Carter had already learned from Leon Thompson about the possible situation he might face, but when everything was laid out before him, he still felt a bit upset inside. “Alright, Mr. Mayor! Since that’s the case, I’ll leave the hardware matters to you. As for the training base, let’s temporarily rent the one we used last season. Try to contact as many of the staff as possible—bring back whoever you can. As for the coaches and players, just ‘leave’ them to me.”

The mayor found Carter in front of him absolutely adorable. He had taken all the troublesome matters upon himself, so all the mayor needed to do was get in touch with people who had previously worked in Florence. As for the stadium? That thing belonged to the municipal government anyway—whoever uses it is just a matter of a word.

“Alright, Mr. Carter, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied! I believe that by tomorrow morning, you’ll see a brand new Florence club right before your eyes!”

“Of course! Mr. Mayor, I absolutely believe in your abilities! Looking forward to working together!”

“Looking forward to working together, Mr. Chairman!”

The two hands gripped each other tightly, signifying the birth of a brand new Florence club.

At the press conference the next day, the Florence municipal government announced the news and invited back most of the former Florence staff—a small number had found other jobs. They also announced that Solitario Antonio Carter would become the new chairman of the Florence club.

The vast number of Florence football ‘fans’ were both happy and worried! They were happy that Florence hadn’t disappeared; although it had changed its name, the fans firmly believed this was still their beloved Florence. Moreover, the new chairman seemed very generous and was willing to invest a large sum of money into the new club. What worried them was that the new chairman was a bit too young—they feared he might not be steady enough and that impulsiveness could bring unnecessary trouble to the team. They were really afraid the new chairman would turn out to be a madman like Cecchi Gori.

But overall, Carter was still quite popular among the fans. The very important reason for this was—Solitario Carter was a native-born Florentine!—Florentines are extremely exclusive when it comes to football; they almost only support their local team, Florence.

According to Italian surveys, the team with the most fans in Italy is Juventus. This team is quite odd: in its own city of Turin, it’s not as popular as the local Torino team, but the Bianconeri’s fans are spread all over Italy. However, there are only three cities where you rarely see—or almost never see—fans of this team: Milan, Naples, and Florence.

And on the day of the press conference, the speech Carter gave in front of many Florence fan representatives completely won over the hearts of Florence fans: “We shouldn’t be here (referring to Serie C2). Although everything about the Florence club, including the team name, crest, and past honors, has been put into trusteeship, we are not dead! We are still standing here! And we will take back everything that belongs to us and eventually return to where we belong (Serie A)!”

“Here, I promise all of you, I will spare no effort to take back everything that belongs to Florence! At all costs!”

The fans present were moved by Carter’s speech. They waved their purple scarves passionately and shouted loudly: “We support you!”

“Return to where we belong!”

“Take back everything!” …

At this moment, standing quietly above, as inconspicuous as a passerby, Leon Thompson didn’t attract anyone’s attention. He simply gazed calmly at the crowd below, calculating in his mind. With such passionate fans, it seemed that Florence’s ticket sales wouldn’t suffer much just because they were playing in Serie C2.

After the press conference ended, Carter sat in what was now his own office, looking smugly at his friend: “So? Were you moved by my *** speech?”

Leon Thompson, however, was more interested in the artistic decorations in the room: “I think I’d rather take another look at the painting on the wall! Hey, that painting must be the legendary ‘Tears of Mona Lisa’, right? Why don’t I see any tears?”

“……” Faced with his friend’s antics and disregard, Carter was momentarily speechless and could only change the subject to save face: “Alright, that’s basically it for my matters! Next, it’s your time to shine—my club’s vice chairman and head of the transfer department, Mr. Leon Thompson!”

“Before that, I need to understand the club’s financial situation!” When it came to business, Leon Thompson stopped joking and put on a serious ‘look’. “Or rather, your personal financial situation!”

“All of it?”

“All of it!”

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PS: This chapter is a transition, and in the next chapter, a very famous figure should appear… probably… or maybe the chapter after next?

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Chapter 5 Asset Status