【1268】 The focus of attention
Newcastle United defeated Tottenham without bloodshed at home without any desires and desires, which was not unexpected to the media and fans. After all, the gap in strength between the two sides formed a sharp contrast with their combat will.
Newcastle United won the championship trophy for four consecutive years, which also set a new Premier League record; before that, only Manchester United had two consecutive three-game feats, and Newcastle United's four consecutive championships made the trophy look heavier.
Although Newcastle United has been broken this season, and the record of unbeaten across three seasons is at an astonishing number of 78 games, the strength Newcastle United has shown in the league is still desperate.
The record of 33 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses has brought Newcastle United's points to an astonishing 100. Since the league points are based on a three-point system, no Premier League team has been able to reach such a height. Even the unbeaten season Arsenal and the Magpies last season, this shows how strong Newcastle United is in the Premier League.
What makes the opponents even more frightened is that since the "Mirror Lake Stadium" was put into use, Newcastle United remained unbeaten here, with a winning rate of more than 90%, becoming the veritable "Devil's Home Stadium"!
Among the five major European leagues, it is extremely rare for the league to exceed 100 points because the strength gap between the participating teams is not large.
Before that, only the Serie A Zebras Juventus became the top of the top five European leagues with 102 points in the 2013-14 season. Now another team wearing a black and white sword shirt has once again set this record; in addition, the other two teams with 100 league points are Real Madrid and the Dream Team Barcelona.
The dominance shown by Newcastle United in the Premier League is chilling, thus establishing Newcastle United's position as the new Premier League overlord.
It can be said that the four consecutive league championships and scored 100 points have established Newcastle United's status as a giant in the Premier League, indicating that the Premier League has begun to compete for the five-country to a six-country melee.
In addition to being invincible in the domestic league, Newcastle United also entered the FA Cup finals and the Champions League finals at the same time, and the full bloom was shattering.
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After the final round of the Premier League, other European leagues also came to an end one after another. The media and fans' attention gradually focused on Wembley Stadium, witnessing the FA Cup in the 18-19 season.
The FA Cup means a lot for some older English fans, representing the once glorious past of the British Empire. Even now, many English fans still stubbornly believe that the FA Cup is more important than the league championship and the Champions League championship.
The FA Cup is the oldest football event, because the knockout match system and teams at all levels can participate, so some big upsets often appear, which attracts a lot of attention.
Newcastle United won the FA Cup six times before Xiao Feng took over, but the last time he won the championship was in the 1950s, so the glory of the past has little to do with the current Newcastle United.
However, in the past three years, Newcastle United achieved three consecutive FA Cup championships, bringing its winnings to 9 times, only one step away from the double digits.
The only old enemies Manchester United and Arsenal are ranked ahead of Newcastle United, and they have won the championship 11 times.
After years of continuous efforts, Newcastle United has gradually approached these old-fashioned teams in terms of honor, and the wealthy family's foundation has become increasingly strong. Even if Xiao Feng will not inject large-scale capital into the team in the future, the club has already gotten on the right track.
If Newcastle United can successfully defend the "triple crown" this year, the momentum of the giants has taken shape and will not be shaken for at least ten years.
Although the FA Cup is just an appetizer, if you lose the FA Cup, it will be a depressing thing for Newcastle United, so the team's preparations are still quite detailed.
Two days before the game, Newcastle's team had already arrived in London by bus, staying at the Four Seasons Hotel, not far from Wembley, waiting for the opponent.
The FA Cup final this season will be between Newcastle United and Arsenal. Although Professor Wenger's team is only ranked fourth in the league, he still maintains a winning hope.
After losing his old opponent Sir Ferguson, the professor originally thought that his team could gain a greater advantage in the Premier League this acre of three-pointers, but he never thought that Newcastle United's emergence would break the Premier League pattern.
Professor Wenger, who is about to turn 70, is gradually unable to afford the tremendous pressure brought by the position of Premier League head coach. Perhaps this year will be the last season of his coaching career.
The Gunners also hope to use a FA Cup to break the team's five-year championship drought and use this to see the old coach off.
Therefore, after entering the finals, Arsenal almost gave up the subsequent league games and focused all his energy on preparing for the FA Cup finals.
In addition, they were equivalent to being at home in this final and had certain geographical advantages, so the Arsenal was full of confidence in the final.
This can be seen from the relaxed tone expressed by the Gunners in an interview with the media, but they dare not be too careless. After all, Newcastle United's record over the years is not a decoration.
More than 30,000 magpies were also expeditioning to London with Newcastle United. These fans drove their families to London with their families, set up tents around Wembley Stadium or simply lived in the car, so as to have a glimpse of the team's exciting scenes of winning the championship.
Wembley Stadium can accommodate 80,000 spectators. In addition to allocating 35,000 tickets to the two final teams, the other tickets are handed over to UEFA, the FA and sponsors at all levels for distribution.
Although the FA Cup has not sold its naming rights to show respect for tradition so far, the commercial development around the FA Cup final has reached its peak, which also allows Xiao Feng, who has visited the FA Cup final in person, to see a trace of the trick.
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A week before the game, Wembley Stadium and the surrounding three blocks were filled with sponsor billboards, with FA Cup logos printed on them, and even the buses traveling through the streets and alleys of London were also advertised. Almost all the city of London was occupied by the FA Cup.
The careful Xiao Feng also noticed that at the routine press conference before the game, many Chinese companies also appeared on the background board, which proved that the market development of the FA Cup has achieved China.
Of course, Chinese companies are willing to sponsor the FA Cup, but Newcastle United has reached the final. If other teams compete for the championship, Chinese fans will not buy it.
