OpinionDespite City and United’s woes, lucrative trips to China aren’t going to stop any time soon
Tour descended into farce, but cash is still king in the Middle Kingdom
“It was a nightmare, I hated it,” said the English football team’s manager of his club’s trip to China. “It was long trip, three weeks going on 10 years.”
No, not Jose Mourinho or Pep Guardiola, but Big Ron Atkinson, looking back on West Bromwich Albion’s trip to the mysterious Middle Kingdom in 1978.
To be fair, it seems that West Brom’s biggest problem as China prepared to reform and open up was difficulty in getting hold of beer, an essential requirement for the British footballer in the pre-Arsene Wenger days.
WATCH: West Brom in China
West Brom were briefed by the Foreign Office and treated as important ambassadors. Five years later, Watford – with chairman Elton John on board – followed in their footsteps, a trip chronicled amusingly by novelist Martin Amis in his book of essays Visiting Mrs Nabokov. They were treated with similar diplomatic gravitas by their hosts, although fans at the Workers’ Stadium booed Watford’s black players as China’s national team were thrashed 5-1.
