Milton Keynes is less than thirty kilometers away from Luton, so as soon as the match ended, the entire Luton team quickly boarded the team bus and returned.
Bringing back three points from the noisy neighbors was a result that excited the whole team, and the players even started singing in the bus. Even Sol Campbell, who had an ice pack on his ankle, was loudly echoing his teammates' singing from his seat.
Gao Bo didn't join in; he was discussing Sol Campbell's injury with the coaching staff.
Judging from the condition of his ankle, he would need at least a week of recovery time, and considering Sol Campbell's age, this time might be extended.
Gao Bo's expression was a little solemn. It seemed he had been too optimistic before the season started. Perhaps he should promote one or two more players from the youth academy who could play as center-backs to temporarily bolster the team's bench.
Haruko sat to the side, watching Gao Bo talk with the other coaching staff members.
She and Gao Bo were alumni; they had known each other since their school days.
Haruko looked at Gao Bo's profile and thought about what she had suddenly said to him two days ago. Haruko wasn't a very bold person; often she was even a bit timid and reserved. But in that moment, Haruko suddenly found the courage from somewhere and said what was probably the boldest thing she had ever said.
I wonder what Gao Bo-kun is thinking...
As Haruko thought about it, her cheeks flushed. Speaking of which, twenty-six-year-old Haruko had never been in a relationship before...
...
The team's next match was on October 22nd, the third round of the Europa League group stage.
Luton would face Serie A giants Roma at home!
After defeating their opponent Milton Keynes, Luton climbed to the top of the League One standings. As a promoted team, Luton's brilliance in League One was truly dazzling.
As long as they didn't make any major mistakes in the second half of the season, promotion was practically a certainty.
This was the consensus among the English media; Luton's performance in League One was simply too consistent. After defeating those English powerhouses, Gao Bo's team's confidence had been unprecedentedly boosted, which also made their performance in the league even better.
Generally speaking, news about League One rarely appeared in major media outlets, but Luton was special—because they were also playing in the Europa League.
Europa League news is highly watched, so when the media mentioned the Europa League, they inevitably had to mention Luton's situation in League One.
Luton appeared in mainstream media reports much more frequently this season than last season, almost catching up to the period in the latter half of last season when they made it all the way to the final of the FA Cup as a dark horse.
However, for Gao Bo, his life remained unchanged. He still lived in the apartment and repeated the two-point line life of training ground-apartment every day, leading the team out for matches on game days.
As his team's results got better and better, his neighbors became more and more enthusiastic towards him.
But changes were happening in places Gao Bo couldn't see.
Back home, news about Luton was now almost a weekly occurrence in newspapers and online news reports.
Due to Zheng Zhi's free transfer to Celtic in the Scottish Premiership and Sun Jihai's loan return to China to join Chengdu Tiancheng from Sheffield United, Chinese players were almost extinct in the top five European leagues at this time—although there was Sun Xiang in the Austrian league, it was difficult for news to flow out from such a small European league.
So now Gao Bo was considered a relatively prominent overseas coach in the domestic news landscape. Overseas players were not uncommon for domestic fans, but an overseas coach was a first, which was a news gimmick in itself.
Because the English media was developed, many domestic media outlets didn't even need to spend money sending reporters to England; they could simply rehash and repackage the English media's news reports online into their own "exclusive news" and publish them domestically.
Anyway, it was unlikely their English counterparts would travel thousands of miles to find trouble with them.
Gao Bo didn't know that he was already quite famous in China. Even if he returned to China now, he would be someone who could be respectfully called "Coach Gao."
And in order to get firsthand information about "Coach Gao," Wang Duoduo came to Luton from London.
The Chinese news industry wasn't entirely made up of news porters after all; there were still people willing to personally go and report the news.
Wang Duoduo was such a person willing to put in the effort for his passion, although in the eyes of many senior reporters, this guy was completely an idiot.
Wouldn't it be better to just honestly carry the English media reports?
In fact, this was also related to Gao Bo's growing fame. As long as his fame increased, those wealthy major media outlets in China would send reporters sooner or later. Wang Duoduo knew this very well, so for him, time was important.
Luton was preparing for the Europa League match, and now on the sidelines, during the fixed fifteen minutes of media open time each day, a reporter with black hair appeared.
Wang Duoduo was observing the team's training.
The specific direction of the training was handled by an English coach, but where was Gao Bo?
Wang Duoduo quickly found Gao Bo standing on the sidelines wearing sportswear—after all, on the training ground at this time, Gao Bo's aura easily made his role clear.
Gao Bo seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the training situation. He quickly blew his whistle and then walked among the players, saying something and accompanying it with gestures and body language.
The Luton players nodded and listened, then Gao Bo stepped back and signaled for the training to continue.
Wang Duoduo had watched many teams train in London. Gao Bo's training didn't seem particularly novel; from the training situation alone, one couldn't see anything special.
And there was only fifteen minutes a day.
Luton's staff quickly came over to clear the area. They politely asked the reporters to leave the training ground and then closed the gate—the gate was also covered with sheet metal, so now no one could see what was happening inside the training ground.
...
Gao Bo didn't know what was happening domestically; he was still focused on preparing for the Europa League match.
Just hearing the name of the team Roma, you knew they wouldn't be easy to deal with. Now that Luton had six points and was first in the group, they had definitely become a target. Roma had long been itching to defeat Luton and take the three points!
At this stage of the group stage, no one would consider Luton a weak team anymore; Gao Bo was very clear about this.
What remained was a head-to-head battle of strength!
In this upcoming group stage match, if they won, then Luton's group situation could be said to be wide open. They would only need to get three more points to ensure qualification from the group. However, if Luton were to lose, then the situation in this group would become very interesting.
The possibility of Basel defeating CSKA Sofia was very high; Gao Bo wouldn't consider the scenario of Basel losing. If Luton were to lose to Roma, then Luton, Basel, and Roma would all have six points! In that case, it would be very difficult to say who would qualify.
Roma was certainly coming with the intention of defeating Luton.
"We have no choice but to go all out. Defeating Luton away will allow us to regain some advantage in the group, and if we lose, then we will be in a very difficult situation," said their captain Totti in front of the media before the Roma team departed for England.
Time flew by like a white colt flashing past a gap. When the last stalk of golden wheat in the fields around Luton was chopped up and scattered into the soil,
The Roma team arrived in Luton, this small English town.
The third round of the Europa League, a crucial battle!
It was about to unfold in this small town. ...