According to surveys by some neutral institutions, whether Newcastle United can reach the finals will have a crucial impact on the FA Cup finals ratings, which is the charm of the huge Chinese market.
When the game officially begins tomorrow night, at least more than 60 million TVs will be locked in the sports channel of China National Television to watch the final, covering more than 100 million people!
In English, millions are already a huge number of values, the population of China in units of billions really shocked Europeans and Americans.
What's more, China's huge population is not as poor as Ah San, but a group with strong consumption power, which is even more popular among sponsors.
Although Newcastle United has almost monopolized the big and small championships in England in recent years, the rich Chinese elements have also brought huge benefits to the Premier League, which is why the Premier League teams and the FA did not join forces to fight Newcastle United.
You should know that after Xiao Feng joined Newcastle United, the Premier League's TV broadcasting fee soared by 30%, most of which came from China. Relying on the annual broadcasting fee of more than 1.2 billion pounds, even the worst-achieved relegated teams in the Premier League can get at least 40 million pounds of share, which is enough for these teams to have more abundant financial funds and acquire better players in the player market.
In addition, more and more Chinese companies are beginning to enter the Premier League. Whether it is advertisements on jerseys or billboards on the court, Chinese companies can be seen. These wealthy Chinese companies are waving cash checks in order to show their corporate image in front of hundreds of millions of viewers and enter the international market.
In the past four years, although Newcastle United has lost in the Premier League, the strength of other Premier League teams has not declined but increased, and has achieved remarkable results in the European arena!
Taking the Champions League and Europa League in the past three years as an example, at least two Premier League teams have entered the semi-finals of these two cup matches every year, and it is even possible that the three heroes will fight Lu Bu.
Now, the Premier League has ranked first in UEFA's European Championship standings, far ahead of the La Liga, which is the best manifestation of the strong strength of the Premier League.
Conservative estimates are that due to the investment of "Jinghu Group" and the good feedback from the Chinese market, the annual yields of each team in the Premier League continue to increase. Even if the arms race is fierce, the financial situation of most clubs is still quite healthy!
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On Tuesday afternoon, May 15, 2019, one and a half hours before the start of the game, Arsenal fans wearing red jerseys and magpies fans in black and white sword shirts gathered from all directions, and then entered Wembley Stadium in an orderly manner from each entrance.
In history, there were not many grudges between Newcastle United and Arsenal, so the fans of the two teams were not at a strife, even if they would greet each other enthusiastically.
Of course, it is no secret that the two clubs have close relationships. Yesterday, Xiao Feng and his wife accompanied Arsenal Stan Kroenke to watch the horse racing at the London racecourse. The way the two sides talked and laughed naturally affected the fans' actions.
Although Arsenal has been hovering among the top-notch teams over the years, it rarely wins the league championship, especially the most important Champions League championship, which makes the Gunners fans complain, but the team was able to move from the narrow Highbury to the Emirates Stadium in the five-star UEFA stadium, which also gives Kroenke a considerable position in the minds of Arsenal fans.
Of course, the prestige of club presidents of all the Premier League teams among fans cannot be compared with Xiao Feng. After all, after Xiao Feng joined Newcastle United, the Magpie quickly changed from a relegation team to a European giant. There is a huge difference between the two!
Half an hour before the start of the game, players from both sides began to appear and warm up. The appearance of each star could attract cheers and applause from watching the tsunami of the stage, and every touch of the ball could detonate the scene.
The fans of both sides sang their own team songs tacitly. The scene of tens of thousands of people singing the songs together was really amazing, and the Chinese fans in front of the TV made their hearts excited.
In the international arena, only the FA Cup finals and the Champions League finals can see such a spectacular and grand scene, even in the World Cup finals, it is slightly less than that.
After all, the number of tickets allocated to fans of both sides in the World Cup final is not large, and there are many neutral fans in the middle, and the atmosphere of confrontation between the fans is seriously insufficient.
Many Chinese fans couldn't help but sigh that there is still a huge gap between domestic football culture and Europe. Just by looking at the fans' singing scenes, you can see the gap.
After the players' warm-up, the live director began to point the camera at the private room area of the main stand. After all, the FA Cup final may attract the royal family to attend. In addition, political and business celebrities and idol superstars in London may appear.
As the owners of the two final teams, Xiao Feng and Kroenke had the leisure to enjoy the "Black Miracle" son's "Lightning" game yesterday afternoon. They will definitely not miss this FA Cup final.
Following the director's camera, the audience in front of the TV was also stunned. Not only Xiao Feng, Kroenke, and Xiao Bei appeared in the box No. 1, but even Prince William and Princess Kate were coming. Prince George and Princess Charlotte were having fun with Yu'er, Ping'an and others.
Of course, what surprised the fans was Sir Ferguson, who was sitting next to Beckham, was chatting and laughing. The grudge caused by the "Flying Boot Door" back then seemed to have disappeared!
You know, since Sir Ferguson retired, he rarely appeared in public, and it was even more indifferent to attending the occasion of the rival teams competing for the championship. The intimate interaction between him and Beckham seemed to confirm the rumor that the Beckham family might return to Old Trafford!
When the football media reporters at the scene were almost about to jump out of their throats when they thought of this possibility. Unexpectedly, when they came to interview the FA Cup final, they could find such shocking information?
In addition to these heavyweights in the No. 1 box, there are also many big names coming to Wembley Stadium today, including Real Madrid coach Zidane and his assistant team. They must be playing in the front stop for next week's Champions League final and reconnaissance of the enemy situation.
Chapter completed!