Chapter 1 When the Liverpool players returned to the locker room dejectedly, they were surprised to find Chen Hero inside.

"I thought you would be back soon, so I came here early. But it seems that this blow was a bit too much for you, so I waited here for a long time before I saw you." Chen Hero said as he saw his teammates.

He said these words with the air of a head coach. But no one found it strange, they were all used to it. Sometimes in the locker room, they couldn't even tell whether the head coach was Gerrard or Chen Hero.

As the oldest player on the team, it was normal for him to speak like an old man. You know, at Chen Hero's age, he could already be making a name for himself in the coaching world.

Gerrard had no objection to Chen Hero talking about his team like this. In fact, in daily training and matches, Chen Hero was equivalent to half an assistant coach.

Otherwise, it would not be easy for him to lead this team.

The teammates didn't care about Chen Hero's tone and attitude, what they cared about was that Chen Hero would actually show up in the locker room.

"I'm not here to comfort and encourage you. I'm here to apologize to you. Because of my impulsiveness, we ended up losing this championship..."

Hearing Chen Hero say this, Gerrard stood up and said, "This is not your responsibility, Hero. Whether it is victory or defeat, the whole team should bear it together."

Chen Hero shook his head: "No, Steven. This is my responsibility, please let me take all the responsibility on myself, because in this way, when I come back next season, I will be full of strength. I want to say to everyone here, it doesn't matter if we lose a season's championship, it doesn't matter if we don't get fifteen consecutive championships, this is just a small episode, and the final fifteen league championships will definitely be in our hands, and it's not far away, it's next season! Next season, when I come back, let's win the league championship together!"

Since being banned, Chen Hero showed his ambition in front of everyone for the first time.

Originally, everyone thought that being banned for nine months would definitely wear down Chen Hero's fighting spirit, after all, he was almost forty years old. At such an old age, and with nine months of no football to play, it is easy for both the body and the spirit to become slack and tired.

The club said that they would renew his contract for another two years. In everyone's opinion, it was more of an idea to show their attitude, and not necessarily really expecting him to play for another two years.

But now it seems that they were all wrong. Chen Hero did not admit defeat, he was still the same Chen Hero who was always full of desire for victory and championships.

This discovery was even more encouraging to the team than what Chen Hero said.

For a time, Liverpool's backbone was found!

The dejected expressions on the faces of many players disappeared, and smiles began to appear.

Now they are full of expectations and motivation for the next season.

※※※

When all the players had finished washing and returned to the bus, Gerrard said to Chen Hero, who had been staying in the locker room, chatting with the players, joking, and enlivening the atmosphere, "Thank you, Hero."

"It's too polite to say thank you, Steve. What's between us!" Chen Hero said with a smile.

Gerrard also smiled, and then stopped talking about this topic. He turned to Chen Hero and asked, "Are you really planning to renew your contract with the club for another two years?"

Chen Hero gave him an answer that made him feel reasonable but also a little surprised.

"No. I will not renew my contract with the club."

It was reasonable because Chen Hero's contract expires next season, and he will be forty-one years old when it expires. Any player at this age should have retired long ago, so it was reasonable. He was surprised because from Chen Hero's previous high-spirited appearance, he originally thought that Chen Hero would accept the team's kindness and continue to lead the team forward.

"I said a long time ago that the reason why I repeatedly renewed my contract with the team and insisted on not retiring until I was forty years old was just because I wanted to help Liverpool break Manchester United's Premier League title record. Fifteen championships, the most difficult thing is time, you can only get one every year, so I must play until I am forty years old. I originally thought that I could achieve this goal when I was forty years old, and then I would just play casually in the last season, but I didn't expect such a thing to happen... But fortunately, I still have one year left on my contract with the team, so I still have a chance. After this task is completed, I will retire directly."

Gerrard knew this, but he always thought it was just an excuse for Chen Hero to want to play more football.

He had really never seen a player like Chen Hero who was so eager for competition, eager for victory, and eager for championships. No matter how many championships he won, this characteristic never changed.

Things like losing motivation after success and lying on the laurels and sleeping soundly would never happen to Chen Hero. Otherwise, he could have retired directly at the age of twenty-three. Because in that year, he won all the honors that a professional player could win at the club.

