Chapter 874 Finals Horn
The FA Cup final battle between Manchester City and Manchester United began with a fight over a hotel.
As usual, the FA Cup final is held at Wembley Stadium outside London, the same home ground for the England national team. Every time the England national team plays at home, they stay at the Grove Hotel in north Watford, Hertfordshire.
This is a country villa-style hotel built in 1996. Next door is the famous Grove Golf Park. The hotel not only has a beautiful environment, but is also located in the suburbs, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It is a rare holiday destination.
What’s more, the hotel has extensive experience hosting high-profile guests, especially football teams.
From the England national team to various club teams, they are all regular guests of the Grove Hotel.
Since the Abu Dhabi consortium took over Manchester City, the team has chosen to stay at this hotel every time it goes south to London for a game, and the same is true for other teams including Manchester United.
It is convenient for training here, and there are various physiotherapy and spa facilities. It is very complete and very popular with football teams.
The Guardian revealed that the Grove Hotel had been booked in advance after Manchester City defeated Arsenal.
"Manchester City made the reservation through Darren Hart, the sales director of the Grove Hotel. They first booked 50 rooms. Both parties agreed that Manchester City would do some statistics and then decide whether to book the entire hotel for their players, their families and guests invited by the club."
The problem lies with sales director Darren Hart, who used his own name when placing the order with Manchester City.
"Two days later, Manchester City received a call from Darren Hart. During the call, the Grove Hotel's sales director told Manchester City that Manchester United had already booked the hotel and that the 50 rooms under his name could no longer be kept."
The Guardian revealed that after Manchester City received the news, General Manager Soriano immediately sent people south to force the Grove Hotel to sign the contract before Manchester United's signing representatives arrived, otherwise he would file a lawsuit.
The reason is that Darren Hart received a deposit from Manchester City but did not fulfill the corresponding obligations.
Due to Manchester City's tough attitude, The Grove Hotel was forced to sign a contract with Manchester City before Manchester United's signing representative arrived.
"Manchester City, with its deep pockets, booked the entire hotel at once, not leaving a single room or even a utility room to Manchester United, and signed a contract on the spot to pay the remaining balance."
"Manchester United thought they had the victory, but when they arrived at Watford, they found that the hotel they had snatched was snatched away by their opponent. They questioned the hotel manager on the spot, and the explanation they got was that if more than half of the hotel rooms were booked, a contract needed to be signed, and everything was subject to the contract."
The Guardian said Manchester United lost the battle for the hotel and was forced to choose a five-star hotel in the suburbs of London.
The distance was about the same, but Ferguson was unable to stay at the more familiar Grove Hotel, which made him extremely angry. In an interview with the media, he immediately criticized Manchester City, believing that the team in the same city had used a higher price and an dishonorable method to force the hotel to change the room reservation.
Ferguson's criticism quickly triggered follow-up from the British media.
Manchester City general manager Soriano said in an interview with the media that Manchester City did not use any means, but strictly followed the Grove Hotel's regulations to book rooms. They neither paid a higher price nor were there any coercion.
A spokesperson for the Grove Hotel also spoke to the Guardian and said the team had not violated any rules.
"First of all, we are very grateful for the trust of both teams, but unfortunately, it is difficult for us to host two top English clubs at the same time, and they both want to stay in our hotel, so we are forced to choose between the two. In accordance with the regulations, we finally chose Manchester City, which signed the contract."
In response to Manchester United's accusation that Manchester City snatched the hotel contract that should have belonged to Manchester United at a high price, a spokesperson for the Grove Hotel said that this was not true because the hotel had not signed any form of contract with Manchester United.
A hotel spokesperson also revealed that after Ferguson accepted the media interview, the hotel immediately contacted Ferguson through Manchester United staff and explained the matter. The hotel also gained the understanding of Ferguson and Manchester United, and the two sides will continue to cooperate in the future.
Future cooperation is a matter for the future, but before the FA Cup final, Manchester United will definitely not be able to stay at the Grove Hotel.
The battle for the hotel before the final also made the two sides become tense.
The horn of the final has sounded! …………
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Manchester City traveled south from Manchester to Hertfordshire the day before the game and stayed at the Grove Hotel.
At this time, the guests invited by the team, and the families of the players and staff had already arrived at the hotel.
Manchester City is still very generous in this regard.
In the last round of the league, neither Manchester City nor Manchester United tried their best. Manchester City played with a substitute lineup and eventually defeated Bolton 2-0 away with goals from Dzeko and David Luiz.
It was basically the same for Manchester United, who defeated their opponents 4-2 at home.
