At the end of 1993, Gai Zengjun shouldered a heavy responsibility and set foot on a train to Beijing. His mission was simple but significant - to convince Shanghai's famous coach Zhang Honggen to join Wanda and become the team's new head coach. Prior to this, Wanda Group had joined hands with the Dalian Municipal Sports Commission and invested a huge sum of 4 million dollars annually to create a brand new Dalian team.
At this time, Dalian's marquee was being held by Gai Zengjun, and the team's organizational structure was the result of his careful construction since 1988.
As the professional league approaches, the team's name is destined to be engraved in history. However, Gai Zengjun had to step aside for a while to avoid suspicion - his elder brother Gai Zengsheng is the director of the Dalian Municipal Sports Commission, and the family's reputation in the area has made the "Gai's Four Tigers" a legend in the jungle. Although Gai Zengjun has avoided suspicion once before, will give the marshalship to Qi Wusheng, but when the big Qi transferred to the national Olympic Games, Gai Zengjun once again at risk.
Rumor has it that Gai Zeng Sheng had a crush on former national teammate Zhang Jingtian, who had just led Yanbian to a successful run in the first division, but Zhang declined the offer. In the end, Dalian chose Zhang Honggen.
After arriving in Beijing, Zhang Honggen first met Gai Zengjun straight refused, the reason is that the age of nearly sixty, and has not stepped into the stadium for eight years, and do not want to labor again. But Gai Zengjun task in the body, refused to give up easily, after some softening, Zhang Honggen finally nodded yes.
Zhang Honggen in the national football team has a great reputation, the player era needless to say, after coaching as a national team assistant coach, but also acted as the post of the head coach. In his first meeting with Wang Jianlin, he bluntly pointed out that Dalian players have excellent physical qualities, but lack skills and a sense of teamwork. "To win the championship, you must control the rhythm of the pitch." Zhang Honggen's advice was recognized by Wang Jianlin.
However, after the first round of matches, Wang Jianlin was very dissatisfied with Dalian's performance. Facing Jilin's game, despite the final 3-1 win, the team's backfield passes were constantly misplaced, making him feel very unhappy, "Is this still our Dalian soccer? The momentum is all gone."
In the second round of the game, Wang Jianlin's anger is even more, the team was 0-1 against the six drugs. After the game, Zhang Honggen's famous line "A A no weak team" is to make Wang Jianlin complex expression. But at the time of Wanda's strength, Wang Jianlin spared no effort to invest, bonus incentives, the team in the penultimate round of 2-0 beat Liaozhu, a round ahead of the championship.
That year, Zhang Honggen won the Best Coach Award, but many believed that the team's success could not have been achieved without Gai Zengjun's contributions, including daily training. It is said that on the eve of the award presentation, AFC Vice President Xu Fang tapped Gai Zengjun on the shoulder and said, "Lao San, we all know clearly that this award should be yours." Gai Zengjun, on the other hand, responded bashfully, "After winning the championship, all of Dalian is happy, my brother is also happy, and I really don't care." At that time, Wang Junsheng, full-time vice chairman of the CFA, was also present.
Despite winning the championship, Wang Jianlin decided to change the manager, and before the start of winter training in 1995, he approached Gai Zengjun and told him directly: "This year, you will be the head coach of the Wanda team, and I will give you a letter of appointment right away. As for Zhang Honggen, you don't have to worry about it, I will let him negotiate with the club. You don't have to worry about your brother's place either, I've already decided to do it. During the winter training period, you are responsible for the organization, and the club will be responsible for the logistics."
Wang then awarded Zhang Honggen the position of head coach and sent him to Guangzhou in 1996 to replace German Werner as Songri's head coach. In the 16th round of the first division that year, Zhang Honggen led the promoted team to a 1-1 draw against Wanda, who were unbeaten in 27 matches across the season, but the team was eventually relegated to the first division, B. After that, Wang brought in Xu Genbao in 1998 to become the second Shanghai-born manager to bring Dalian the league title.
Now, Xie Hui took over the Dalian people in charge of the first two Shanghai coaches know well the achievements of the first two Shanghai coaches, "can become the third Shanghai coaches, feel that Shanghai and Dalian really have a destiny."
