Chapter 688 - 128: Gunners Tyrant! A Carrot and a Stick! Charging Towards the Championship! Wang Shuo’s Rules

But over time, it had become a shield for certain locker room bullies!

Ever since Wang Shuo arrived at Arsenal and took the captain’s armband, he had been gathering all sorts of feedback.

During his daily interactions with the coaches, players, and staff, he also paid close attention to issues within the locker room.

Klopp had once told Wang Shuo, "Discipline is the goalkeeper of the locker room!"

A player’s contract contains countless rules and clauses, but there are absolutely no regulations pertaining to the locker room.

In other words, it was a gray area.

That’s where the captain needed to provide structure.

Even the head coach’s authority was limited in this regard.

Wang Shuo used the incident with Alexandre Song to establish his authority, seizing the opportunity to roll out a set of locker room regulations and establish his own rules!

As an international squad, Arsenal’s players came from different countries and regions. Their cultures, habits, personalities, preferences, and even their styles of interacting with others were all completely different.

But some things had to be universal.

For example, respecting others’ personal space.

Things like lockers—you couldn’t just rummage through them and use other people’s belongings without permission.

The most common examples were things like cologne, shampoo, and shower gel.

Furthermore, everyone had an assigned seat. Some players would just carelessly toss their underwear onto someone else’s seat after training or a match, which could easily lead to conflict.

To put it bluntly, who wants to pick up someone else’s dirty underwear?

Then there were matters like personal hygiene and dressing appropriately.

These were also areas Wang Shuo intended to strictly regulate.

Another point was respect for the staff.

Everyone paid lip service to respecting the support staff, but what was the reality?

The actions of some players were, in themselves, a form of humiliation toward them.

Some even had a habit of cursing at them at the drop of a hat.

As for rules about not leaking secrets, those were standard.

A more unique rule came from the fact that Wang Shuo himself enjoyed using his phone and frequently posted on Twitter.

As technology advanced by the day, more and more people were becoming familiar with it.

But some players had a poor sense of boundaries. They would record audio, take photos, or shoot videos, with some even posting them directly to social media.

Over the past few years, incidents like this had become all too common.

Now, with the increasing convenience of the mobile internet and the proliferation of social media, casually taking a photo or recording audio had become easier than ever.

Therefore, Wang Shuo designated this as an offense subject to heavy penalties.

Filming was allowed, but only with the express consent of the person being filmed.

Furthermore, no locker room privacy could be revealed in any photos or videos.

As for rules against being late or leaving early, those were standard for any team.

As soon as Wang Shuo’s locker room regulations were announced, they immediately sparked a heated debate among the players.

The clauses were especially detailed, with fines handed out for the slightest infraction. Some serious violations could even lead to internal suspensions.

This made the Arsenal players instinctively resistant.

But after the announcement, Wang Shuo’s stance was resolute and extremely strict.

Since the start of the summer training camp, Wang Shuo had given everyone the impression of being a nice guy. He was amicable with everyone, focusing on serving and helping his teammates.

But this time, the announcement of the regulations sent a chill down everyone’s spine.

’This is brutal!’

’A total locker room tyrant!’

However, with the precedent set by Alexandre Song, no one thought Wang Shuo was just using this as a pretext.

In fact, they even felt that such strictness was reasonable.

It also made the rules easier for them to accept.

After all, nobody wanted to go through what Alexandre Song had.

So, when Wang Shuo proposed the regulations, things went quite smoothly, without any strong opposition from the players.

This made both Wang Shuo and Vermaelen breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

If it hadn’t been for the incident with Alexandre Song, and if Wang Shuo hadn’t seized the opportunity to establish his authority, this would not have been so easy to accomplish.

The regulations seemed strict and trivial, but in reality, they were a way to protect the team’s unity and morale.

Imagine the mentality of players on a team with a chaotic locker room.

If players were wary of and annoyed with one another, how could there be any talk of team chemistry or unity?

According to Wang Shuo, the locker room was a dedicated space for player interaction.

He planned to be strict at first to establish the rules, and then slowly introduce a more personal, human touch.

For example, he could organize activities, encourage players to share their thoughts on training and matches, and set aside time for casual conversation.

He also planned to establish conflict mediation mechanisms and so on.

The first team had twenty-seven players, and that wasn’t even counting the youth players who trained with them.

As captain, managing all these people and creating a good atmosphere was no easy task!