Chapter 103: The Savior Makes History in Utrecht! (20k Update, Seeking Monthly Tickets)

【At 38 years old, you have led the team to win the Eredivisie championship trophy for the 2036-2037 season; for someone already 38, this is an almost impossible achievement. Those haters who once cursed you have silently deleted their accounts.】

【The return of the aging king; you have gained 300 Counterattack Points.】

【Ultimate Chest: The Balanced Scales. This is the guarantee for a middle-aged man walking the football leagues. Based on the current situation, the chest has three trigger methods.】

1. Trigger directly without conditions. Reward: 99% chance of a Legendary Template, 1% chance of an Ultimate Template. (Conditions met)

2. Win the KNVB Cup or the League Championship. Reward: 80% chance of a Legendary Template, 20% chance of an Ultimate Template. (Conditions met)

3. Win both the KNVB Cup and the League Championship. Reward: 100% chance of an Ultimate Template. (Conditions met)

A massive amount of information flooded into his brain in a short time, leaving Tang Ye feeling slightly dazed.

Quickly shake your head to clear it!

Tang Ye had been looking forward to this Ultimate Chest since his birthday on March 4th, and now he had been anticipating it for nearly three months.

Considering Tang Ye didn't even possess a single Legendary Template yet, his Ultimate Chest could actually yield an Ultimate Template with 100% certainty.

An Ultimate Template, one rank higher than a Legendary Template!

Tang Ye rubbed his hands together; he could hardly wait.

However, there were still matters on the pitch that required his attention.

"Tang! Beautiful!"

Ten Hag appeared from who knows where, beating Ramseelaar to the punch as he hugged Tang Ye.

Ten Hag actually quite wanted to pretend to be cool and act impressive at this moment.

But he couldn't pull off that act.

Because the emotions right now were completely uncontrollable!

Eredivisie Champions!

An Eredivisie title won by suppressing the three super giants: PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, and Feyenoord.

Truly deserving Eredivisie champions!

"Bijans doeteenbal precies"

"Wat een bal moet doen"

"We hebben goede spelers"

"..."

After the cheers, Utrecht's team anthem continued uninterrupted on the pitch, while the home fans jumped up and down.

If Utrecht had ever won a single Eredivisie title in their history, these guys wouldn't be this excited!

Staff from the stadium and the football association walked out from the player tunnel; Tang Ye approached Ramseelaar and pointed at the large shield being carried in by two people: "Bart, look, that's the thing I saw earlier; before the match started, they hid that shield in the press room."

Tang Ye felt a little proud; barring any accidents, he was the only player among both teams who knew where the championship shield was hidden before the match began!

"That doesn't matter, that doesn't matter!"

Ramseelaar waved his hand: "Where it was hidden doesn't matter; what matters is that after today's match ends, that shield belongs to us!"

The award ceremony procedure was the same as for the KNVB Cup, but having learned from the lessons of the previous KNVB Cup final, Tang Ye did not walk toward the podium first this time.

"Mr. Eric, you go first!"

Tang Ye chuckled and made a gesture of invitation.

Ten Hag walked toward the podium, followed by Ramseelaar, Haller, and others; Tang Ye had intended to wait and go up with Amrabat and De Jong, but Haller reached down from above and simply dragged Tang Ye up.

All the players received their championship medals, and the image on the large screen at the very top of the stadium suddenly changed.

【2015-2016 Season Dutch Professional Eredivisie Champions】

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Utrecht!"

"Wo!!!"

Golden confetti suddenly exploded from both sides of the podium; Ten Hag quickly handed the shield to Ramseelaar and then used his hands to block the confetti flying toward his eyes.

"Hahaha!"

Tang Ye reached out to touch the confetti falling from the sky, stamping his feet on the spot: "Bart, quick, give me the shield, quick, give me the shield!"

"Wait, eh, never mind, let's do it together!"

Ramseelaar extended one side of the shield toward Tang Ye, and the two stood side by side, one on the left and one on the right.

"In a moment, when I count to 1, we'll both swing the shield up together; remember not to let go!"

"OK, OK!"

Tang Ye gave a thumbs-up and shook his head to dislodge the confetti from his hair.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Woww!!!"

Tang Ye's hands swung out, but Ramseelaar didn't keep up.

"What's going on, Bart? Didn't we say to swing it out when I count to 1?"

"My fault, my fault!"

Ramseelaar raised his hand in apology: "Pause for a moment after counting to 1 before swinging it out, not swing it out exactly when counting to 1."

"OK, OK, no problem."

Tang Ye stood firmly in his original position.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Utrecht forward!"

