Behind McTominay is tens of thousands of United fans who have gone crazy.
According to domestic media reports, despite many efforts, the 67-year-old Liaoning football team bid farewell to the Chinese professional football league and has only the last procedural issues left. In the face of this slightly sad news, I don't know how the Chinese Football Cooperation association, which is still calling for "spring military training", feels. Another slightly embarrassing fact is that although it is also regarded as the origin of football - Keju and modern football - the development status of professional football in China and the development status of British professional football are indeed too big a gap, the most reflective of this may be that Liaoning Province can not even "feed" a Liaoning team, and England, which is similar in size or even slightly smaller in Liaoning Province, can "feed" more than 7,000 teams.
Huge league
United have just eliminated Wayne Rooney's Derby County in the FA Cup.
As the birthplace of modern football, English football is undoubtedly one of the most representative of English football, and since Aston Villa director William McGregor united with many teams including Blackburn, Burnley, etc., in 1888 to create a league system, England's football league system has not only gone through a hundred years, but also the English football league system is indeed getting bigger and bigger.
Let's take the FA Cup, the oldest cup, as an example. Founded in 1871, the inaugural tournament in 1871-1872 saw only a measly 12 teams, and by 2011-2012, a record 763 teams had participated in the FA Cup – with a total of 735 teams participating in the FA Cup, which is now underway this season.
The FA Cup is obviously large enough to amaze and envy the Chinese FA Cup, but at the same time it must be noted that the teams that can participate in the FA Cup (including the previous qualifiers) are only the top 10 teams in the English league system, while in today's English football league system, there are 20 levels, and the total number of participating teams (professional, non-professional and amateur) is as high as 7,000.
Such a scale can only be described as huge, and the league system of specific subdivision of England can also be roughly divided into three grades. The first is the 92 teams, including the Premier League, Championship, League One and League C, which form the real professional league system in England; from the 5th level of the national league to the 11th level of the league, it becomes the second class; the remaining lower level amateur leagues, although the number of participating teams is larger, but it can only be managed by the regional football association, and the game is also carried out on a regional basis.
The above description of the English football league system is still too simple, but one thing is certain that this simple introduction alone is enough to show how developed and large england's football league system is. Next, it is mainly around the 4 levels of professional leagues to explain more clearly why England can have such a large football league system.
Fan support
Bradford still has no shortage of supporters.
A large part of the reason for having so many levels of football leagues is, of course, the support of fans, and only in the professional league category, each team does have an enviable fan base. As the lowest level in the professional league system, the League 24 teams have competed in this season's League 2, and the current number one is The Crewe Club, which was once "famous" for Barry Bennell's sexual assault.
Nicknamed the "Railroad Workers", Crewe has never played in the top flight, despite having played in the English Football League for 143 seasons. Such a "mediocre" team still has their "way of survival", and the home attendance of Crewe, which has played in League Two in recent seasons, can still maintain a home attendance of about 4,000 people - this season's 1-6 defeat to Aston Villa's League Cup, Crewe's home stadium is an influx of 7173 players, setting a new home attendance for the team this season.
Crewe isn't actually the only team in League D that doesn't lack supporters. Bradford, who appeared in the Premier League in the 2000-2001 season, although only 9th in The League Two this season, the team "welcomed" 17,668 players to help in the 1-1 home draw with Grimsby.
That's already the case in League Two, and it's obviously even more so in higher leagues.
So far, this season's League Two has attracted more than 1.8 million fans to watch live, and the average attendance rate has reached 8576 people; this season's Championship, so far, the total number of live spectators is close to 6 million, the average attendance rate is 18571 people, in Leeds United's 2-0 victory over Huddersfield, the number of live spectators reached a record 36514 this season; as for the Premier League, it goes without saying. Despite the "drag" of teams like Bournemouth (home to just 11,329 spectators), the Premier League has averaged 39,278 people per game this season.
The lack of fan support may be the basic reason why the English football league system can be so large, and England has also seen football as a symbol of regional culture and tradition. This may be clearly reflected in Wimbledon, who has played in the Premier League.
In the 1999–2000 season, Wimbledon eventually finished 18th in the Premier League and was relegated, and due to the increasing financial pressure after relegation, Wimbledon's owners subsequently launched a relocation plan. Wimbledon's plan was met with strong opposition from the FA and the team's fans, citing the fact that a football club represented local culture and traditions and could not simply be treated as a commercial operation. But Wimbledon eventually withstood pressure and eventually moved from London to Milton Keynes.
