Beating Blackpool 4-0 did not leave Swansea's players ecstatic after the match.
On the contrary, once they returned to the away dressing room, they all began complaining.
Villa looked at the scratch on his calf left by an opponent's boot and frowned.
"What's the point of them doing this? Is it just to hurt people?"
Ibrahimović rubbed his still-aching jaw and said fiercely, "I really want to beat the hell out of them. Hiss…"
"Soone who got hit in the jaw should probably stop talking," Emlyn Hughes said from the side.
Cromwell, Jas Cook, Pedretti, Grosso, and several others all had minor injuries.
Although none of those knocks would cause serious damage to muscles or bones, they still left the players full of resentnt.
Lynn stood beside the dressing room door.
He did not go to accept any interviews.
Instead, he thought back over the match. In the final thirty minutes, Blackpool's players had completely stopped playing the ball and started playing the man.
They had been affected by the atmosphere inside the stadium, becoming violent, desperate to vent their frustration!
Bloomfield Road had not left him with any pleasant mories.
He urged the players to pack their bags quickly, and then the whole group boarded the team bus, ready to leave.
Swansea's players, coaches, and traveling staff all got onto the bus together.
But the mont their bus drove out of the stadium car park, the scene outside startled them!
Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of supporters had gathered in the street.
In a frenzy, they rushed forward, slapping the side of the bus, their expressions twisted as they raised middle fingers toward the Swansea players inside and hurled endless abuse.
In front of the bus, so fans were even holding sticks and smashing them hard against the front of the vehicle.
Inside the bus, the players were furious.
They were all hot-blooded young n. Who was afraid of whom?
Ibrahimović shouted, "Fuck it! Let's fight them!"
"Zlatan, sit back down!"
Lynn turned from the front and glared at Ibrahimović.
Then he walked to the driver, his expression grave, and said, "Drive."
The driver was scared stiff. "But there are people in front! A lot of people!"
Lynn's expression suddenly turned vicious.
He said firmly, "Drive. If you run one over, that's his bad luck. If you run over a group of them, then worst case, I'll go to prison."
Hearing Lynn's words, the driver's expression instantly froze.
The players sitting behind them roared together in righteous fury.
"Fuck! Drive! Run those bastards over! Sons of bitches!"
One person's words might not have carried much weight, but a whole crowd shouting together was enough to incite anyone.
The driver's blood surged.
He slamd his right hand onto the horn and roared, "Get the fuck out of the way! I'm driving!"
The bus started moving.
The crowd blocking the front imdiately scattered.
In the end, they were afraid to die!
In the end, they still knew they were not Superman or Iron Man!
Swansea's team bus successfully broke through the encirclent.
Once they were safely on the road, Lynn walked back, patted Ibrahimović on the shoulder, and said, "Are you stupid? What are you worth, and what are those dogs outside worth? All of them put together aren't worth one of your toes. You wanted to rush out and fight them? Even if you were possessed by Bruce Lee, you'd still lose a layer of skin!"
Ibrahimović grinned. "I'm black-belt level in karate! Hahaha. Boss, you were a real man just now! What if we really killed soone?"
His teammates burst into laughter.
Thinking back on it now, they still felt a lingering fear.
Lynn shrugged. "What could happen? A lawsuit, I suppose. As for idiots like that, running one over would count as cleaning the streets for society."
"Hahaha, I like that!"
Lynn returned to his seat.
Although the whole team could now return ho safely, an ominous feeling lingered in his heart.
In his impression, Blackpool were not a club notorious for hooliganism.
Compared with the two East London clubs known as cradles of football hooligans, West Ham United and Millwall, Blackpool were certainly the more peaceful kind of club.
So why had such a large-scale football hooligan incident suddenly erupted today?
There had to be so unknown reason behind it.
Lynn's bad feeling was soon confird.
Halfway through the journey, his phone rang.
Mo Yuan's low voice ca through the receiver.
"Lynn, sothing happened. The Swansea fans who went to Bloomfield Road today were provoked by Blackpool fans after the match. A conflict broke out between both sides. More than twenty people were injured and sent to hospital. The police have intervened and started investigating. From what I've heard, the situation is complicated.
"The group that took the lead weren't actually Blackpool fans. They were wearing Blackpool shirts and mixed into the ho stands. CCTV shows that after the match, they organized a fight with weapons, then all fled before the police arrived.
"It looks like Blackpool are victims too."
Lynn's mood instantly grew extrely heavy.
He said, "Go to the hospital first and visit the injured supporters. Help them return to Swansea. Then hold a press conference. Don't be afraid of making this bigger. We are absolutely the victims here. We need to clear our na before the dia muddies the waters and makes the whole thing unclear.
We are victims. We have nothing to do with football hooligans!"
"Understood. I'll act imdiately. We'll discuss the details when you get back."