The Eredivisie championship shield was hoisted above their heads by Tang Ye and Sitting Like at the same time; the silver shield symbolizing victory helped the two of them block the golden confetti raining down from the sky.

Holy shit!

Hugging the shield to his chest, Tang Ye's heart went thump-thump-thump.

"Sofyan, feel my face?"

"Hmm?"

"Hey, don't talk, just feel my face quickly!"

Tang Ye urged.

Amrabat pressed his hand against Tang Ye's cheek: "What's wrong, Tang?"

"Is my face really hot right now?"

Tang Ye suddenly asked.

"Uh... seems like it is, a little?"

"A little? It should be more than that, I feel like my whole body is hot right now"

"No good, I think I need to calm down a bit"

Tang Ye said, and at that moment the fans in the stands, for some unknown reason, reached a consensus and suddenly began chanting his name at the top of their lungs.

"Tom!"

Bang bang!

"Tom!"

Bang bang!

Hmm?

"Haha!"

Tang Ye hugged the shield, jumped off the podium, then ran toward the stands.

"Tang, I haven't even touched it yet!"

"I'll come back and let you touch it later!"

Tang Ye ran off without looking back, leaving Amrabat alone on the podium, scattered amid the confetti.

"Tom!"

Bang bang!

"Tom!"

Bang bang!

Arriving below the stands, Tang Ye held both sides of the shield with both hands: "Listen to me! (Chinese)"

"Oh, sorry!"

"Listen to me! (Dutch)"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One"

"Utrecht!"

Tang Ye once again violently raised the trophy.

"Tommmmmm!!!!"

This is the feeling!

Without needing anyone else to help judge, Tang Ye knew his face was burning right now.

Very, very burning! With 1 goal and 3 assists in this match, Tang Ye claimed the last MVP trophy of his Eredivisie season.

Hugging the MVP trophy, he walked with Ten Hag to the side of the center line near the players' tunnel, where the post-match staff had set up a dedicated area for interviewing players.

"Erik, Tang, congratulations, you've made history"

The female reporter from Dutch Sky Sports beamed.

She wasn't an Utrecht fan, but she was a PSV hater.

As long as PSV doesn't win the Eredivisie title, that's good enough!

In the middle of the livestream screen, the director introduced the identities of the two interviewees.

Starting player: tangy.

Head coach: eriktenhag

But the introduction screen quickly skipped away.

After being reminded, the director realized this was a mistake, so he quickly corrected it.

Starting player: tangy.

Assistant coach: eriktenhag

Between Tang Ye and Ten Hag, the female reporter chose Tang Ye as the first interviewee.

"You racked up a total of 36 assists in this season's Eredivisie, which is an absolutely outrageous stat. You also won February's and April's Player of the Month, and barring any surprises, May's as well. Tom, is there anything you'd like to say about that?"

!

"I'm really excited right now!"

Because his brain was far too excited, Tang Ye could barely stand still now, his two feet fidgeting restlessly: "To be honest, at the start of the season, I never imagined I could win the Eredivisie championship, haha!"

"Although Utrecht has never won an Eredivisie title in its history, I think you should have held higher goals before the season began."

The female reporter reminded him.

"No, no."

Realizing he had been misunderstood, Tang Ye quickly explained: "I only joined the first team one week before the Eredivisie started, so at the beginning of the season, I was still thinking about matters concerning the Eerste Divisie, haha."

Tang Ye rubbed his head, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Alright."

The female reporter gave a bitter smile.

She had almost forgotten that this Eredivisie assist king before her had only been promoted from the reserve team last summer.

She turned toward Ten Hag.

"Eric, oh, sorry, I should address you as Mr. Eric."

Today, this female reporter was quite polite; this wasn't to say she was special among reporters, but rather that today, Ten Hag had completely won over these Dutch football reporters with the match result.

"Leading the team to win the championship as a dark horse in your first season as coach is something that has never occurred in Eredivisie history; Eric, can you talk about how you achieved this?"

"Hmm... this is rather complicated to explain."

The female reporter held the microphone to Ten Hag's mouth; after a brief moment of thought, he began his answer: "Leading a team to win a championship, especially in a high-level football league like the Eredivisie, winning a title in such a high-level league is extremely difficult."

"It is difficult to explain from the beginning; this involves tactics, player education, and many other aspects."

"You could talk specifically about today's match."

The female reporter suggested.

"Today's match, huh..."

Ten Hag began to think: "To be honest, the opponent's performance in today's match surprised me quite a bit, so as you can see, in the final moments of the first half, we once fell behind, and we only equalized the score right at the start of the second half."

"Then in the second half, the opponent equalized the score with a penalty kick."

"I believe that moment was the most critical point of today's match."

