Riyue Island, the third largest island in China and the youngest island in China, is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, where the sea and the sky meet. It is known as the "Gateway to the Great River and Yingzhou in the East China Sea".

The origin of the name of Riyue Island, according to "Binhai Zhi Ming Zhi", comes from the name of the area on the island. In the 10th century AD, Yang Wu of the Fifth Dynasty settled in Gu Junsha (also known as Xisha), which was one of the first two sandbars that formed Riyue Island.

1) The establishment of Riyue Town was the beginning of the name Riyue. In the 14th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1277), the Tianci Salt Farm was changed to Riyue Prefecture. Taizu of the Ming Dynasty once bestowed the four characters "East China Sea Yingzhou" on it, so it was once named Yingzhou or Gu

Yingzhou.

Although this island belongs to Binhai City, it is rarely visited by tourists. It is like a paradise. Even Binhai locals will subconsciously forget about this island.

In the past, because Binhai and Riyue Island faced each other across the river, Binhai citizens rarely had the opportunity to set foot on Riyue Island. Even with the rapid development of Binhai now, Riyue Island still maintains the peaceful life of the past.

At present, the tunnels and bridges connecting Riyue Island to Binhai and the East China Sea are still missing. The main way for people to enter and exit Riyue Island is still by ferry, so the passenger flow is still very small.

Riyue Island is a product of the development process of the river delta. Its original location is the shallow sea outside the mouth of the river. When the river rushes eastward and flows into the estuary area, it carries a large amount of sediment here due to the reduction of the specific drop and the slowdown of the flow speed.

Gradually sedimented. One side is in the river

Coastal plains were formed on the north and south shores of the mouth, and estuary sandbars dotted in the river were formed on one side. In this way, Riyue Island gradually became a typical estuary sand island. It took more than a thousand years for it to emerge from the water and finally form a large island.

swell and slump changes.

For thousands of years, the Chinese nation has been cultivating this magical land, and there are historical records as early as the Tang Dynasty.

Dongsha emerged from the water in 618-626 years (the Wude period of the Tang Dynasty). It was located in the middle of the river south of Dongbuzhou (today's Lusi area), facing the sea in the east, crossing the river to Taicangzhou in the west, crossing the river in the south to Wusong Port, and reaching Sheshan in the southeast.

, crossing the river to the southwest to Jiading County, and crossing the river to the northwest is Langshan.

Thousands of years of ups and downs have created Sun Moon Island's rich natural resources and cultural heritage. However, the Chinese Empire is now focused on development and has no time to take care of this small island.

However, what makes Riyue Island the most impressive to people across the country is not its various descriptions in geography books, but the football club built on Riyue Island after Mr. Xu retired from his position as a front-line player in the coastal football world.

School.

For fans across the country, the old coach who once led Binhai Shenhua and Jinzhou Qianxin to win the Chinese top league championship is a legend with a distinctive personality. Although he has various shortcomings of the old-style head coach, such as being headstrong, such as

He is arbitrary and arbitrary, like feudal paternalism, but it is undeniable that he is completely sincere towards Chinese football.

The old coach was immersed in training a group of children on Riyue Island. This story moved many Chinese fans, but it did not help him develop this football school.

In the past few years, the number of Chinese entrepreneurs willing to invest heavily in football has been decreasing. Due to the dual impact of policies and the Chinese football environment, it was difficult for Mr. Xu to find sponsors for investment.

In 2001, when the ferry wrapped up the silt at the mouth of the Yangtze River and the roar of the whistle filled the sky, it was the first time that 57-year-old Xu Genbao set foot on this unfamiliar land.

At that time, Riyue Island was desolate and lonely. Bridges had not been built and roads had not been repaired. The only way to go back and forth was by boat. General Fan, Lao Shuai's favorite disciple, once used "shooting like crazy with a machine gun, but he would never hurt a single person."

To describe the remoteness here.

What makes a huge contrast with the desolation here are the three words "Xu Laoshuai". As Bintan's business card, his famous name is known to everyone.

He has experienced glory and troughs. He was once called a "national treasure" by tens of thousands of fans in unison, and he was also called a "bastard" when his coaching was not going well.

It was such an old man who had seen strong winds and waves that he placed the most important stop in his life here. Hearing the thunder on Chongming Island, a seed related to the future of Chinese football awakened.

