From the eting just now, it was clear to everyone that Richard, the current owner, ant business. The situation echoed the ti when he fired the entire scouting departnt—he wasn’t playing around.
Firing the entire physio team? Was he out of his mind? What would happen if a player got injured?
John, who walked behind Richard, couldn’t help but question the decision. After all, for a football club, the pillars of the sporting departnt are the coaching staff, scouting, dical, and the academy.
So, soone with experience in football certainly couldn’t comprehend what Richard aid to achieve by firing the entire physio team.
"Richard, I get it—you’ve already fired the entire coaching staff and the previous scouting departnt. But now, the physio team? Are you crazy? What happens when a player gets injured? Don’t tell we’re supposed to take every injured player to the hospital."
"Isn’t it better?"
That was all Richard said to counter his questioning, leaving John speechless.
The injury rate among football players is high, and predicting specific injuries is challenging. In many ways, football has advanced dically, increasing awareness of terms like niscus, tatarsals, peroneus brevis, and cruciate ligants.
The sheer volu of injury-related terminology can be overwhelming, even for sothing as comprehensive as the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Richard opened the docunt, selected five of them, and placed them in front of John.
"These are the background checks for the five physiotherapists at City, including the head and his assistant. Two are licensed doctors, and the other three are forr fitness coaches. So, if I ask you—when a player gets injured, like Paul Lake, would you trust his recovery to a fitness coach instead of professionals with dical expertise?"
In 1990s, many clubs still operated with relatively basic dical equipnt. Physiotherapists primarily relied on manual techniques such as massage, stretching, ice baths, and bandages to treat injuries.
It’s the sa with personnel—why would the current City squad only have five physios, with three of them being forr fitness coaches and not dical doctors?
It’s because football clubs at the ti had more generalized dical staff, where one or two physiotherapists treated players, while others focused on imdiate treatnt during and after matches.
This approach was less structured, and physiotherapists didn’t have the specialized roles or advanced skills seen in modern sports dicine.
Rest and basic treatnts like ice packs, bandages, and heat were the most common forms of injury recovery. But for specific injuries like ACL tears, dislocated joints, and fractures, further dical assistance was often needed.
"..."
John was left speechless.
Even with physiotherapists on staff, injuries may not always be treated properly or in a tily manner, leading to extended recovery tis or even more severe long-term damage.
For Richard, the current state of City’s dical departnt could be summarized as follows: a lack of preventative care, insufficient expertise in dical ergencies, and a less structured approach to injury prevention.
Paul Lake’s injury is the pri example.
Had they been providing tailored treatnt plans based on his specific needs, perhaps Paul’s injury would not have worsened to this extent, potentially jeopardizing his career.
Richard spread his hands and stated matter-of-factly, "See? This is exactly my point. We must expand the dical departnt to avoid misdiagnoses and improper treatnts in the future, ensuring the health of our players. Therefore, I plan to build a dical center step by step, eventually evolving it into a specialized hospital dedicated to catering to Manchester City."
"What?! But the budget—" John interjected, clearly surprised by Richard’s proposal. He felt that suggesting the club should build a hospital was a bit extre.
Richard turned and looked at John, his tone calm but firm. "John, do you know how much a star player could cost in the future?"
John shook his head, unsure.
"I’ll tell you," Richard continued. "Ten million is just a standard transfer fee for a regular player. True stars? They’ll go for anywhere between thirty and sixty million. So, this isn’t just about the dical departnt. From a business perspective, if a player suffers a career-ending injury, we’re looking at a loss of millions. If multiple players fall to injuries, it becos an astronomical figure. Keep any doubts about player value to yourself—ti will prove right."
"..."
That’s when John suddenly brought up the keyword ’budget,’ causing Richard’s eyebrow to twitch.
"Alright, enough with the dical discussion. Now tell , how has Rivaldo already reached a verbal agreent with PSV? What have you been doing?!"
His plan to bring in the trio—Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Rivaldo—was in shambles, thanks to the guy in front of him.
Originally, his plan was simple: let the trio "R" take care of City’s front and then sell them for a high price after the 2002 World Cup. How much money could he rake from that?
John remained calm as he answered Richard’s question. "You said before that you’d handle Patrick Vieira’s transfer. But our current transfer budget isn’t enough to—"
"Didn’t I approve you to allow such a transfer?" Richard cut in sharply.