Ten Hag offered his viewpoint: "Because I had already substituted Patrick (Joosten) off earlier, we were down a striker, and then we fell behind by one goal."

"So..."

The female reporter's expression was focused.

It had to be said, Ten Hag's charm was truly immense!

"So I had Tang play as the center forward!"

Huh?

Tang Ye turned his head, staring blankly at Ten Hag.

Damn you, Mr. Eric.

He's starting again!

Today, Tang Ye must properly discipline Ten Hag!

"I know having Tang play as center forward was a rather outrageous decision, but the fact is, Tang is an excellent striker."

Oh?

Tang Ye took a deep breath.

When he isn't being bad, Mr. Eric is actually quite good!

Since that's the case, there's no rush to discipline him.

"One last question, Mr. Eric, there are already news reports saying you will leave Utrecht to go to Manchester United..."

"In previous interviews, you stated this matter was not yet certain; now that the season has concluded, may I ask if you can answer this question?"

As the female reporter threw out the question, the entire stadium suddenly fell silent.

After the silence came an explosion.

"Stay!"

"Stay!"

"Stay!"

Ten Hag, you stay!

This was the united cry of all Utrecht fans.

Why did they hope Ten Hag would stay?

Simply because he led Utrecht to achieve the unprecedented and unsurpassed feat of winning the Eredivisie championship!

Ten Hag is Utrecht's future.

Stay!

Only then is there a future!

"Haha, this..."

Ten Hag wore a bitter smile: "I'm very sorry, but I still cannot answer this question right now."

Tang Ye turned to look at Ten Hag beside him but said nothing.

Ten Hag hadn't even told the players within the Utrecht team, so naturally, he wouldn't tell these reporters.

Perhaps the matter truly hasn't been decided yet?

"I am doing very well here at Utrecht; if one day I am to leave, I will definitely inform you all in advance."

Tang Ye narrowed his eyes.

Based on his understanding of Ten Hag.

Was he really going to leave?

Crack!

Crack crack crack!

"Utrecht!"

"Utrecht!"

The match had long ended, yet the fans in the stands were reluctant to leave.

"Ten Hag!"

"Ten Hag!"

……

Royal Dutch Football Association: Congratulations to Utrecht FC @utrechtf. c. for winning the 2015-16 Eredivisie championship!

Front-page headline of the "Utrecht Evening Post"—The savior has finally arrived; will Ten Hag lead Utrecht to change the Eredivisie's big-three landscape?

Front-page headline of the "Eindhoven Forward"—Winning the league title by breaking the law is an unrighteous victory; PSV fans deeply feel Tom's pain from working overtime at night; Ten Hag should face harsher imprisonment, and Utrecht should be stripped of league points!

Front-page headline of the "Amsterdam Football Post"—Manchester United digs for talent with 7 million euros; should Utrecht find a way to keep Ten Hag?

Utrecht RTV reporter Fan De: Even if it means abandoning summer window reinforcements, Utrecht should find the money to renew Ten Hag's contract; this is Utrecht's best chance to rise.

As soon as the Eredivisie season ended, news about Ten Hag flew everywhere.

Besides Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga also seemed interested in Ten Hag.

There was no helping it; Ten Hag's achievements with Utrecht this season were simply heaven-defying.

Eredivisie Coach of the Season?

There was no suspense left!

The Eredivisie season had ended, but the players' holidays had not yet arrived.

Before the official holiday on June 8, the players still needed to train at the base.

However, to celebrate the championship, Utrecht club owner Verhof stated that Utrecht's players could start their holidays on June 1.

In late May, while the players were still training, Utrecht's upper management had become busy.

The thing troubling Utrecht's upper management now was how to scrape together the money to keep Ten Hag.

Manchester United promised an annual salary of 7 million euros; while somewhat exaggerated, if Utrecht squeezed hard enough, they could still come up with an annual salary of 3 or 4 million euros.

7 million euros in England, 4 million euros at home.

To be honest, Ten Hag might not necessarily leave Utrecht!

Just thinking about keeping Ten Hag made Utrecht's upper management somewhat excited, and they hurriedly began calculating their summer window budget.

Buying two fewer players to offer Ten Hag a high salary was a very cost-effective move.

However, on May 29, things suddenly went awry.

Front-page headline of "Amsterdam Football"—A mistake occurred when Manchester United staff relayed the message; the annual salary they promised Ten Hag was not 7 million euros, but 7 million pounds.

?

Front-page headline of the "Manchester Evening News"—The Glazer family has read much news; they are very interested in Ten Hag, and if necessary, Manchester United will offer Ten Hag an annual salary exceeding 10 million pounds.

???

What?

If you pull stunts like this, are you even letting others play?

……

(End of Chapter)