The old man's obsession with youth training originated from the 2000 Asian Cup in Lebanon. Although the Chinese team broke into the semi-finals at that time, it was reversed 3:2 by the Fuso team led by Hidetoshi Nakata. The old man saw the performance of the Fuso team,

I can’t help but sigh that the gap has slowly widened.

"This can't continue like this. China must cultivate its own stars!"

In addition, the football environment was deteriorating day by day, and fake gambling was prevalent. Unwilling to integrate into it, he finally decided to take root in youth training.

The construction of the Riyue Island Football Base is a road full of twists and turns. For the sake of the "Manchester United of China" in the mind of the coach, the coach even sold his house in the center of Binhai City and solicited sponsorships everywhere to see how he looked.

There is no choice to live long and enjoy retirement life like others of the same age.

In order to reduce the pressure of investment and repay the loan as soon as possible, Lao Shuai tried his best.

During the Kaiyuan Festival, he calculated carefully. When building the base, in order to save costs, he personally went to bargain with the suppliers. The market price of glass was 100 yuan a piece, so he discussed to see if he could take away 50 yuan.

A set of turf imported from Germany costs 1 million yuan, and he hopes to cut it off. In the words of the old coach, this is not called bargaining, but asking for help. "I want to set up a base and don't have that much money. If you think you can, just

Let's make an advertisement for the product." Everyone agreed when they saw the 60-year-old man running around like this.

A man who has dominated the football world for decades, for this base and these children, he is willing to put down all pretense and do anything.

In his previous life, the coach worked silently on Riyue Island for 20 years and brought a large number of players to Chinese football. His efforts changed the fate of many children, but he was still unable to change the inertia of Chinese football sliding into the abyss.

The smug old man didn't realize that even though he worked hard, he still couldn't withstand the general trend.

However, the 180-degree change that took place in the Sun Moon Island Football Base in this life originated from Gu Fei’s visit in the summer of 2003!

The huge investment of ‘Universal Investment’ allows the coach to no longer worry about funds, and no longer has to waste precious time and energy on receptions and soliciting sponsorships. Instead, he can concentrate on training at the base.

Of course, changing the name of the Sun Moon Island Football Base to 'Gu Fei Football Base' was Gu Fei's only request for the base, and the coach agreed without any hesitation.

In the blink of an eye, four years have passed, and "Gu Fei Football Base" has undergone earth-shaking changes, and today, it will also usher in the busiest day since its establishment!

…………

On this day, after all the Manchester United players had breakfast, they boarded the bus in front of the hotel and went straight to the pier.

According to Manchester United's activity schedule in Binhai, they will spend the next three days at the football base on Riyue Island, both to maintain training and to have close contact with the young players at the base.

This is an important part of Manchester United's trip to China. When it was announced, it also caused an uproar in the media, because they had also heard that the old coach sold his house and borrowed a large amount of money to set up a football school in Riyue Island.

However, there has been very little news in the past few years, and no one is willing to go to the remote countryside of Riyue Island for interviews. Everyone is also very surprised that Manchester United is going to the Riyue Island football base for training.

No one expected that Manchester United would not train at the well-equipped training base of the Binhai Football Team, nor at Fuhua University, Gu Fei's alma mater, but would instead go to Riyue Island.

Some reporters are well-informed and have uncovered the news that ‘Huanyu Investment’ became the largest shareholder of the Riyue Island Football Base. They are also curious about what changes have taken place in the base that was renamed ‘Gu Fei Football School’ in the past three years?

With all kinds of questions, many media reporters drove behind the Manchester United bus and headed straight to the pier.

When they got on the ferry, people discovered that there were actually six large trucks loaded with goods on the ferry. They were a fleet of trucks transporting supplies to the football base. The full load of goods made reporters realize that the scale of the football base is not small. Perhaps China

The football media misses a lot of breaking news.

With the sound of the whistle, the ferry started slowly. The Manchester United players stood on the deck and felt very comfortable looking at the spectacular sight of the sea and sky in front of them.

Since starting the trip to China, every day has been a combination of hotels, business activities and various entertainment, and it is rare to enjoy the impact of nature. This has somewhat frustrated the Manchester United players.

