The Greatest Manager of All time

After the Swansea fans answered Cady's question with a chorus of boos, Joseph Levin calmly responded.

Although he had not been working at Swansea for very long, he had done more than enough homework.

He said solemnly, "You understand the cruelty of professional football better than I do. Even at Premier League level, don't teams like Bolton, Chelsea, and Arsenal all have large numbers of foreign players? What percentage of their squads are English?

"What was the purpose of Swansea's so-called purge? To overturn tradition? What meaning would that have?

"What Lynn did was to make the club better and stronger, and he has done that. As for the tradition you mentioned, let me ask you this: who is Swansea's current captain? Answer me!"

Mark Cady's expression turned unpleasant as he said in a low voice, "Oliver Cromwell!"

"Is he English?"

"No!"

"Exactly! He isn't. He's Welsh. But no Swansea fan believes Lynn has overturned Swansea's traditions, because Swansea Football Club is in Wales, on Swansea Bay. Why are you trying to force the traditions of English clubs onto Swansea Football Club? That only shows your ignorance and childishness!"

"But Swansea compete in the English football league!"

"So what? Why don't you go and shoot all the foreign players at Chelsea and Arsenal? Why don't you say they've overturned tradition? Why can't you see the real local players inside Swansea Football Club—Cromwell, Cook, Brunel, Glendor? These boys from the club are Swansea's current inheritors of tradition. They may even be the pioneers of a new tradition!"

Joseph Levin's sharp and forceful response drew waves of applause from the fans in the audience.

Richard Cork chuckled quietly to Kevin Reeves and said, "This kid really knows how to talk. He's like a machine gun, blasting those two idiots until they're dizzy."

Reeves said excitedly, "Exactly. Listening to him speak feels fucking good."

Onstage, Cady remained expressionless and continued asking, "Fine. We won't talk about the previous topic. During last season's winter transfer window, Swansea Football Club set traps in player deals with Brentford, Port Vale, and Stoke City. After the chairmen of all three clubs publicly apologized, Swansea openly broke the agreements. This proves Swansea Football Club lacks credibility and that its integrity is questionable!"

Joseph Levin immediately laughed. "You just directly accused the chairmen of those three clubs of holding press conferences to apologize to Lynn not out of sincerity, but for players—in other words, for their clubs' interests. That kind of filthy, rotten thing is exactly the kind of thing only you people would do.

"If you have evidence proving that Swansea Football Club had the so-called agreements or arrangements with those three clubs you're talking about, then Swansea would have already been sued down to their underwear. You're only using baseless speculation to accuse Swansea of lacking integrity.

"So can I also tell you that your wife slept with ten thousand men behind your back, because ten thousand men told me so?"

Cady had remained calm the whole time, but after hearing Joseph Levin's almost humiliating words, he exploded in anger. "Kid, show some respect!"

Levin burst into laughter. "Someone who looks like he's about to hit people is actually telling others to show respect. That joke couldn't be funnier!"

Host Horton had no choice but to step in and control the atmosphere. He smiled at Cady and said, "Please calm down. Everyone, restrain your emotions a little. Let's return to the topic. I'd really like to know why you have targeted Swansea manager Lynn so much."

Clark spread his hands and said, "He is too arrogant, and he lacks respect for the media. The first time I prepared to interview him, he actually said he would only answer three questions. That was absurd. I've never seen a manager who had achieved nothing yet put on such a superstar act. Does he think he's Beckham? Do we need to pay him an appearance fee just to interview him?"

Cady also followed up. "His way of treating players is unreasonable too. That includes the Ibrahimović transfer saga that caused so much noise in the summer. Lynn's methods were abnormal. He doesn't respect his players' opinions, and he doesn't think about their futures. He only treats his players like dolls to be manipulated, or like tools for profit."

Clark continued, "He is not a typical coach. First, he never played football. Second, before coaching Swansea, he didn't have even the slightest coaching experience. Third, he is far too rich. His way of treating the club feels more like he is treating it as a toy. Fourth, his overall style of handling people and matters—taking every factor into account—shows that Lynn is a madman, a dangerous figure standing on the edge of destruction."

