Reporter Cheng Shan reported"If you want to make everybody happy, don't be a leader, go sell ice cream. On the 9th, Harbor coach Javier, who was on vacation in the United States, posted such a circle of friends, and it has been more than a day since the scandal between former Yokohama Mariners head coach Muscat and Shanghai Port.
After the end of the Chinese Super League, the whole team of Shanghai Port entered the holiday stage, and head coach Xavier also went to the United States to rest, waiting for the club's latest decision. Although he led the team to win the league championship, many Harbour fans did not like Xavier as the manager. Harbour FC did not have any in-depth communication with Xavier on the issue of the manager after the end of the season, but in fact, after the end of the league season, Harbour FC has already started to look for a new manager. With Yokohama Mariners' championship coach Muscat officially announced his departure from the team at the end of the season, the scandal between him and Harbour began to surface. Xavier's circle of friends is very much like defending himself, and he should be very clear that his results and form in the 2023 season have not completely won the respect and love of the Harbour fans.
Shanghai Port won the Chinese Super League title this year, and manager Espanyol Xavier also created his own managerial pinnacle, winning his first top-flight title since becoming head coach. From being an assistant coach to Cruyff Jr. when he first came to China, to now leading the top teams of the Chinese Super League to win the league championship, it is not difficult to imagine the joy that this growth and achievement has brought to Xavier. But he feels that the year of success is also the most controversial year.
Aside from his joining the Harbour Club at the beginning of the year, it was the second time that he gave up the Henan team that accepted him twice, and after he went to Shanghai Port, his changes were quite obvious.
First of all, in Xi, Javier began to communicate in English in public, including public training and press conferences, and when he was in Henan, there was a special Spanish translator for his use, and he rarely spoke English. In a way, he adapted to the configuration of the Shanghai seaport;On the other hand, during the Henan team, he used a number of young players, while in the Harbour team, he abandoned the young players who had performed well in the previous Leko period and used more Chongming veterans;Finally, in many games, Xavier made many gaffes on the sidelines, almost moved with his team's foreign aid, knelt down to the referee, and tried to rush to the opponent's bench to celebrate, all kinds of behaviors are very different from the image left on the public for a long time - especially kneeling to the referee Mai Maitijiang, and leading the team back to Henan home stadium to push the ball boy on the sidelines, etc., so that the fans of his home team can't stand it.
The important thing is that the process of leading the Harbour team to achieve results is not bought by the outside world, even if he finally won the Chinese Super League championship, the process is also full of twists and turns. August began to fall into chaos in the league, and the previously established lead was chased until the penultimate round to finally establish the title. What's even more terrifying is that they were eliminated by Pathum United in the AFC Champions League play-offs. As the champion of the Chinese Super League, Harbour will definitely participate in the AFC Champions League in the 2024 season, and if Xavier leads the team to participate, I really don't know what kind of results will be achieved.
Xavier previously said in an interview that he has one year left on his contract with the Harbour. In fact, his contract with Harbour at the beginning of the year was "1+1", and the conditions of "1" included that the league must win the championship, the FA Cup must be played as high as possible, and the other is that the AFC Champions League must enter the main competition. Obviously, apart from stumbling to win the league title in the end, the AFC Champions League play-offs and FA Cup were both out early, so Xavier did not meet the conditions for a contract extension with Harbour. After the end of the league, the call of the Harbour fans for the change of coach became louder and louder, and the criticism of ** was also relatively strong, but the affirmation of the championship results of the Harbour Club once made Xavier's team feel that there was a play.
In fact, since the end of November, Harbour have been looking for a new head coach with a clear requirement of championship experience. Soon, last season's J-League champion team Yokohama Mariner coach Muscat entered the harbor's field of vision, Yokohama Mariner took the lead in officially announcing his departure after the end of this season, and the team is currently left with the last AFC Champions League group game between Shandong Taishan this season, on December 31, Muscat and Yokohama Mariner will officially part ways. Muscat is a City Football Group coach who led Melbourne Victory to the AFL Champions League twice, brought Yokohama Mariners to title position last year and reached the AFC Champions League for the first time. In terms of conditions, he is very much in line with the requirements of Shanghai Port. Of course, if he does end up joining Harbour, the two sides will not announce further progress until his contract with the Yokohama Mariners officially ends.
Judging from the reaction of Xavier and his team after the news of Harbour's upcoming change of manager was revealed, the club certainly did not officially discuss the departure of Havel before. And on the 9th, Xavier's social media message was more like he knew something, or expected something.