Reborn as Zhao Ruilong of Handong, I will defy fate.

Chapter 395 An Unsolvable Open Scheme? Then I'll Just Quit!

Tang Wentao was furious.

He glared at Ma Yongliang.

"Three games, not a single goal scored, not a single point gained, and a whopping ten goals conceded!"

"In the last game, they fucking conceded five goals! Five!"

"What do you want me to say to you? Huh? What do I say? What do I say!"

boom! boom! boom!

Tang Wentao slammed his fist on the conference table three times.

A dull thud echoed throughout the conference room.

Ma Yongliang lowered his head in remorse, like a child who had done something wrong.

Why are you looking down?

"Lift your head up!"

"I told you to lift your head up!!"

Tang Wentao glared at Ma Yongliang, whose face was full of guilt.

Do you know how many years it took to make it to the World Cup finals?

Do you know how many people across the country have high hopes for the national team?

"Winning the World Cup is unlikely, and even advancing from the group stage is quite difficult."

"But you fucking didn't score a single goal or get a single point in three games."

"In the last game, not only were they thrashed 0-5, but a player was also sent off with a red card. They lost both the game and their dignity!"

Enraged, Tang Wentao banged on the conference table again.

His anger puzzled Ma Yongliang.

The World Cup is a very important competition with extremely high viewership.

The national team's crushing defeat of three games is indeed infuriating and infuriating.

But who is Tang Wentao?

He is the Director of the Sports Administration of China.

Is it necessary for a minister to get so angry?

I guess what angered him wasn't that the Chinese team lost both the game and their composure.

It wasn't that he privately bet on the Dragon Team, but their poor performance caused him to lose too much money.

What truly enraged him was the proposal from the Handong Sports Bureau to thoroughly reform the football system.

Tang Wentao was in charge of overseeing the football system reform back then, and I assisted in its completion.

In a sense, this was Tang Wentao's "achievement project".

In recent years, the domestic professional leagues have been doing very poorly.

Not only are many clubs dissatisfied and resentful, but fans are also angrily denouncing the match-fixing and biased refereeing.

The marketization process wasn't done well either; there weren't many companies sponsoring the league, and the amount they did sponsor was pitifully small.

As a result, many of the existing advertising sponsorships are provided by state-owned enterprises as a favor, with very few private enterprises actively sponsoring them.

Back then, the slogans were loud and clear: by referring to advanced international experience, professionalizing and marketizing football could make China a football powerhouse.

But the result?

The league is poorly run, the youth training system is practically nonexistent, and the football culture and market are so bad they're almost embarrassing.

Finally, the timing was perfect, with Nanhan and Sakura jointly hosting the World Cup, without participating in the qualifiers.

In addition, the favorable group draw in the preliminary rounds allowed the Chinese team to finally enter the finals.

The original intention was to give the Chinese national team a good opportunity to showcase Chinese football at the World Cup.

Unexpectedly, before his face was revealed, his buttocks were shown first.

Three games, no points scored, and conceded ten goals.

Among these 32 participating teams, he is either last or second to last.

at this time.

The Handong Sports Bureau has stepped forward again, determined to carry out the reform of the football system to the end.

Isn't this just adding fuel to the fire?

Isn't this just tearing off the fig leaf?

Isn't this a blatant slap in the face, negating the achievements of reforms made a few years ago?

Such behavior is no less than an open statement that Tang Wentao is largely to blame for the decline of Chinese football!

How could this not infuriate Tang Wentao?

No matter how high his position or how great his power, he is still a human being, not a god.

Everyone has a temper and a fiery temper.

The failure of football system reform is an undeniable fact.

The poor performance of the Chinese national team in the World Cup is also obvious to all.

Tang Wentao had no reason to angrily berate the Handong Sports Bureau; he shouldn't have been so disrespectful and rubbed salt into the wound.

Naturally, he could only vent his anger on himself, the president of the Football Association.

Who told him to be in charge of the initial football system reform?

Why is it that the daily management of the national team is the responsibility of the Football Association, which is under its jurisdiction?

A leader will never admit that he has any problems or has made any mistakes.

If there's a problem, it can only be attributed to subordinates; if there's a mistake, it can only be attributed to subordinates.

and so……

Tang Wentao was in a fit of anger, and Ma Yongliang, who was full of resentment, was in no hurry to argue.

He just kept his head down, looking like it was all my fault, that I deserved to be scolded, that I deserved to die.

"I said back then, if reform can't be thorough, then there should be no reform at all!"

"Otherwise, incomplete reforms will not only be equivalent to no reforms at all, but will also make a mess of football."

"But who listened to me? From top to bottom, everyone thought that marketization was a panacea, and that things would definitely be better once market-oriented reforms were implemented!"

"Little do they know that market-oriented reforms must be carried out thoroughly. How can we allow people to participate in market-oriented operations as public officials? Isn't that like being both the referee and the player?"

"The result of self-governance is that, under the guise of marketization, one can legitimately pursue profit. Football itself is not popular, and with rampant corruption and money-making, how can the team's strength not continue to decline?"

this moment.

