL top scorer, derived from a soccer boot-shaped trophy given to the top scorer.
PEA stands for Professional Footballers’ Association, the players’ union, and FWA is The Football Writers’ Association, a group of football reporters and correspondents who write for England’s newspapers and their agencies.
In fact, it is not true even if he monopolized the EPL domestic awards, except for the helper king or the goalkeeper’s Golden Glove, which are difficult to receive as a goal-getter.
Isn’t that the player who passed the 40th goal notice in the league that has not been broken since the football league, the predecessor of the EPL?
In addition, since he is the most popular global sports star in the world, he must have a purpose to set a ‘record’.
In order to check the other four leagues that are fiercely pursuing in the global market, it is important for players who can target markets outside of Europe, especially the Asian market, which is the largest football market, to attract attention.
“Stats and awards are important, but the most positive thing for us is the image-making effect. It’s slightly different from the branding we wanted, but now the Hong Min-joon brand has successfully established itself.”
It is clear that the good conditions, the team situation at the time, and the active courtship of the board played a big role in coming to Newcastle, whether it was the conditions, the surface conditions, or the undisclosed behind-the-scenes provisions.
However, that was my personal standard, and I considered various things other than Harin and Daye, and one of them was my image making.
“As everyone knows, failure at Barcelona was a pretty big risk in a short professional career. There were also suspicions that despite his success in the Bundesliga, he was only playing in the right league.”
Surprisingly, it is not uncommon for players to play only in the league that suits them.
For example, Roberto Soldado. Didn’t the player who showed the highest level of activity in the human world in La Liga show a performance that was inferior to that of an ordinary striker in the EPL?
No matter how active he was, his success in the Bundesliga after failing in La Liga in such a short professional career was enough to raise doubts. I cleaned it up this time.
“Thanks to his performance this season, minor suspicions have been cleared away, and now his image as a player who competes with the best in the world in name and reality has been solidified. According to the data handed over by the statisticians, that image seems to have been established after his performances in the Champions League, especially against Barcelona and Real Madrid, and the first time in English history that he scored 40 league goals.”
In choosing the world’s best players, unexpectedly, the influence of outside of skills cannot be ignored.
Reality isn’t a game, and it probably doesn’t have a status window like I did, but isn’t the player’s skill quantified?
In addition, it is difficult to establish an objective line because each player is placed in so many different situations, such as the team situation, play style, league tendency, coach’s tactics, and condition.
So, isn’t there a lot of controversy about the Ballon d’Or, which is awarded to the world’s best player?
So, unexpectedly, a player’s popularity was an important factor in the Ballon d’Or. Of course, skill is the basic premise, but if it is not popular, it can be called ‘Ribery’.
In 2013. In a situation where Ribery’s Ballon d’Or award was likely to be won by anyone, Ronaldo was the winner.
It’s not by any means that Ronaldo’s skills are inferior to Ribery’s, but considering that Ribery was a matchmaker in his performance and performance, it can’t be a pretty unexpected result… In the end, Ballon d’Or voting is also an event that proves that such popularity and image are factors that cannot be ignored.
It’s a fucking reality, but as an Asian, I have the same skills, the same grades, the same performance… No, even if it is a weaker advantage, it can be pushed, so you have to work in advance.
“Aside from that, the images that come to mind when thinking of Hong Min-joon are ‘Win Seung-cheong’s adverb’ and ‘Boy’s head of household’. It was an image that would not have been possible if we started with a strong team from the beginning, but the branding succeeded faster than I thought.”
I have such an image.
You are good… It’s obviously good, but an image that needs proof.
Messi at Barcelona, for example.
It is clear that he is a GOAT in the soccer world, but can Messi play such an active role on a weak team? Can such an activity be possible even in the rough EPL? … Same image.
In that sense, my current image would have been an image I would never have had if I had started with a strong team from the beginning.
“As a team, it is the League Cup, but we also won a championship cup, and we have good performances in the league and the Champions League, so it is worth evaluating that it was successful enough. You will be dissatisfied.”
I? Not really?
“We packed everything we wanted to pack when we came to Newcastle. In fact, it would be okay to leave Newcastle at the end of this season… As you all know, it’s two more years. Know?”
It’s understandable considering another purpose of coming to Newcastle, but it’s also hard to move the team every year… There are too many images of migratory birds….
Above all, there must be a lot of time left in the contract. There is no buyout clause, but Newcastle will go smoothly, saying that I will transfer. There is no way to do it.
“An article will be published next week or so, but sooner or later an article on the youth exchange agreement between Newcastle and Sejong GT will be published.”
Sejong GT is the club acquired this time.
I was motivated at first, but now… Still, it seems that the change to a training-oriented club is progressing steadily as originally planned.
“Details are written in the report, but in summary, a certain number of coaches and youth are selected each year and entrusted to Newcastle for one year, and a former youth general manager and several coaches join the club for one year to pass on Newcastle’s know-how. Hey.”
Since it was Newcastle, which had successfully implemented a fostering-oriented policy even before I moved, I would like to receive the know-how.
If it goes well, it could produce future national team-level prospects.
What if not… It just ends there.
“Finally, what are your plans for the future? For now, this is the schedule for this break.”
Looking at the schedule on the screen, it was scheduled to fly straight to Dubai, do a talk show, and briefly join a professional soccer team affiliated with Dubai to train together.
That’s it, it’s a 2-3 day schedule at the most, so it’s simple.
After that, after returning to Korea, I took a break while shooting 1 or 2 entertainment shows and a few commercials, and then I donated my talents and volunteered… Will it be over if I return to England right before the pre-season and appear on a talk show?
“Have you become fluent in Arabic? The reaction was good last time, so let’s go like this. Dubai is enthusiastic, and Abu Dhabi is a bit lacking since Man City is the national club, but… Anyway, Man City are doing well, so they are friendly to you too. If we continue like this for one or two more years, there will be a response from all over the Arab world.”
“That’s fine. I was able to do it because I was constantly learning Arabic. But what about Korean entertainment? Where are you going?”
“Radio star.”