Night fell, and the city lights ca on.
The southwest district of Swansea had always been quiet and pleasant, but tonight, a rare and explosive scene was unfolding there.
Outside the gates of Swansea City Football Club, hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of people had gathered.
They blocked the club entrance in a fan-shaped crowd.
n and won, old and young, people of every age group and from every walk of life were present.
Workers, farrs, scholars, rchants, and even figures from the city's more dubious circles could be seen among them.
The row of people directly in front of the club gates had different identities.
At the centre were four n wearing Swansea City shirts.
They were strong, fit n between twenty and thirty years old.
The shirts they wore had been taken from the team dressing room, because they played for this club.
Swansea City players.
More precisely, first-team regulars.
Behind them stood around ten more players, also wearing Swansea City shirts.
They too played for Swansea, from the youth team to the reserves, and then up to the first team.
In total, sixteen players were taking part in this protest.
Beside them were respected representatives from supporters' groups, middle-class representatives who had once helped raise funds for the club during difficult tis, and even local councillors who had joined this lively spectacle.
Across the road, the crowd was packed shoulder to shoulder.
The banners they pulled out and the placards they raised all expressed almost the sa aning.
"Chinese Out of Swansea!"
"Give Us Back the Swans!"
"Don't Touch Our Swans!"
Outside the gates, Swansea's twenty-five-year-old first-team regular Mike Howard had beco the leader of the protest against the club.
He roared passionately at the crowd, "This is our ho! Now, an irrational beast has entered our ho! This beast wants to destroy our ho! Can we ignore that?"
The enraged crowd answered in unison, "No!"
Howard continued shouting, "We must drive away this beast and take back our ho, right?"
"Right!"
It was probably very rare for players to take the lead in stirring up supporters to protest against their own club.
But outside Swansea City, it was really happening.
The police watched from the periter.
After all, violent conflicts connected to football always gave the police a headache.
Only, the police had not expected that Swansea City, usually so peaceful and uneventful, would suddenly be hit by such turmoil today, with faint signs of becoming a raging storm.
It was truly unexpected.
When the dazzling red Ferrari passed the road in front of Swansea City, it slowed to a stop for a mont.
From inside the car, Lynn looked through the window at the scene in front of the club gates.
His expression beca rather solemn.
He gave Erin a hand signal.
Erin started the Ferrari again and quickly drove away from the scene.
After leaving the club, Erin asked curiously, "With your personality, why didn't you get out of the car just now? Soone is leading a rebellion."
Lynn looked out the window and said calmly, "If I got out, what could I say with just my mouth? Nothing would improve. Instead, it might intensify the conflict and put in a very dangerous situation. I'm not that stupid."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"I'll go ho first. I'll sleep on it."
Erin sent Lynn ho.
...
As soon as Lynn walked into the first-floor hall of the villa, he saw his mother, Tang Yue, sitting on the sofa with a worried expression.
His father, Lin Jiajie, was holding a phone and making a call.
"Charles, listen to . Listen to . I don't know why sothing like this has happened, but you need to understand that I spent three million pounds to buy this club. I will not retreat or change my mind just because of what other people say or do. You tell . What did I do wrong?"
"What? It was a mistake from the beginning? The acquisition itself was a mistake? Charles! Listen carefully. Say what you just said again! Say it again! If you think the Lin family buying a local Swansea club was a mistake, then fine. I will withdraw all of my investnts in Swansea. Since it is a mistake, then all the mistakes should be corrected! Including all of my friends—their investnts in Swansea should be withdrawn as well!"
"Now you're telling to calm down? What did the Lin family do wrong? I haven't even told you yet that an hour ago, soone sent a death-threat letter to my house! This is your city, Charles. You are the mayor. I am not! When you figure it out, or when you actually do sothing, then you can co back and tell to calm down!"
It seed that Lin Jiajie's conversation with Swansea mayor Charles Potter was not going smoothly.
However, his father's confidence still made Lynn admire him.
Money really did make one the boss.
At worst, the Lin family could simply move sowhere else and take hundreds of millions of pounds in investnt with them.
After Lin Jiajie hung up, he saw Lynn sitting beside Tang Yue and said to him, "Son, I was just lying earlier. No one sent us a death-threat letter. Don't take it to heart."
Lynn smiled and said, "It's probably coming soon. Did you see what's happening outside the club?"
"I heard about it. What exactly is going on? I don't believe these Welsh people have gone mad just because we're Chinese."
Lin Jiajie was puzzled by the matter.
After all, if their national pride were truly that strong, then the companies and businesses he had invested in around Swansea probably would not have been able to hire any British employees at all.