Wimbledon's relocation also eventually led to the "demise" of the team, the relocated team eventually changed its name to Milton Keynes Club, and the former Wimbledon fans spontaneously established a new Wimbledon (AFC Wimbledon), after several years of development, the new Wimbledon not only created the longest 78 unbeaten games in the history of the English League, but also established a foothold in the League Two, and also had plans to build a new stadium.
As for Milton Keynes, who changed his name, he ranked only one place higher than Wimbledon in League Two this season, but in the first leg of the league meeting between the two teams this season, Milton Keynes laughed 2-1. It seems that after more than ten years of development, these two teams have their own "die-hards".
The way to survive
Bellingham, 16, is already struggling to stay in Birmingham.
As the top Premier League in the English League system, Liverpool, which has won the most English top league titles, and is expected to win the first Premier League title in the history of the team this season, this is indeed a memorable moment in the history of the team for Liverpool, which has a great history.
However, why Liverpool was "forced to overtake" by Manchester United in the number of top titles before, in addition to competitive reasons, I am afraid that it is also related to the team's "financial resources".
In the 2004-2005 Champions League season, Liverpool under Benitez staged the most exciting super reversal in the Champions League final, and Benitez became a meritorious manager in Liverpool's history. But during Benitez's time at liverpool, he also experienced the helplessness of being runners-up in the Premier League with the team.
Recently, when talking about his biggest regret when coaching Liverpool, Benitez also admitted that compared with Liverpool, which has strong financial resources today, when his Liverpool only has a transfer budget of 17 million euros, it also means that Liverpool at that time could only be cautious in the choice of personnel. The Liverpool era of Benitez and Klopp is indeed very different, but this is actually the "way to survive" for most teams in England: money can be willful, and no money can also have its own way of playing.
This is true of Liverpool, and it is also true of Manchester City. Already 140 years old, Manchester City is not the absolute strongest team in the history of England's top league, but with the completion of mansour acquisition, Manchester City not only regained the top flight title after 44 years in the 2011-2012 season, but also become one of the top teams in the Premier League. Perhaps the only regret is that they have been heavily punished by UEFA and their qualification for the Champions League for the next two seasons is in doubt.
Manchester City have their own play with money and no money, liverpool have their own way of playing with money and no money... This is actually how most English teams survive – the "debt-out" of "living on debt" like Ritzdale and finally playing the owner of Leeds United is indeed not a common phenomenon in England.
Among the most noteworthy news in English football these days is undoubtedly manchester United's strong interest in Birmingham's 16-year-old behemoth Belingham - Bellingham has not only visited the Manchester United training base accompanied by his parents, but also Sir Alex Ferguson has also transformed into a "lobbyist army".
The 16-year-old Bellingham has scored four goals for Birmingham in the Championship this season, which has become a reason for many teams such as Manchester United to be eager to recruit him. At the same time, it is also certain that Bellingham, who has attracted enough attention, bid farewell to Birmingham, although it is only a matter of time, but Birmingham will obviously earn enough money on this child - it has been reported that Manchester United's offer of 20 million pounds has only been exchanged for Birmingham's slight smile and then refusal.
From the competitive level of the team, Birmingham is now eager to sell Bellingham, obviously not the best choice, but this is actually a common reality faced by small and medium-sized clubs in England, especially the lower teams, they can not "protect" the other side of the top players, in fact, they need to balance their finances through such a deal.
Now at the bottom of the Premier League table, Norwich may have a hard time keeping their Premier League seat this season, but there is also news that if they are eventually relegated, then they may sell players such as Cantwell in exchange for huge cash, which is undoubtedly conducive to the re-emergence of the "Canary".
Football culture
Salah's side is approaching their first Premier League title trophy.
From the rise of Chelsea to the rise of Manchester City to the rise of Liverpool, in addition to Leicester City's upset victory, the Premier League in recent years is indeed more and more like a league dominated by money, but it is still the problem that was said before, money has indeed changed the Premier League and even the English Football League, but money, obviously, can not completely change the tradition of English football, as well as the football culture of England, which is obviously the root cause of the long-term prosperity of the English Football League - of course, the British football culture has also spawned "Football hooligans", but this is obviously not all.
In the previously concluded League Cup final, Manchester City beat Aston Villa 2-1 to achieve a three-time championship in the shouts of 82,145 fans at Wembley Stadium, while Aston Villa, who is now the second-to-last in the Premier League table, still has its own glory and pride – at least Prince William is still a die-hard loyalist of the "Villa Army".
Manchester City dominates the League Cup.
