The Greatest Manager of All time

The day after defeating Oldham was Sunday. At two in the afternoon, Lynn and Erin were inside a suit shop at the Quadrant Shopping Centre, helping Joseph Levin pick out a new outfit.

Joseph Levin rarely wore formal clothing. His home was in London, and after arriving in Swansea, he had not prepared any formalwear either. When he usually traveled with the team, he simply wore a shirt, a fitted waistcoat, and a pair of skinny jeans, which already made him look sharp and stylish.

But tonight, he was going on television. No matter what, Lynn had to make him dress with a bit more presence, because he would be representing Swansea Football Club.

In the end, he and Erin brought Joseph Levin to an Armani boutique.

Only after Joseph Levin tried on the third suit did Erin finally nod and say it would do. Lynn then put down the magazine in his hand, stood up from his seat, and said to Joseph Levin, "When it comes to choosing clothes, I always trust her eye. If she says it works, then there's absolutely no problem."

Joseph Levin smiled bitterly. "Boss, this is way too expensive. It's almost two months of my salary."

Because Lynn had frequently visited the major brand stores in the Quadrant Shopping Centre over the years, the staff there all knew him. They were extremely enthusiastic toward him as well, because when the service was good, Lynn was very generous with tips.

Lynn pulled a credit card out of his wallet and handed it to the shop assistant, naturally telling them to settle the bill. Then he said to Joseph Levin with complete indifference, "You're one of my people. How can I let you go on television looking shabby?"

Erin, standing nearby, gave Joseph Levin a strange look.

Levin rolled his eyes and shook his shoulders. He had to admit that the suit he was wearing really was comfortable and respectable, so he said nothing more.

After paying, Lynn directly asked Joseph Levin, "Do you need anything else?"

Joseph Levin looked down at the new suit he was wearing, then accepted the shopping bag from the assistant, which contained the casual clothes he had changed out of. He immediately shook his head.

Erin said from the side, "Buy him a new pair of leather boots too. At the very least, they need to match the outfit. Change the belt as well. And it would be best to change the watch too. Let him take care of the rest himself. There's a hair salon nearby that I often go to. If you give them my name, they'll give you a discount."

Lynn looked Joseph Levin up and down, felt that Erin made a lot of sense, and said to Levin, "Come with me."

Levin asked with a pained expression, "Boss, there's no need to bleed yourself dry for me, right?"

Lynn said disdainfully, "Bleed myself dry? I could replace every organ in your body from head to toe and still wouldn't bleed myself dry."

Joseph Levin said helplessly, "All right then. I'm still missing a car. Maybe my place should be upgraded too. Also, I feel like my underwear has been a bit loose lately. It might be because I've been squeezing in time to swim at the club's training center every day, so I should buy some new ones—"

"Piss off. Earn money and buy them yourself."

Lynn cursed with a laugh and dragged Levin into a Hermès boutique.

One hour later, when Joseph Levin walked out of the Quadrant Shopping Centre, he had been completely transformed!

A suit, leather shoes, and a famous watch on his wrist. They had even thrown in a pair of sunglasses, and after he put them on, he proudly raised his chin.

"Haha, I'm now someone wearing a hundred-thousand-pound outfit."

Lynn patted him on the shoulder from behind and smiled. "All of this will be deducted from your salary over the next two years."

Levin's expression froze instantly. Then he turned and ran, shouting without looking back, "I'm making my escape first!"

Erin and Lynn laughed so hard they nearly bent over. After Lynn stopped laughing, he shouted at Levin, who had already run about thirty yards away, "Your performance tonight decides everything!"

...

Many members of Swansea's supporter organizations had been invited to attend tonight's program.

There were more than a hundred audience seats in the recording hall, and before eight o'clock that evening, every seat had already been filled.

Richard Cork, Kevin Reeves, Jess Smith, Matthew Bode, and Fred Davis had also arrived. They were representatives of the supporters' organization, and during the program's question-and-answer and discussion segment, they would be qualified to ask Clark and Cady questions.

