‘I want you to like it here. This is the future, Mr Manson. It’s impossible to be here and not to think so, don’t you agree?’
‘Wasn’t it Confucius who said that prophecy is always difficult — especially when it’s a prophecy about the future?’
Mr Jia laughed. ‘You know Confucius? That is good. Not many managers can quote Confucius. Even in China.’
I shrugged, modestly. I had an idea that there were many famous names who were alleged to have coined this saying, among them Confucius, but I had no wish to insult Mr Jia by suggesting that this was now the kind of quotation that could be found inside any Christmas cracker.
‘I was very much an admirer of London City,’ he continued.
‘Me, too. Still am.’
‘Of João Zarco and yourself. I tell you honestly that if Mr Zarco had still been alive it might have been him who was sitting here now.’
‘Zarco was the best manager in Europe,’ I said. ‘If not the world.’
‘This is my opinion also,’ said Jia. ‘But I also think that you are the next best thing. That if you had stayed at London City you would have achieved greatness. Of course it might turn out that their loss could be my gain.’
Mr Jia allowed one of the hostess girls to refill his glass. While she did so his hand drifted up her skirt and stayed there for a moment but she did not flinch and the smile remained fixed on her face. Evidently she was used to this Game of Thrones style behaviour. And I got the feeling that she would not have blinked an eye if I had copied his behaviour and done the same. But my hands stayed wrapped around my beer glass.
‘I heard a strong rumour that your departure from City had something to do with a foreign betting syndicate,’ he said. ‘That you discovered that the death of Bekim Develi in Athens was connected with an in-play bet made in Russia. Oh, it’s all right, I’m not asking you to confirm this rumour. This is common knowledge here in China. I like to bet myself — all Chinese people like to gamble — but I make it a rule never to bet on my own team. The bets you’ve seen me making are all on other matches taking place this afternoon. Principally the match between our principal rival, Shanghai Shenhua and Beijing Guoan. I tell you this so that you will know that I am not a crook. I am, however, very rich and what else can you do with money but spend it? I have a million yuan riding on the result of that match; this is about a hundred thousand pounds. But there’s nothing to stop you betting on Nine Dragons, Mr Manson. Or for that matter on these dogs from Guangzhou Evergrande. Although I wouldn’t recommend it. They are without their best player — Arturo. The Brazilian? Shanghai Xuhui Nine Dragons will almost certainly beat the Greens this afternoon.’
‘Why nine dragons?’ I asked, changing the subject. ‘Why not seven or eight? Or even ten?’
‘Nine has the same pronunciation as a word which means everlasting and so this is a very lucky number in Chinese,’ he explained. He kept on watching the match while he spoke, the match reflecting like tiny televisions in his glasses. ‘Many Chinese emperors liked the number a lot. They wore nine dragon imperial robes, and built nine dragon palace walls. In the Forbidden City you will find the number nine affects almost everything. The number nine and its multiples are also liked by ordinary Chinese people. On Valentine’s Day a Chinese man will present his lover with ninety-nine red roses to symbolise eternal love. Really there’s no end to the fascination we Chinese have with the number nine. I even have a number nine tattooed on my back. Just so that my wife really knows it’s me. When I bought this team I wanted to emphasise great power and hope for the future. Which is where the number nine and you come in, Mr Manson. I have great plans for the future of this football club and the Chinese Super League.
‘But these are as nothing beside the plans I have for English football. It is my intention to buy a famous club sometime in the next twelve months. I regret I cannot say more at this stage. But this club was once at the top of the old English First Division and it is my wish to make it so again. To that end I will need the help of a man such as yourself. We can do great things, you and I. I hope we can make a deal while you are in Shanghai. When you do there will be a signing fee of one million pounds. We will have two contracts — one with Shanghai Xuhui and one with the Nine Dragons Mining Company. This is called a Yin Yang contract and it is the way things are done in China. The contract with Nine Dragons will be the more lucrative but between them these contracts will pay you £200,000 a week. I also propose that you start work in two weeks’ time. You can stay in the Chairman’s Suite at the Grand Hyatt at my own personal expense. It can be your home while you are in Shanghai. This will also be in the contract.’
‘Two hundred thousand pounds a week is a lot of money,’ I said.
‘Yes. Almost ten million pounds a year. This would make you the highest paid manager in the world. This also is a statement of my intent. The biggest club in the world should also have the highest paid manager. Of course you would not have to pay tax on this money. Chinese tax rates on foreigners are forty-five per cent. But since your country has a double taxation treaty with China you may work here for 183 days before you would pay tax. Which means that if you stay we will also make a contract for 182 days in this country. And then for 182 days in the UK. This way you will pay absolutely no tax at all.’
‘I don’t mind paying a fair amount of tax,’ I said.
‘Yes, but what is fair?’ Mr Jia laughed, a heavy smoker’s laugh that sounded like someone trying to start an old car. ‘That’s the four and a half million pound question, isn’t it? At least it is in this case. Certainly there’s not a government in the world where some of the people don’t say that they pay too much tax.’
‘Look, before we talk about such matters hadn’t we better talk about football?’
‘What, more words about football? Or have you had some sort of revelation about the game since last you spoke about it? On the BBC’s Match of the Day, was it not?’
‘I said a lot of things about football on that programme.’
‘Yes, but unlike what usually gets said, what you said was interesting.’
‘I’m glad you think so.’
Jia changed his glasses, took out a Smythson red leather notebook and flicked through the pages at some very small writing in Chinese.
“The Thoughts of Chairman Mao.” Then he caught my eye and smiled. “But not really. I’m just joking. No, these are some of the things you have said, Mr Manson. Such as — let me see — yes, that sometimes you can have too many great footballers in a team. That for each of them there’s a temptation to prove himself to the manager, to showboat. That too much talent can stand in the way of efficiency. This is a very Chinese way of looking at something.’
I nodded and recalled that this wasn’t what the BBC had wanted to hear from me. They’d wanted to talk about there being no football managers in the BPL who are black. I’m never much interested in talking about that for the simple reason that I don’t consider myself any more black than I consider myself white. I don’t want to be a spokesman for ethnic issues in football. The BBC researcher had looked shocked when I suggested this and I realised — with a shock, it has to be said — that the real racism that exists in Britain today is that any amount of black in your make-up makes you wholly black. He didn’t look at me as someone who was part white, but as someone who was wholly black. Any amount of blackness taints any whiteness you might have. Fucking BBC. It was always politics with them, never just about the sport. That’s why I like Sky.
‘You also said — what was it now, let’s get this right — you said that football should always be easy but making it look easy was the most difficult thing there is in modern sport. That’s true of almost anything great, Mr Manson. Just watch a film of Picasso drawing something on a sheet of paper. He makes it look so easy. He gives the impression that anyone could do it. But making it look easy is what’s rare. You were so right about that. That’s what I want from you. Simple attractive football.’