It seemed that once they talked about Lynn, Clark and Cady became like sharks that had smelled blood, biting and tearing at him wildly.

Originally, this should have been the audience Q&A and interaction segment. But backstage, program director Banks gave host Brian Horton instructions through his earpiece, telling him to give Joseph Levin more room to perform.

So Horton turned to Levin and asked, "Do you think what they said is correct?"

Levin's tone became light and casual. He looked at Cady calmly and asked, "How many coaches has Lynn led Swansea to defeat who are more experienced than him and have worked in professional football?"

Cady was instantly speechless, and Clark also opened his mouth but could not answer.

Levin continued asking, "Even if Lynn really treats players as profit-making tools, as you claim, and even if he is that evil, why has no Swansea player complained to the media? Has Ibrahimović even expressed one sentence of dissatisfaction to the media?"

They still could not answer.

Levin's calm eyes suddenly became sharp, filled with pressing force, and he said in a deep voice, "When you target Swansea—no, when you target Lynn—why are the managers of those clubs still in the Third Division not your targets?

"Let's be honest. Because this is Swansea Football Club. Because Swansea are in Wales. Because Swansea have not knelt before English football. Because Swansea are raising a revolution! A war that makes English football lose face!

"And even more because Lynn is the leader of this war. He is a foreigner. Worse still, he is Chinese, from a country you people see as a football desert! In the eyes of all of you, he is an outsider who knows nothing about football!

"You don't want to see him succeed!

"His success is like a foot stepping on the face of every English football professional, stepping on your dignity while he makes his name!

"You panic. You fear him. You're afraid that one day, you'll have to praise a winner named Lynn, someone who was once mocked and ridiculed by countless football people in this country. This is like the most perfect yet tragic revenge story written by Shakespeare, except you've become the targets of revenge.

"You don't want that to happen, so you attack him. You try to use public opinion to interfere with him, influence him, and destroy him!

"Holy Mother above, Jehovah above, whether it's the gods of the North or the Buddha of the East, no one can save you from your mistakes, because Swansea are winning and will keep winning for a long time.

"Because Swansea are united. True Swansea people stand firmly together against the whole of English football. Can you feel it? When a team is truly united, that power, that real power which surpasses limits and infects everyone, brings a thrill more exciting than the first time you see a beautiful woman naked, more surprising than the first time you win a jackpot.

"That power is driving Swansea forward, riding the wind and breaking through the waves. No one can stop them!"

Joseph Levin's words were extremely provocative, and the effect they created was equally shocking!

The scene fell into dead silence.

Then, after several seconds, the audience erupted into frenzied cheers!

The fans did not care about the order of the program. They simply stood up and shouted Swansea's name!

Clark and Cady were stunned. They had no way to refute Joseph Levin, because every sentence he spoke had struck the sorest points deep in their hearts!

Joseph Levin gestured toward the audience, inviting the two of them to look at the reaction from the fans.

That madness and excitement, that fanatic shouting of Swansea's name.

Yes, this was the power that had already spread into the blood of Swansea people!

For more than a year, the team had soared upward, cut through every obstacle, and swept aside all opposition. The inspiration it brought, the positive influence it gave to the fans, had truly united the people of Swansea!

Host Brian Horton had never seen a scene go out of control like this on a program before, and for a moment, he did not know what to do.

Backstage, Banks smiled. He knew the ratings for this program would definitely be extremely high, because the stimulation and shock it brought to Swansea fans would be unprecedented.

Joseph Levin could be said to have shone brilliantly!

In the traditional impression, club representatives who appeared in public were either gentle, refined gentlemen or rogues like Chelsea chairman Ken Bates. But someone like Joseph Levin, who could perfectly perform Swansea's on-pitch character, the manager's style of speech and action, that arrogance, forcefulness, and sharpness, was extremely rare!

