Wu Lichuan WenOn the evening of January 9, CCTV broadcast an anti-corruption feature film, revealing more details of the anti-corruption case in Chinese football. For example, Li Tie once said that he hated match-fixing the most, but he paid a bribe of 3 million yuan to become the head coach of the national football team, and immediately signed a contract of 60 million yuan with the club to "escort the national football" after taking charge of the national football team.
After the collapse of the iron character of "thick eyebrows and big eyes", netizens dug out old things: two years ago, when connecting with former international player Xu Liang, sports celebrity Liu Jianhong once said that Li Tie has a particularly important quality, that is, integrity, he does not have so many crooked ways.
This sounds particularly ironic today, and it is no wonder that many netizens ridiculed it. In response, Liu Jianhong responded: Li Tie was indeed frank and straightforward when he was a player, and he once represented the hope of Chinese football. But what I don't know is that Li Tie changed later.
It's not surprising to see the wrong person. Moreover, people do change. Tian Xudong, the former chairman of Wuhan Zall Club, also said: The first time he came into contact with match-fixing, he didn't expect Li Tie to find him, "It seems that this is not Li Tie in his mind."
Many people attribute Li Tie's downfall to the bad environment: bad money drives out good money, and good people are forced to learn bad. It means that not to mention Li Tie, anyone may drift with the tide in the "sauce jar" described by Mr. Bai Yang and lose their authenticity.
Li Tie himself said that the reason for his reversal from "hating match-fixing" was that after becoming the head coach of a team for the first time, he especially wanted to prove himself, and after tasting the sweetness, he developed a "habit" and even relied on it.
First of all, it should be explained that Li Tie's "buying balls" and "buying officials" is completely active. In this process, it cannot be ruled out that there is a "submission" to the unhealthy environment, but it is the iron son who takes the initiative to become a part of the "general environment" and make the general environment worse, and no one forces him.
But it is worth asking, if the "former Li Tie" is upright and innocent, why is it not maintained? Does integrity really work in football?
Indeed, under the circumstance that the two leaders in charge of the affairs of the Chinese Football Association have become corrupt elements, the living space left for the righteous man and gentleman is bound to be much more cramped. What's more, those gray and black forces that are clearly "sophisticated" but are actually unspoken rules can easily affect practitioners. "Not corrupt, not down-to-earth", I am afraid this is not only Li Tie's heart, but also the real psychology of some ordinary people wandering in the gray area.
In the final analysis, every practitioner in Chinese football may face torture: in order to seek so-called progress, must "sacrifice" integrity? Do you have to sell your soul and not be able to assert yourself?
It's not impossible. In fact, not all of Li Tie's contemporaries have committed the same crimes, at least so far, they have withstood the test of this wide-ranging anti-corruption storm.
"The general environment" is very important, but what kind of person to be, you can choose.
Former international player Xu Liang recently updated** that the reason why he dared to "shoot" at the Football Association when "those people" were still in office over the years was because he was ready not to engage in football.
It is a criterion to test whether a person is really upright and decent, and whether he dares to say "no" to the master of destiny. In this regard, Xu Liang did it, and he even attacked his own club. Of course, the result is that he is talented but has had a bumpy road in Chinese football. However, he lived a chic life, "I can sleep soundly at any time 24 hours a day, because my heart is not dirty."
In 2016, when he coached Hebei Huaxia Happiness, Li Tie also publicly bombarded the then national football team leader, and established an image of "integrity" on the whole network. But now it seems that his bombardment is quite bullying after mastering the network resources of the Football Association. Such "integrity" cannot be counted.
For every one less upright person, the evil spirit will increase by one inch; Every time there is one more upright and innocent person, the "general environment" can be cleaner. What you are, football is what it is. "The wind is like this, I have to follow" is just an excuse, pretending to be naïve, and it is even more shameful. Therefore, the stubborn existence of the "upright" in football is meaningful, although it cannot be rich and expensive, and it is difficult to "succeed", but it leaves a clear stream in football and allows the outside world to see a little hope.
Xu Liang also lamented that there are fewer and fewer people doing things now. He said indignantly that such things as "human feelings and sophistication" exist, but there must be someone to do something in Chinese football, right?
If this is the case, this is the biggest crisis in Chinese football, and it is also the strongest alarm issued by Li Tie's case. Needless to say, the bad atmosphere in football is increasingly discouraged by the upright. Restoring the hearts and minds of football is the first step in reviving football – provided that the chaotic governing body is "operated".
Only by following the law of football development, institutionalizing the reconstruction of the Football Association, and eliminating the integration of management and management.
First, the disadvantages of the concentration of power, only by getting to the root of the problem, standardizing management and employing personnel, can we release the greatest determination and goodwill. Only by letting those who want to do things see hope, get reused, and let villains "stand aside", can Chinese football get out of the vicious circle of "rotten and rotten".
All hope is tied to one thing: to truly promote football reform in depth according to the top-level design.
Chen Xuyuan said the truth when he repented: "After reading the reform and development plan, I have a fear of difficulties, and I feel that I can't do many things when I am in the Football Association. So he turned to gambling on the World Cup like some of his predecessors, wanting to use the illusion of the national team participating in the World Cup to prove that "Chen Xuyuan is very capable".
This also shows from the details that the former Football Association has lived up to the high expectations of the best. The football reform plan has been shelved and failed at the level of the Football Association, let alone entering the deep water area?
We can only learn the lessons of this and start all over again. We have no choice.
(The author is a senior ** person).