Hearing Chen Hero say these words in a very firm tone, Gerrard sighed: "It's a pity."

Chen Hero smiled: "What's a pity about a forty-one-year-old retiring?"

"I thought you would play until you were fifty..."

"Then the English FA and Platini would send assassins to kill me directly, right?"

Both of them laughed.

※※※

At the post-match press conference, Gerrard attended as the team's head coach. He said that although Liverpool lost the league title this season, the team would not stop pursuing the championship.

"We will make a comeback next season."

When a reporter asked him whether the team's final loss of the league title this season was related to Chen Hero's suspension, he flatly denied it.

"Whether it is victory or defeat, it is a matter for the whole team, and it has nothing to do with a certain player."

The next day, major media outlets focused on reporting on Liverpool's loss of the league title.

The tone of most media outlets was gloating.

Because Liverpool has monopolized the championship in this league for long enough. They have been champions for fourteen consecutive years. Everyone is tired of it. Now Arsenal has defeated Liverpool and won the league championship, causing cheers from everyone. As a loser, Liverpool will naturally be trampled on severely, trampled on severely in the mud.

Everyone vented all the negative emotions they had accumulated for fourteen years, such as envy, jealousy, hatred...

In the end, it formed a wave of cynicism towards Liverpool. The British people brought their cold humor to the extreme, and all kinds of jokes mocking Liverpool emerged on the Internet.

Slightly more serious media outlets began to analyze the demise of the Liverpool dynasty, and what the pattern of the post-Liverpool dynasty era would be like. From the current point of view, no team in the Premier League today has the absolute strength to dominate the Premier League, unlike the original Manchester United, nor like the later Liverpool. It seems that the future Premier League is likely to be a Warring States period in which heroes rise together.

But this is actually a good thing for the Premier League.

Because competition is more intense, and competition is a necessary element for development.

"Everyone is tired and disgusted with the game where everyone fights to the death every season, and finally Liverpool wins the championship. Then in the future, we will see that thriving Premier League again! Liverpool can no longer monopolize the championship of this event, and the dictatorship of Chen Hero, the tyrant, has been overthrown! Cheer, all the fans in the world who love the Premier League, cheer for freedom, cheer for rebirth!"

One media outlet shouted excitedly.

As a response to this phenomenon, Bascombe, a reporter for the Liverpool Echo, wrote in his column: "A team's failure did not receive sympathy and comfort, but instead received such a large-scale ridicule and the most vicious attacks. Liverpool fans should not feel depressed and painful, or even angry, but should feel proud. Because if we were not so strong, how could they be so crazy? Just like Hero said, the more fiercely the enemy attacks us, the more afraid they are of us. This is the highest reward for us. We can win many championships, but being able to make everyone put aside all kinds of differences and unite to deal with us is the glory of Liverpool. This kind of glory has never happened in the hundred-year history of English football! So Liverpool fans, hold your heads up and bravely face those cynicisms. Because the era created by our Liverpool is unprecedented and will not be surpassed by anyone in the future. It is there, fourteen consecutive championships, quietly watching the clowns who are going crazy because of our one failure!"

But even Bascombe, he did not say that Liverpool's future would be better, but instead chose the angle that the past glory could not be erased.

Obviously, he is not particularly optimistic about Liverpool's future prospects, so he chose to remain silent on this topic.

His silence seems to be correct, and the revelry of those people seems to be justified.

Because just two days after the end of the league, Chen Hero's official spokesperson, Vera, officially announced through the media that Chen Hero will not renew his contract with Liverpool Football Club for two years. His contract will expire on July 1 next year, and the day of expiration will be the time of his retirement!

Arsenal won the league championship again after twenty-four years, Liverpool's fourteen consecutive championships came to an abrupt end... Similar explosive news like this paled in comparison after Chen Hero's statement came out, and were quickly swept into the dead corner of attention.

The front pages of all media outlets were replaced by Chen Hero's statement. The news that he announced that he would not renew his contract and set a retirement date instantly became a focal point of attention around the world. Its popularity on the Internet even surpassed major world security events such as the Middle East peace process and the deterioration of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Everyone sensitively realized that after Chen Hero's statement came out, it meant that an era was about to come to an end...