A heavy day for the Jiangsu soccer world came on Feb. 28, when the team announced its suspension. A month seemed to have been stretched out, as the defending champions failed to make it to the new season's access list after numerous tests. It marked the first time that the 63-year-old team had no access to the Chinese league stage.
It's an incredibly dark time for Jiangsu fans, players, coaches, and staff. Current players are leaving the team, team staff are looking around for a new direction, and Lu Bofei, the soul of the Jiangsu team and the head coach who led the reserve team to win the 2019 Chinese Super League Reserve League title, is silent.
In fact, Lu Bofei is no stranger to the team's plight. Back in the 2008 season, he was playing for Wuhan Guanggu, and experienced the difficult time when the team retired and died out in the middle of the season. It was that turn of events that brought Lu Bofei and Jiangsu soccer together.
After joining Jiangsu Sainty, Lu Bofei conquered Jiangsu fans with his goals and wrote a legend for himself and Jiangsu team. After settling down in Nanjing and marrying his Nantong Hai'an daughter-in-law, Lu devoted his best youthful years to Jiangsu soccer and began to shoulder the important responsibility of inheriting Jiangsu soccer.
However, the sudden dissolution of the team disrupted Lu Bofei's entire life plan.
Talking about this change of heart, Lu Bofei said, "I can only say that it is very, very sorry ...... from the eighty-first team, I played five or six teams in the top league, until I came to the Jiangsu team, I really got a sense of achievement and a sense of belonging. Such a good team, such a good fan atmosphere, such a good team said no, for all the people who pay for it, is not a good result, but also particularly unfair."
However, things have happened and the results cannot be changed. As the former captain of Jiangsu, how did Lu Bofei spend this month?
"Actually, at first I didn't think the unit would just say it was gone. But as time went on, one moment there was news that the team might still exist, and the next that it was gone. It wasn't until after the announcement of the access list on March 29 that I realized, ah, our team is really gone. The feeling of loss really can't be expressed in words.
And I'm not a player now, as a coach, I still have to go to appease the group of players I brought, contact the troops through various methods, find a way out for this group of children, so that they still have a ball as far as possible in their careers, and also retain some kindling for Jiangsu soccer, which may be the last work I can do by sticking to Jiangsu soccer, or sticking to this team."
Theoretically, due to the existence of Suning's salary arrears problem, after the team was disbanded, as the reserve team manager Lu Bofei can completely not have to bear the above responsibilities, but as one of the most important components of Jiangsu soccer, Lu Bofei is still quietly fulfilling his loyalty and responsibility.
Talking about the contract problem with Suning and future development, Lu Bofei said: "The contract and unpaid wages, still in communication with Suning, I also hope to have a more appropriate and reasonable way to deal with it. From my personal and professional development point of view, I am also waiting for the final results of the Jiangsu team, in addition, I have to participate in the work of PRO-level coach training courses, about five or six months, and strive to complete the course as soon as possible, and now has been in the preparation of the subject of the paper. Once one day Jiangsu soccer can be reborn in nirvana, as a son-in-law of Jiangsu, I personally still hope to continue to make my own contribution to Jiangsu soccer. I still look forward to the day when I can return to the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center, shoulder-to-shoulder with all Jiangsu fans, and fight together for the new Jiangsu team!"