After hanging up on Mo Yuan, Lynn suppressed the fury burning inside him.
Because this kind of incident would damage his interests.
Even though Swansea were victims, safety concerns would definitely hurt the enthusiasm of the supporters.
If fans decided that going to the stadium to watch a match was dangerous, then any normal person would keep their distance.
Just as Lynn was deep in thought, his phone rang again.
He picked it up and glanced at the caller ID.
It was an unfamiliar number.
He pressed answer and said, "Hello, this is Lynn. May I ask who this is?"
"Mr. Lynn, hello. I am Karl Oyston, chairman of Blackpool Football Club. It was a sha that I was unable to et you when I visited Swansea more than three months ago. I would like to apologize to you in person. You once ca to our club seeking a position, but we treated you coldly. That was negligence on our part. Please forgive us."
In truth, Blackpool had not gone overboard when rejecting Lynn's job application.
They had simply rejected him.
They had not done anything excessive. To put it plainly, it had been perfectly normal.
Lynn did not believe he was so outstanding that the whole world should fight over him the mont he applied for a job.
Blackpool had only rejected him
There was nothing to regret, and certainly no need for a special apology.
However, Lynn could also understand why Karl Oyston was apologizing first at a ti like this.
No one knew whether Lynn possessed the magnanimity of a gentleman or the petty mind of soone eager for revenge.
Assuming Lynn was narrow-minded and held grudges, then after a supporter conflict broke out, Karl Oyston lowering his posture and apologizing first was nothing more than an attempt to calm Lynn down and prevent him from using the incident as ammunition.
After all, the supporter conflict had happened on Blackpool's territory!
Not in Swansea!
No matter how one looked at it, Blackpool did not have the moral high ground.
If Swansea decided to make a big deal out of it, Blackpool could face a heavy punishnt from the Football Association!
There was nothing shaful about Karl Oyston acting humble for the mont.
Lynn had no interest in exchanging false politeness with him, so he said bluntly, "Mr. Oyston, there is no need to feel regret, and no need to apologize to . There's no need to bring up the past, and besides, Blackpool Football Club did nothing wrong. You called because you want to discuss the football hooligan incident, correct?"
"Yes, yes! I want to tell you solemnly and seriously that although a small number of Blackpool fans participated in the disturbance outside Bloomfield Road, they were incited. The real leaders of the troublemaking group were not our fans. They were not even locals from Blackpool. Blackpool and Swansea are both victims of football hooliganism!"
There had naturally been Blackpool supporters involved in the riot.
Fans were fans, after all.
So of them were bound to get emotional and follow the ringleaders into reckless behavior. Lynn understood that very well.
"All right, Chairman. I will look at this matter rationally. I won't forcibly place the bla on Blackpool Football Club. If I did that, the real culprits would only be laughing behind our backs and mocking both of our clubs."
"I didn't expect you to be so reasonable. It's excellent that we can reach a common understanding."
"Not so fast, Chairman. From what I know right now, so Swansea supporters were injured in the riot. Swansea will not force the responsibility onto Blackpool Football Club, but I hope Blackpool can show sincerity. At the very least, your club should send staff to visit the injured supporters. No matter what, that is sothing you ought to do."
"That won't be a problem."
"Good. If there is anything else, we'll discuss it in detail after I return to the club. Goodbye."
After hanging up again, Lynn closed his eyes and leaned back against his seat to rest.
He needed to close his eyes and recover his energy. Once he returned, there would be plenty of things waiting for him.
Fortunately, there was no midweek match next week, which gave him so ti to deal with the situation.
Otherwise, with everything piling up together, it really would have left him overwheld.
By the ti Swansea's bus returned to Swansea, the local Welsh dia had already been waiting for a long ti.
However, Lynn had issued a gag order to the entire team on the bus. No one was allowed to speak carelessly to the dia, and no one was allowed to accept interviews.
He understood who the real enemy was.
They could not simply push the bla onto Blackpool. If they did that, the football hooligans would escape justice.
After getting off the bus, Lynn, the Swansea players, and the staff all wore solemn expressions.
They ignored the reporters' interview requests, and the team dispersed on the spot.
Lynn stayed at the club, waiting for news from Mo Yuan.
At the sa ti, BBC Wales had already begun reporting on the supporter riot that had occurred in the Lancashire town of Blackpool.
The Football Association was also preparing to intervene and investigate the incident.
Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston imdiately held a press conference, clarifying to the outside world that Blackpool had not tolerated or sheltered football hooligans, and that they too were victims of hooligan trouble.
Lynn, anwhile, expressed Swansea Football Club's position through BBC Wales reporter Cath Carter.
Swansea hoped that the Football Association and the relevant authorities would strengthen supervision of football hooligans, while issuing a strongly worded condemnation of football hooligan violence.
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