Nowadays, the surging momentum of the Huaxia River has opened the eyes of Manchester United players. This is one of the best super rivers in the world and cannot be seen anywhere else.

In a corner of the deck, with the vastness of the river as the background, Gu Fei accepted an interview with China Television, and the host who interviewed him was Huang Taixian, currently the number one football commentator in China.

Wong Tai Sin is here for the commercial match between Manchester United and Binhai Football Stars United at the Binhai Stadium with 80,000 people in three days. However, before that, he also has a very important task, to interview Gu Fei and follow the camera to record Gu Fei.

Changes in football base.

"Mr. Gu, what does football school mean to you?" After greetings, Wong Tai Sin's interview officially began.

For Wong Tai Sin, he naturally has many more information channels than ordinary media reporters, and he knows that the unknown Gu Fei Football Base is actually not simple.

However, he still hopes that Gu Fei can tell him personally what the football school means to him.

"To me, the football base is more of a seed!" Gu Fei pondered for a while, and then said solemnly: "I alone cannot change the general trend of Chinese football, but I hope to sow the seeds.

, work hard to water it, and one day Chinese football will thrive!"

Football is a sport of 11 people, and behind a successful football team is not just the efforts of the players on the field.

After joining Manchester United for a year and leading Manchester United to sweep across European football, Gu Fei gradually understood that behind the success of Manchester United was the result of the silent dedication of countless people.

Although Gu Fei has outstanding strength, he is not a god. Manchester United's strength is based on having world-class players in other positions.

At Manchester United, players only need to train hard and play seriously, and all trivial matters off the field are handled by professionals, such as lawn maintenance, equipment operation, tactical analysis and training plan formulation, all of which have fixed processes.

, fixed procedures, everyone performs his or her own duties, and in the end, the team's maximum combat effectiveness can be brought out.

In a sense, modern football is more like a production line, where a team is built through various processes, and the players' genius on the court makes modern football even more dazzling.

"Nowadays, fans are quite unfamiliar with football bases. Everyone is very curious about what you and Mr. Xu have done in the past three years." Huang Taixian has also read some internal information and knows about the "Universal Investment" in the past three years.

The investment in the football base has exceeded ordinary people's imagination, but so far there has been no output.

Wong Tai Sin has always believed that capital investment always seeks returns. Gu Fei has invested so much in the football base, it can't be charity, right?

"In the past three years, we have only been laying a solid foundation, and we did not dare to have the extravagant hope of reaching the sky in one step!" Gu Fei talked about the football base with great enthusiasm, and said: "Maybe the input and output are not directly proportional, but 'Global Investment' has not had any returns.

Ben’s pressure.”

Football is different from other industries. When investing in football, especially in China Football, don’t expect to get a quick return.

Unlike Gu Fei's tennis schools all over the country, Gu Fei's football base does not have any branches across the country, but only recruits students across the country once a year. All children train, study, and need to be away from their families on Riyue Island.

Can endure loneliness.

In Gu Fei's plan, it would be after 2010 that the football base can send players to the Chinese Football League and the European Football League on a large scale. If more and more Chinese players can go out by that time, maybe the base can

Entering a virtuous cycle of self-sufficiency also indicates that Chinese football is on the right path.

Manchester United plays an extremely crucial role in the development of the football base. After all, with Manchester United, Chinese football has a beacon of progress in Europe. Gu Fei's contacts in European football can lead the way for Chinese football.

Wong Tai Sin's interview passed between questions and answers between the two people. No one would realize that many of the problems mentioned in this interview would become the solution to Chinese football many years later, but people now cannot see it.

at this point.

Huang Daxian admired Gu Fei's enthusiasm for investing in football from the bottom of his heart. After all, he understood the speed of development and growth of "Universal Investment" in recent years. If the funds invested in the football base were placed in other areas of "Universal Investment"

, I am afraid that the income can be doubled in three years.

However, the more he got to know Gu Fei, the clearer it became to Huang Daxian that Gu Fei was not a businessman in people's traditional impression. Although he was young, he had a big gap in his chest.

Over the years, the foundation under Gu Fei's name has invested billions of funds in many public welfare undertakings, changing the fate of many children. However, Gu Fei has always stayed away from the flashlight and only cares about the work of the foundation.
To be continued...