The new Manchester United defeated Droylsden 3-0 and won the first match in their history!
This was a small, inconspicuous report in the sports section of the Manchester Evening News the next day. If you did not look closely, you might have missed it. But although the article was short, its content was comprehensive.
After defensive midfielder Carl Makinson scored in the 23rd minute, the new Manchester United added a second in the 31st minute through striker Jonathan Maten. This time it came from a through ball by Smith, which followed a poor clearance by a Droylsden defender.
In the second half, the new Manchester United clearly took control. Just 5 minutes after the restart, Rhodri Giggs assisted Jonathan Maten to complete his brace. After that, the new Manchester United deliberately slowed the tempo and began to bring on a group of substitutes.
Although Droylsden tried to pull one back, they pressed the new Manchester United hard for the next half hour and created moments of panic in front of goal. In the end they still failed to break through the back line organized by Steve Bruce and the goal protected by Robert Kane and Roy Green.
3-0. The new Manchester United recorded a near-perfect victory in their first match since the club was founded.
However, unlike the small-scale report on the match itself, the front page of the Manchester Evening News featured a photo of several Manchester United stars at the Butcher's Arms. The headline read: Manchester United's star players support their mortal rivals!
At the same time, below that article was the bombshell that Steve Bruce had signed with the new Manchester United, becoming the first head coach in the club's history.
Although he had left Manchester for two years, no Manchester United fan could possibly forget this great center-back. Many had hoped Bruce would return to Manchester to serve in an executive role at United, but no one expected him to join the new Manchester United.
...
"Damn it!" Ethan slammed the newspaper onto the table. "That female reporter promised me, but in the end all I got was a front-page headline. No wonder people say reporters are trustworthy."
After thinking it over, he picked up the phone and called Steve Bruce.
"I knew you'd call, Ethan!" Bruce laughed on the other end.
There seemed to be quite a few people around him, and they laughed as well, as if they had already guessed why Ethan was calling.
"Steve, I can only say, I'm sorry," Ethan said with a wry smile.
"It's fine, I expected this. Besides, I'm used to front-page treatment," Steve replied casually.
"But David, Roy and the others..." Ethan was a little worried. After all, the relationship between the new Manchester United and Manchester United was being framed as that of mortal enemies.
"It's alright. Everyone expected it. We're having dinner together now. Oh, David asked if you wanted to come over. He brought his fiancée, and he wants you to meet her," Steve said with a grin.
Clearly, the report had not affected them. Otherwise, they would not be enjoying dinner together so happily.
"I'd love to, but I can't. I have to move, and I'm waiting for Jim," Ethan resisted the temptation to meet Victoria.
No matter what others thought of Victoria Beckham, there was no denying she was an expert at publicity. Otherwise, she could not have indirectly built Beckham into such a golden brand.
"Alright, next time." With that, Steve hung up.
Ethan let out a clear sigh of relief. Frankly speaking, as a transmigrator, he did feel some pressure around these big-name stars. He did not want to offend any of the idols he admired. Fortunately, they all had decent personalities.
Take Keane, for example.
Although he was a workaholic on the pitch, in private, apart from being a bit quiet, he was basically a good person.
Not long after he hung up, Jim arrived at the door.
After helping Ethan move everything into the car, Jim looked at the rental address Ethan had found.
"Why not find a place closer?" Jim asked curiously when he saw that the address was within the city of Manchester.
"Once the training ground at Newton Heath is set up, we'll go there to train. We'll only come here on match days. It's better for me to live in the city," Ethan explained.
The training ground at Newton Heath had been cordoned off. What remained was laying out basic training facilities and simple buildings for the players to rest and shower. They should be able to move in before the new season starts.
Jim was just making conversation. He started the taxi and headed toward the city.
"Ethan, yesterday's match was really exciting. I think there were at least three thousand people watching, right?" Jim asked as he drove.
"Yeah. The count was 3,762, including some children," Ethan answered with a smile. He was genuinely proud of that number.