Ma Yongliang, who was muttering to himself, actually felt a little nostalgic for the past.

I miss those days when the national treasury supported multiple sports teams.

Parents are willing to let their children play and practice football in order to secure a stable job.

Sports teams in various regions are willing to recruit outstanding young athletes for training in order to ensure they can win competitions.

The selected players train together almost all year round, so their professionalism is naturally very high.

And all sorts of competitions, big and small, can also serve to train the team.

Therefore, Chinese football at that time had both a youth training system and competition experience.

The national team, composed of the best of the best, is naturally a strong team, a top-tier team in the Asia-Pacific region.

However, the sports training system also has its drawbacks.

Besides a rigid management mechanism, talent development is also struggling to keep up with the times.

The biggest drawback is its heavy reliance on government funding, which is a financial burden.

By abolishing the sports team model and promoting professionalization and marketization, the state has reduced its financial burden.

However, the football association, unwilling to relinquish power, has made the once-promising sport of football increasingly worse.

This……

Is it really all my responsibility?

Ma Yongliang couldn't bear such a huge burden of blame, nor did he dare to.

Neither of them spoke anymore.

A long, deathly silence fell over the meeting room.

After a long while, Tang Wentao, whose anger had subsided, finally spoke up to break the silence.

"What are you going to do next?"

Ma Yongliang slowly raised his head.

"After such a crushing defeat, the fans must be incredibly resentful, and an apology is definitely in order..."

Tang Wentao raised his hand and tapped the table repeatedly.

Is that what I asked?

"The team didn't play well in the World Cup, and the captain, coach, and team manager should apologize as they should."

"Without anyone saying anything, the head coach is too ashamed to stay any longer and will definitely resign when he comes back."

"We didn't want to lose the game, but we already lost. No matter how resentful the fans are, they can only accept the result helplessly."

"What I want to know now is how you plan to respond to the proposal by the Handong Sports Bureau to carry out the reform of the football system to the end."

Ma Yongliang is no fool.

He certainly knew that any reform within the system would inevitably target vested interests.

Only by breaking down the old power and capital structure can new production and interest relations emerge.

Therefore, the proposal made by the Handong Sports Bureau at this time was definitely not simply to improve football in China.

There must be someone behind this who wants to take advantage of the national team's poor performance and the fans' outrage, under the guise of carrying out systemic reforms, to oust a large group of people from power.

The benefits of doing this are numerous.

On the surface, this can curb the continued decline of Chinese football, allow the sport to gradually flourish and the football industry to grow, and prevent the national team from losing again and again without any power to fight back.

Behind the scenes, those eliminated by the reforms will find it difficult to settle down peacefully; many will inevitably be imprisoned for corruption. The newly appointed leaders, having seized power, will naturally establish new rules and redistribute benefits.

As the ancients said, blocking someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents.

They clearly knew that no one would easily give up their power and the benefits they had gained, and that the struggle would be extremely fierce.

So they seized the opportunity presented by the national team's dismal performance after losing three consecutive World Cup matches and adopted a strategy of politeness before taking drastic measures.

Now the proposal is to carry the reform through to the end, and if they don't give a satisfactory answer...

Then, without a doubt, a massive media offensive will follow.

When they were being condemned by countless people, they wouldn't have the dignity they have now.

Tang Wentao, who received the report three days ago, did not tell me.

Clearly, he still harbored a glimmer of hope.

I want to see what the final match will be like.

If the national team wins, the whole country will be jubilant, and no one will be able to launch a media offensive.

But now...

They not only lost the last game, but they lost badly.

If you don't quickly find a way to respond, you'll be bombarded with insults and forced to change your ways.

"Hey, hey, I'm asking you a question!"

Tang Wentao reached out and tapped the table again.

Is silence your solution?

Ma Yongliang said with a helpless expression:

"Director, I really don't know what to do."

"The trick they're playing is an open and unsolvable scheme!"

"If we don't reform, they will launch a propaganda war, and I will be held responsible."

"But if we really try to change it, I'm afraid I'll be finished before we even get to the end!"

Tang Wentao retorted angrily, "Then you deserve it!"

"Who told you to be so immoral and to be corrupt and degenerate?"

"..."

Ma Yongliang's lips twitched slightly.

Looking at the hypocritical Tang Wentao, I felt like crying but had no tears left.

At that moment, he felt even more wronged than Dou E.

I really want to slam my fist on the table and yell at them.

I was also a promising young man with impeccable character and lofty ambitions back then.

Who allowed themselves to become corrupt and degenerate?

Who forced me to compromise my principles?

Who was it that refused to fully reform the football system back then?

In the end, it turned out to be my own fault?

The two stared at each other, one looking at the other.

After a while.

Tang Wentao let out a long sigh.

Then he crossed his arms over his chest, leaned back, tilted his head, and said:

"The reason I didn't allow reforms to go all the way before was because there were many objective factors, and we couldn't just take a one-size-fits-all approach all at once."

"For the sake of stability, the higher-ups also agreed to proceed gradually, so that at least everyone can make a living."