But what was the reality?
It was all nonsense.
Almost everyone working for him was British.
Lynn picked up the cigarette packet on the table, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
Frowning slightly, he said, "Maybe several things collided at once and triggered too intense a reaction. The club was acquired yesterday. Today, I announced several reforms at the club. On top of that, I had a rather unpleasant encounter with a journalist from ITV Wales. Multiple factors got mixed together."
Aside from the turbulence caused by the change of ownership, Lynn had also announced today that nearly fifty players were being released.
Naturally, that included so first-team regulars.
The players willing to negotiate with the club were behaving themselves.
They would either switch roles and beco coaches or scouts, or find another way out.
But for so players who were born and raised in Swansea, who had served the club for many years from the academy to the first team—so even for more than ten years—they simply could not accept what the club was doing.
Naturally, they were furious.
So they protested against the club.
After Lynn's unpleasant conversation that morning with David Livingstone, the ITV Wales journalist, Livingstone published an article at noon on the BBS community where Swansea supporters were most active.
"Please Stop This Ridiculous Farce!"
Livingstone once again ntioned the "scandals" that had made Lynn a laughingstock in English football over the past two months.
Although he did not comnt on Lynn's ntal condition or psychological health, he seized upon sothing Lynn had said that morning.
The Lin family were investors.
In other words, Livingstone interpreted this as the Lin family wanting to make huge profits from Swansea City.
Putting that in front of the supporters was naturally sothing they could not accept.
As a result, a supporters' representative nad Richard Cork called on the fans to resist the club together, protest against the club, put pressure on the Lin family, and drive them away.
At the sa ti, in the afternoon, news of the internal turmoil inside the club spread.
Mike Howard, who could not accept the club's terms, joined forces with other players who also refused the arrangent and started a "rebellion."
They spread the news of the club's internal "revolution."
When the supporters heard the news, they completely exploded.
Even the dia were alerted.
On the second day after the change of ownership, Lynn had carried out a brutal clearout of the squad.
Nearly fifty players had been cleared out.
In everyone's eyes, this was a bloody purge that left bodies everywhere.
No one outside the club could understand what Lynn was trying to do.
He looked like a complete outsider who knew nothing about football.
He seed to regard the club entirely as a toy, sothing to casually play with and manipulate.
Clearing out nearly fifty players all at once?
Including several first-team regulars?
Madness.
Complete madness.
Not only would he destroy Swansea's present, but he would also uproot the foundations of the future represented by the youth team and reserves.
How could the supporters accept that?
So they imdiately took action, wanting to stop the suicidal behavior currently being carried out by the club.
On the way back to Swansea, Lynn had already learned the general situation through phone calls with Mo Yuan and Tony Benn.
After he told Lin Jiajie all this, Lin Jiajie thought for a mont, then said to Lynn, "Son, the club is yours. I won't interfere with what you do. But about that journalist, I need to remind you of sothing. You need to see the essence clearly. Are we enemies with the dia?"
Lynn thought for a mont, then said, "Of course not. With the dia's ability to spread information, there can be greater fa and influence. Of course, that can be positive or negative."
"And journalists?"
"Uh…"
Lynn seed to realize sothing.
Lin Jiajie had always been refined and elegant in appearance, words, and manner.
But now, a cold light flashed in his eyes.
He said to Lynn in a deep voice, "Son, journalists are not your enemies either. They are only dogs that like to gnaw on bones. Once you feed them sweet, fragrant bones until they are full, they will obediently squat in front of you and follow your command. Whether they wag their tails and beg you for favor, or reveal their vicious side and open their mouths to bite others—that is all decided by you."
Lynn suddenly understood.
He smiled and nodded to Lin Jiajie.
Tang Yue sat beside them, looking strangely back and forth between Lynn and Lin Jiajie's faces.
For so reason, she felt that, in this mont, father and son really seed to overlap.
Because the light flashing in their eyes was so similar, and the smiles at the corners of their mouths seed to carry the sa trace of wickedness.
Lynn was very grateful for his father's guidance.
Strictly speaking, even if he added both his lives together, he had still lived fewer years than his father.
On top of that, Lin Jiajie had fought his way through the business world.
Whether in sches and deception or social hypocrisy, his skills had long since reached mastery.
These were precisely the things Lynn lacked.
In truth, he was still a sharp-edged young man, and in many situations, he acted according to his feelings.
...
After having dinner at ho, Lynn returned to his room.
Before going to bed, he carefully thought about how to calm the "rebellion" currently facing the club.
Once he had an idea, he called Mo Yuan and told him to arrange three separate etings for the next day.
User Comments
0 comments from readers