Only such a football atmosphere may be able to raise football to the height of "culture", and the football culture of England may be like the "advice" given to them by the FA when Wimbledon had to "move" before. A team that has existed in a region for hundreds of years, they are not surviving at all business but the support of fans, and it is indeed not a gratifying thing to talk about business without respecting fans.
England, which is even smaller than Liaoning Province, can therefore "feed" so many teams, which may not win the championship, or even have not been able to win the championship, but because of the foundation, culture, and tradition, they can always find a development path that suits them.
Under the leadership of Alain Shearer, Blackburn, who won the 1994-1995 Premier League title, even had to play in league two in 2017-2018, but even so, the team played in league two in 2017-2018, the average number of spectators at home can still reach 12,173, and Blackburn, which ranks 10th in the Championship this season, also has an average of 14,009 spectators at home.
Blackburn may have a hard time returning to the Premier League anytime soon, but their fans, while hoping for their side to be promoted, have at least not abandoned them today. Another interesting fact is that although Manchester United fans have too much dissatisfaction with the Glazer family, and although Arsenal fans have many dissatisfaction with Arsenal's business model, these fans will still enter the stadium to support their teams after scolding, which is actually the strength and biggest capital of England teams - of course, these teams also try to give back to the fans with the best performance, which finally forms such an extremely enviable virtuous circle today.
The way to learn
All of Li Weifeng's previous efforts with Tianhai had come to naught.
Or back to the original question, a Liaoning province can not feed a Liaoning team, but England can support thousands of teams, and only professional teams as many as 92, such a contrast is indeed a bit "glaring". The length of the history of modern football may be a reason for this contrast, but at the same time, it must also be admitted that since there are precedents for the English Football League and so many other successful leagues, why can't China's football league learn the true essence from it?
That may not be an exaggeration. Today's Chinese Super League and lower leagues may only learn the appearance of "money is king" and "quick results", while how to develop healthily and sustainably in deep teams is not within the scope of learning. Or take the end of the Liaoning team as an example, as an absolute veteran team in the Chinese football field, Liaoning football is actually very strong in both talent and supporters, but the wrong concept in management makes everything meaningless, fans can give their home team applause, but the fans can not solve the team's business way.
This, perhaps, becomes an unspeakable pain. In fact, in recent years, there have been too many similar pains, and the fanatical atmosphere of Yanbian football has now been blown away by the rain and wind, leaving only a series of nostalgia and misses.
Back to the Wimbledon club mentioned earlier. In fact, because of the original small area of England, the distance that the team managers want to relocate is actually only 56 miles, but this short 56 miles has finally triggered a strong opposition from the FA, and the division of Wimbledon has finally been a shoot and two.
Take Guangzhou R&F as an example. From the earliest Shenyang team to Changsha Jinde, and then from Shenzhen Phoenix to today's Guangzhou R&F, this team that has been established for only 34 years has completed many moves, when can such a team have its own "die-hard loyalties"?
What makes people "relieved" or "speechless" is that the Chinese Football Association may be aware of the harm of this frequent relocation to the team, so it has introduced a policy that can only be transferred in this province, but at the same time, this policy may lead to the eventual disappearance of Tianjin Tianhai.
According to the latest reports from Tianjin media, Li Weifeng, who led Tianjin Tianhai to a difficult relegation last season, seems to have accepted the tragic reality that the team is about to end, "I have thought about the worst result, even if Tianhai this team is gone, I will send the players away and be the last one to leave."
Li Weifeng's statement is not tragic enough but only deep sadness, and in the view of the Tianjin media, in the face of the reality that the Chinese Football Association has repeatedly "opened up" the Liaoning team but still cannot keep the Liaoning team, their "absolute love" for Tianjin Tianhai is indeed some regret and anger. However, after all, these can not be changed, Tianjin Tianhai's withdrawal is probably already a matter of time, and Shenzhen Kaisa, which was relegated last season, is even ready to return to the Chinese Super League.
Relegated teams do not need to work hard to come back, but relegated teams can only disband if they try harder, which is actually not the first time that such a "miracle" has appeared in Chinese professional football. The Chinese Football Association, as a manager, seems to have acquiesced to the emergence of this "miracle" again and again.
Of course, putting all the responsibility on the head of the Chinese Football Association is indeed a bit excessive, and the "bosses" of some teams do not really develop football but only regard football as a "toy" and a "tool", which is obviously also an extremely important reason. But at the same time, it must also be admitted that the Chinese Football Association can do at least not just issue a "Notice of the Chinese Football Association on Carrying Out the "Spring Training" Activity"
Without culture, in short, it can be gradually obtained through learning, but if there is no interest and patience in learning culture, then you can only continue to be illiterate.