It was the first time in the history of the Butcher's Arms that it had been full. It would not only break the stadium's attendance record, it might also break the attendance record for all amateur matches in Northwest Division 2 and even the entire Northern League system.
With nearly four thousand in attendance, even in the Premier League, there are only a handful of matches that manage that.
"I picked up a lot of passengers today, and they were all talking about the match. They said there's no need to fight for promotion spots in Northwest Division 2 this year," Jim said excitedly.
"It was just a friendly, Jim. We can't get complacent. There are definitely teams better than us. Besides, we're only in Northwest Division 2, the tenth tier. If we lose sleep over winning a tenth-tier league title, what are we going to do when it comes to the Premier League and the Champions League? Wouldn't we go mad?"
"Premier League? Champions League?" Jim found it hard to imagine. "Can we do that?"
"Of course, Jim." Ethan looked out the window and muttered to himself, "If I do something, I'll do it to the best of my ability. I have to accomplish something spectacular in my lifetime so that I can have no regrets."
Ethan's new rental was on the edge of the city, close to Newton Heath. It was a block of single-occupancy flats for rent. Each building had only three floors. The second and third floors were leased, and the ground floor and the private courtyard were shared.
Rolling down the window, Ethan looked for his flat by the house number on the address.
"That's it, Jim, right outside the door," Ethan shouted, pointing to the side.
Jim parked neatly at the gate.
"Which floor are you on, Ethan?" Jim helped unload the luggage from the boot.
"Second floor." Ethan put the address note in his mouth, grabbed two duffel bags, and opened the door to go in.
When he came back out, he found there was someone else next to the taxi.
"Ah, how did you follow me here, honest reporter?" Ethan immediately recognized Scarlett Elan, and he emphasized the word honest with heavy sarcasm.
Scarlett looked displeased. She glared at Ethan provocatively. "I live here too. Why can't I be here?"
Ethan was stunned and glanced up at the third floor. It was indeed rented out. He slapped his forehead with a pained, regretful expression. "What bad luck. Looks like I'll have to be careful even when I'm at home."
"Hey, what did you say? Don't make me sound like a thief," Scarlett snapped.
Ethan shrugged. He did not like arguing with women, let alone a future neighbor. Now he regretted paying a year's rent in advance. It would have been much better to pay monthly.
Ethan could not be bothered to argue. He grabbed his things and headed upstairs. In Scarlett's guilty eyes, though, Ethan's expression seemed to mock her, as if to say, You are not a thief, you just do not keep your word.
This thought left Scarlett feeling both upset and wronged.
In last night's report, she had not intended to publish those photos of Manchester United's stars. She wrote her own piece and submitted it to the editor for review. Unexpectedly, a colleague took the film from the camera and developed it, and the editor-in-chief found out. For that, the editor-in-chief specifically praised Scarlett and commended her for seizing a sensational news angle.
So last night, a senior football reporter immediately followed up the photos with a full-page feature, speculating on the intentions of the Manchester United stars and exposing divisions within Manchester United.
Scarlett was only an intern with little influence. She had no power to change anything. She could only stand aside and watch, feeling regret and shame.
But now that Ethan had provoked her like this, the pent-up anger in her heart suddenly erupted.
"You bastard, you better not let me catch you, or I'll roast you in the paper," Scarlett glared at Ethan's back and cursed under her breath.
She considered herself a lady, so she would never stoop to swearing in public. She only wanted to use her influence in the paper to strike back at Ethan.
But what was the reality?
Neither Ethan nor the new Manchester United gave Scarlett any chance to retaliate.
In the next four warm-up matches, even though they faced stronger opponents and played away, the new Manchester United won all four. Two finished 2-0, one ended 3-1, and one was 1-0.
Their excellent form in the warm-up fixtures made many clubs in Northwest Division 2 secretly regret agreeing to let the new Manchester United join. This was a team made up entirely of players used to higher levels of competition, with many former professionals among them. Such a team might not be utterly dominant in Northwest Division 2, but their strength was clearly far above the rest.
Backed by these outstanding results, Scarlett had no choice but to speak well of the new Manchester United, no matter how reluctant she was.
(To be continued.)