Song Lam Nghe An: "Dedicated to the people"
(Baonghean) - That is a famous saying of former Nghe An Provincial Party Secretary Le Doan Hop during a visit to SLNA football team.
Remember, at that time, Nghe An football team was one of the clubs with many national team players, not afraid of any team. Every match at Vinh stadium, the stands were packed with spectators.
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| SLNA's "stormy" period with the first V.League championship in 2001 |
However, during that time, SLNA also had some inexplicable losses, which many people believed were due to players acting and fixing scores, typically the loss to The Cong in the 2004 National Cup semi-final, which made Nghe An fans lose faith.
Many SLNA matches are accused of being "economic" or "point banks" for teams that need to escape relegation or are racing for the championship.
To rectify that situation, the provincial leaders worked with SLNA Club and comrade Le Doan Hop told the SLNA team: "Play with all your heart to make the people love you, play beautifully to make the people happy, play honestly to make the people trust you, play to win to make the people happy" and emphasized that the audience is the decisive factor in the survival of the Club.
After a while, SLNA gradually regained its brand, becoming the "Pride of Nghe An" and Vinh Stadium always became a "hotbed" with the support of a large number of fans from all over the country, culminating in the 2011 V.League Championship.
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| SLNA won the 2011 V.League Championship |
However, in recent years, the “fire pan” of Thanh Vinh has gradually cooled down due to SLNA’s inconsistent performance. Entering the 2018 season, with the effect of the stars Xuan Manh and Van Duc who had just returned from the success of the U23 Asian tournament, Vinh Stadium attracted a large number of spectators to watch the opening match, but then with consecutive losses at home, the Vinh Stadium stands became deserted again.
Luckily for coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his team, in the quarter-finals of the 2018 National Cup, they were able to regain their spirits with resounding victories both away and at home against SHB Da Nang.
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| SLNA players need to make more efforts in each match to attract spectators back to Vinh Stadium. Photo: Duc Dung |
According to experts, this can be considered a turning point for SLNA this season, from here on they will play more enthusiastically, SLNA will have wins in V.League to improve their position on the rankings, and at the same time attract audiences back to Vinh Stadium.
To do that, coach Duc Thang must find the most optimal solution to fully develop the abilities of "stars" such as Van Duc, Xuan Manh, Ngoc Hai, Tuan Tai, Khac Ngoc... in each match. So that every time the Nghe An audience comes to the stadium, they can witness fiery matches, beautiful moves, not dull, soulless matches. And to revive the atmosphere of the "fire pan" of the past, the SLNA players must always remind each other to "play with all their heart so that the people love them, play beautifully so that the people are happy, play honestly so that the people trust them, play to win so that the people are happy"!