What was this?

This was Swansea Style!

Clark and Cady left in disgrace.

They had thought appearing on this program would give them a chance to enjoy the spotlight, but they never expected to become the targets of Joseph Levin's machine-gun fire.

So much so that after the program aired, several thousand Swansea fans emailed The Sun and the Daily Star, demanding that they apologize to Swansea Football Club and Lynn, and fire Clark and Cady.

Joseph Levin also became known among Swansea fans overnight!

This young, handsome man who had shown such forceful presence on the program turned out to be one of Swansea's own!

People had noticed him before, but since he did not participate in sporting affairs, many did not pay much attention to him.

This program, however, felt more like Swansea Football Club had grandly introduced their "gold-medal gofer" to the outside world:

Joseph Levin!

Lynn watched the program together with his colleagues from the coaching staff inside a small bar by the River Tawe.

Of course, Morecambe had not gone home to take care of his three dogs.

Everyone praised Joseph Levin's performance highly. Lynn was delighted, and from the bottom of his heart, he truly began to like this kid Levin.

To Lynn, the club needed exactly this kind of person, someone who could spread its strong style outward. He did not want soft, cowardly pushovers, nor did he want dull, rule-abiding blocks of wood.

...

Two days later, Swansea went to Greater Manchester again. For three consecutive league rounds, all of their opponents had been teams from Greater Manchester!

This time, they went to challenge Wigan Athletic. Wigan were currently eighth in the Second Division, not far from the top three. Since the league had only played ten rounds, the points gap naturally was not too big.

Wigan Athletic had finished sixth in the Second Division last season, but unfortunately, they lost to Reading in the promotion play-offs and failed to reach the final play-off match.

Their strength had not improved significantly this season, which was why Fleet Street did not view them as promotion favorites.

But at home, they still had enough strength to put up a fight.

Swansea were short of key players, and their current style was monotonous. They relied on crosses from the flanks and bombardment from the center forwards to score, so naturally they lacked flexibility and richness in attack.

This caused Swansea to fall into a bitter battle with Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium.

In defense, Albutches performed terribly in this match. He made frequent mistakes and gave the opponent chances, forcing Lynn to substitute him off in the 50th minute. Only after using Gabbidon at center-back did the pressure on the back line ease.

By the 85th minute, Swansea were still trailing Wigan Athletic 2–3. The two center forwards, Ibrahimović and Charisteas, had each scored one goal and were already performing well, but the earlier gifts from the back line had caused the team to concede too many.

In the final five minutes, Lynn removed one defender and one wide midfielder, bringing on Badenberg and Kalunbel. At the final moment, he switched to a 3-4-3 and launched a furious attack.

It was not until stoppage time that Ibrahimović met Tobias Rau's cross inside the box with a header, only for the opposing center-back to block it on the goal line with his body. In the chaos, Robert Badenberg struck a volley inside the penalty area and smashed the ball into Wigan Athletic's net.

On the touchline, Lynn leaned forward to peer into the penalty area, extremely nervous. When he saw the referee signal that the goal was valid, he jumped up in excitement!

Although it was only an equalizer, it was a result the team had earned in adversity, and it was incredibly important!

There was no time left. In the end, Swansea narrowly forced a 3–3 draw away against Wigan Athletic!

In the same round, Brighton won their match. The Seagulls overtook the Swans by one point and returned to the top of the table, while Swansea dropped to second.

After the match, Lynn took the initiative to accept a media interview. He needed to relieve pressure from the players and especially protect Albutches.

As expected, the reporters asked about Albutches' poor performance and early substitution.

Lynn replied, "I won't say Albutches' performance was disappointing. He is still growing. First of all, Wigan Athletic are a strong opponent. They created huge problems for us, and this was also an away match.

"Albutches' performance today was not ideal, but I believe he will become better and better.

"Also, I want to say that Swansea's performance today was acceptable. We got a draw at a difficult away ground. Considering we have several key players absent through injury, I am satisfied with this result. Thank you."