After Manchester City won the championship one round ahead of schedule, it was impossible for the two Manchester giants to give their best in the last round.
…
The Grove Hotel is entirely built in British style. It is all country villas, divided into several buildings, and each has few floors.
Manchester City separated the players and staff, family members and guests according to the characteristics of the Grove Hotel, and arranged them to stay in different buildings. Although they were not isolated from each other, everyone remained conscious.
Everyone also knows that the players still need to rest early the day before the final.
Many of Su Dong's family members came. In addition to Wang Chuqing who came from Oxford, his parents and Wang Qingquan and his wife also came to London and checked into the Grove Hotel in advance.
They will all stay in the UK until after the Europa League final.
Guardiola is a big believer in humane management, so he gave each player time to visit the night before the final.
Su Dong went to meet Wang Chuqing and her parents.
We were happy to see each other again after a long separation, but the topics we talked about were all the same old stuff, such as how prepared we were, whether we had confidence, how we were feeling, and whether we should work harder tomorrow.
Sometimes Su Dong feels that from childhood to adulthood, these are the only things his parents seem to say.
Of course, this is not disdain, but a feeling of intimacy.
My parents used to say this before every exam. Later, when I started playing football, they would say this before every game. Later, when I went abroad, they still said this.
If one day, he suddenly couldn't hear anymore, he would definitely be very uncomfortable.
"Don't worry, I have arranged everything. After the game tomorrow night, there will be a special car to pick you up. Just follow our team bus and the fans' cars, all the way north, and celebrate back to Manchester!"
Su Dong said this with full confidence.
Su Wenjie and his wife also felt very proud and nodded continuously.
Today, Sudong is not only their pride, but also the pride of their hometown and their motherland.
After chatting with his parents and Wang Qingquan and his wife for a while, Su Dong went back on time.
Before leaving, he specifically told Wang Chuqing to take good care of the four elders during this period. He would be responsible for all their eating, drinking, and entertainment, and they had to be the best.
"I know, I know!" Wang Chuqing pushed him out with a coquettish look.
Mr. and Mrs. Su Wenjie and Mr. and Mrs. Wang Qingquan in the room both smiled knowingly.
These two young people are so good to each other. Su Dong dotes on Wang Chuqing too. The only flaw is that they don't have any children.
The man is talented and the woman is beautiful, so the child they give birth to will definitely be beautiful too.
…
The building where the players live is just a few steps away from the building where their families live.
When Su Dong returned to the room, Torrent came to him and said that Guardiola was waiting for him.
When I arrived at Guardiola's room, I found that Soriano, Begiristain, Estiat and others were also there.
After greeting everyone one by one, Su Dong just sat down and clearly felt the strange atmosphere on the scene.
Su Dong's gaze swept across everyone and finally fell on Guardiola.
He saw the Spaniard frowning and feeling very uncomfortable. After noticing Su Dong's look, Guardiola stretched out his hands, wiped his face vigorously, and stood up. "I'm going to wash my face and wake up."
Watching Guardiola's back as he left, Su Dong understood what the problem was and nodded with amusement.
"He has been like this recently, especially at night. He can hardly sleep. It has been the same since yesterday. I am so anxious!" Estiat shook his head helplessly and sighed.
No one had any intention of teasing or even mocking him.
In fact, this situation is very normal.
Many fans have no idea that before an important game, many players even need to rely on drugs to fall asleep, otherwise they can't sleep at all and they are excited and anxious.
Excitement, that's because the body has adjusted to the best state, how can it not be excited? And anxiety is needless to say, the importance of the competition determines that all participants cannot help but be anxious.
Many fans may think, come on, it’s just an FA Cup.
The value of the FA Cup is relative.
No matter what, it is also a national championship trophy, which is only given out once a year, and no matter how many teams want to compete for it, they cannot.
The biggest difference between the league and the cup competition is that there is not so much thought involved in the league, it is just played one game at a time, the battle line is very long, and there is basically not too much anxiety, at best it is just a dialogue between strong teams.
But cup competitions, especially finals, are different.
It is a single game that determines the outcome.
Players have their own anxieties, coaches have their own anxieties, and management has its own anxieties.
There is anxiety when you get good grades, and there is also anxiety when you get bad grades.
Professional football is a huge world of fame and fortune, involving too many and too complicated interests. It is impossible for everyone involved to be without pressure, and with pressure there will naturally be anxiety.
Perhaps many people don’t realize that being a player or a head coach is actually a high-risk profession.
The higher you go in the pyramid, the greater the rewards, but also the greater the risks.
(End of this chapter)
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