As the planner of this program, Catherine Carter came to the center of the hall before the show began and explained some basic rules to the audience. For example, they had to maintain order and silence, follow the host's arrangements, and could not actively disrupt the sequence of the program's planned segments. They could leave early, but they could not affect the progress of the recording.

After listening to Catherine Carter's explanation, the fans all nodded and agreed.

Richard Cork yawned. He turned to Reeves and asked, "Kevin, are you going to ask a question later?"

Reeves shook his head and said lightly, "It'd be better if this were a boxing match. Then I'd get onstage and fight them. What's the point of talking back and forth?"

Jason Smith nudged his chin toward Fred Davis and said, "That's different. Words from educated people can cut deeper than knives. Otherwise, why would all the bullshit they write in the papers disgust us so much? Fucking annoying."

Matthew Bode patted Fred Davis on the shoulder and smiled. "Professor, we're relying on you tonight."

Fred Davis, who had only just received his professorship this year, did not mind his companions' teasing. He responded very seriously, "They use words to fool and mislead the public. That is extremely irresponsible journalism. Since they have come to Swansea today, they need to give at least a passable explanation."

After the staff finished setting up the stage, the program was ready to begin.

First, BBC Wales' gold-standard host Brian Horton walked onto the stage with a smile and relaxed steps. After arriving at the center, he directly faced the camera and delivered the opening remarks.

"Welcome to BBC Wales Sports' special Sunday night interview program. Since last season in English football, Swansea have produced outstanding results in the Third Division, yet in certain Fleet Street media outlets, such as The Sun and the Daily Star—look, from last season to this season, how many times have they predicted that Swansea would fail?

"We carried out a rough and incomplete count. The total is twenty-seven times!

"In other words, these two media outlets have published more than ten news pieces declaring that Swansea would fail. This is a puzzling phenomenon. It seems that Swansea Football Club has been specifically targeted by these two outlets. Today's program has invited the reporters who wrote the main articles about Swansea for these two newspapers, Mark Cady and Ian Clark, to discuss this strange phenomenon with us. At the same time, we are also fortunate to have invited Swansea Football Club's senior management member, Joseph Levin, to take part in this program.

"First, let us welcome Ian Clark of The Sun and Mark Cady of the Daily Star."

As host Brian Horton extended his hand and invited the two reporters out from behind the stage, deafening boos erupted throughout the studio!

The audience was made up entirely of Swansea fans. They did not care what Carter had said earlier. They were unhappy with these two reporters, so they were going to boo!

Behind the camera positions, Carter slapped a hand over her forehead, feeling helpless at the reaction from these Swansea fans. But program director Banks smiled at her and said, "It's fine. This effect is actually better. Remember, this is an entertainment program, not a discussion of national affairs. There's no need to be that serious."

An entertainment program?

Of course. For British people, football was entertainment, though it was not entirely just entertainment.

Ian Clark and Mark Cady walked into the recording hall dressed respectably. They were used to being greeted by boos from fans, but it was rare for those boos to be aimed at them personally. The studio itself was not large, and the boos from the Swansea fans were so loud they could almost shake the soul, making their scalps tingle and almost giving them the urge to flee.

Under that pressure, they walked to the center of the stage and shook hands with Brian Horton. Then the two sat down on the long sofa arranged beforehand. It was positioned at an angle. Beside it was a single armchair facing the center of the audience, which was the host's seat. Next to that, there was another single armchair, also angled, reserved for Joseph Levin.

After Clark and Cady sat down, host Horton returned to the center of the stage and pressed his hands down toward the audience, signaling for the boos to stop. Then he said loudly, "Let us warmly welcome Swansea Football Club's senior management member, Joseph Levin!"

The audience immediately burst into enthusiastic applause!

Joseph Levin strode onto the stage with his head held high. He first clapped toward the audience and bowed in return to the fans' applause, then shook hands with Horton before finally sitting in his seat.