John hesitated. "But usually, under Lee’s managent, I was the one who handled those kinds of—"
Richard raised his hand abruptly, clearly frustrated. He was tired of John hiding behind Francis Lee’s managent style to making decisions on his own.
"Am I Francis Lee to you?" Richard’s voice was low but sharp.
"..."
"What was my instruction to you before? Take care of Vieira’s transfer, right?" Richard pressed on. "Now, tell , how far along is the transfer? What progress have you made?"
John frowned, hearing the urgency in Richard’s tone, but he still tried to explain. "Well, after I get the fee from Rivaldo, I can raise the funds to et As Cannes’ asking price for Vieira—"
"Are you sure about that?"
"What do you an?"
Richard took a deep breath. "Do you know that Berlusconi approached Vieira before you even made your first move? While you were busy negotiating Rivaldo’s transfer behind my back, Vieira was already halfway to signing with AC Milan."
John stood frozen, completely dumbfounded.
"That’s impossible, I already—" he stopped mid-sentence and instinctively reached for his phone, intending to call AS Cannes, but Richard waved his hand dismissively.
"There’s no point. How do you expect to compete with AC Milan now? Even if you offer him a bonus, there’s no way Vieira will change his mind—especially not when Berlusconi himself got involved directly."
John stared at him, still processing. "How did you find out about this? There hasn’t even been any news yet..."
Richard cast him a brief, sideways glance. "His mother told ."
John shut his mouth instantly, realizing he was completely out of his depth.
Richard let out a long sigh, picked up his phone, and dialed—this ti, calling Rivaldo directly.
The phone rang twice before the line clicked.
"..."
"Rivaldo, it’s Richard."
A brief silence followed. Then ca Rivaldo’s voice—calm, respectful, but distant. "Yes, Mr. Richard."
"I’ll get straight to the point," Richard said, leaning forward. "I heard about you and PSV. But I want you here at Manchester. We’re building sothing big next season. You and Ronaldo—we’ll build the team around you both. You won’t just be a star. You’ll be the foundation."
Another pause. A longer one.
"You haven’t signed anything yet, have you?"
"No," Rivaldo replied. "But where I co from, a promise is as good as a contract. And Mr. Richard..." Rivaldo hesitated for a mont before saying what was on his mind. "I’m getting older, and with how City is performing right now, I’m not confident the club can compete at the top level anyti soon."
’You’re still 22, for god’s sake! Can’t you co up with a better excuse than that?’
"..."
Richard took a deep breath. He didn’t respond. Instead, he quietly ended the call, his expression unreadable, then dialed again—this ti, Vieira.
The line picked up quickly.
"I’m sorry—I’m really sorry!" Vieira said before Richard could even speak. "I just signed the contract with them. They’ll probably announce it tomorrow."
Richard slowly set the phone down.
Sotis your investnt pays off, and sotis it doesn’t. Even if you’ve approached the player’s family, at the end of the day, football is all about the relationship you build with the player. If it fails, then sowhere along the line, there was an external factor that caused it to fall through.
Admit it and move on—but first, you need to remove those external factors
Across the room, John stood frozen, wide-eyed, as the weight of the mont sank in.
He hadn’t expected AC Milan to move so quickly—swooping in and snatching up Vieira while he was still busy finalizing Rivaldo’s transfer to PSV!
"Two, John..." Richard could barely get the words out before his voice rose in frustration. "TWO! You just lost two players—players I personally recruited and watched develop!"
How much had he lost in value? Ten million? Twenty?
He had just lost two future stars—talents he knew would rise to the top and could’ve been sold for a massive profit. The thought of it all made Richard’s blood boil.
"Get out."
"...What?"
"I said get out. Don’t co back here again. Go, get your payout from Miss Heysen and be thankful I even gave you that. Consider it a gesture for your so-called contribution—like selling fucking Rivaldo behind my back!"
"W-wait, I didn’t an to—"
"I don’t give a damn anymore. Just go. When you sabotage my players and my club, your position is already gone, John. There’s nothing left to discuss. Just leave."
"I—" He wanted to say sothing, but no words ca out. With a heavy sigh, he turned around—until Richard stopped him.
"Wait—"
John felt a flicker of hope, hoping for another chance... but then he saw Richard pull out a docunt from his drawer and hand it to him.
"Let’s skip the handover process and public statent. You don’t need to co in today, tomorrow, or ever again."
"..."
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