Horton returned to the central armchair and sat down. At that moment, the large screen behind them began showing images. They were real newspaper photos of nearly thirty negative reports about Swansea published by The Sun and the Daily Star.

Facing Clark and Cady, Horton asked, "I believe the images on the screen are not unfamiliar to you. These are all articles written by you or reports about Swansea published in your columns. I discovered an astonishing phenomenon. If one only read your articles, everyone would think Swansea are a worthless team, because every line of your writing is filled with attacks and belittlement toward Swansea. Why is that?"

This truly was an embarrassing phenomenon.

But it was also where the media was powerful.

Many people did not care about the truth. They only remembered surface impressions.

Over time, those who did not watch Swansea matches and did not follow Swansea's results would, if they only glanced at these articles in passing, gradually form a first impression whenever Swansea were mentioned: this team was terrible!

Misleading!

Obvious misleading!

Before Clark could speak, Cady sneered first. "Before coming here, we didn't know BBC Wales would organize this program with a clear position already taken. What? Are you trying to hit back at us here in Wales, on Swansea's territory? Are you trying to scare us?"

Before Horton could respond, Joseph Levin sat opposite them with his legs crossed, chin slightly raised, and said with obvious mockery, "Are you stupid? Or do you think BBC Wales is as brainless as you lot? Everyone here knows how outstanding Swansea are. You can fabricate nonsense in your newspapers, but BBC Wales can't ask for an explanation here?

"You didn't know beforehand? What, did you think you'd come here to flowers and applause, champagne and beautiful women?

"Stop trying to change the subject. What a shallow trick. It's outdated. Answer the host's question. If you don't have the courage, then piss off early. Hide in the dark and write your words, go on misleading and deceiving the public. It won't be long before, when Swansea achieve even greater success, people drown you in spit, because you have no professional ethics. You're worse than dog shit."

Levin's words won waves of applause from the audience.

Clark and Cady's faces turned livid.

Host Horton helplessly cleared his throat and asked Clark, "Can you tell us why you have carried out so much negative reporting targeting Swansea?"

Clark put on a serious expression and said, "We make judgments and analysis through rich professional experience and a specialist perspective. Then we publish our views, based on reality, in our columns. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that."

Horton nodded. "Can you talk about the basis of your professional analysis?"

Clark was clearly the more cunning one. He looked toward Joseph Levin and said, "For some questions, I think asking him would make it easier for everyone to understand."

Joseph Levin raised a hand to stop him. "You'd better not speak to me. Swansea Football Club has banned The Sun. No staff member is allowed to accept interviews from The Sun, and I am no exception. I don't want to talk to you. Thanks to you, Swansea has become forbidden territory for The Sun. Unless one day you get kicked out of The Sun, Swansea will only then consider lifting the ban."

A trace of anger flashed across Clark's face. Then he spread his hands in a helpless gesture and said to Horton, "See? This is Swansea's way of doing things. What kind of future can an arrogant club have? They understand nothing of respect or humility."

Joseph Levin sneered. "When a mad dog bites people, it really does understand humility and respect. At the very least, it says hello first."

Clark was about to say something else when Cady stopped him. Expressionless, Cady asked Levin, "Can I speak with you?"

Levin glanced at him and said, "Although we don't like you either, the club has placed no restriction on it. What do you want to say to me?"

After organizing his thoughts, Cady said, "After Lynn acquired Swansea Football Club, he carried out a total purge from top to bottom. Was his approach right? There is now not a single English player in the team. He is overturning the traditions of an English club. As Englishmen, should we welcome him doing this?"

Joseph Levin did not answer immediately. Instead, with a faint expression, he reached a hand toward the audience in invitation.

The fans in the audience immediately erupted into enormous boos!

Cady suddenly realized he had made a major mistake!

In Wales, in front of Swansea people, declaring that Swansea belonged to England was the biggest taboo!

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