On the evening of the 18th, the Nantong Zhiyun club urgently released a notice stating that head coach Xie Hui had made a drunken slip of the tongue at a private party, which had caused a bad social repercussion, and therefore decided to suspend him from his position as head coach. Shortly after, Xie Hui made a public statement on social media, apologizing to the four clubs he mentioned at the party, including Chengdu Rongcheng, Shanghai Shenhua, Shanghai Seaport, and Nantong Zhiyun, where he coaches.
On the 18th, a video of Xie Hui drinking and gathering with friends, laughing and joking on the table was accidentally exposed on the network and quickly spread. In the video, Xie Hui boasts about his coaching achievements under the effect of alcohol and mentions the operation status of many clubs.
Although the accuracy of the data described by Xie Hui is doubtful, this is, after all, a drunken rant at a private party. Unexpectedly, on such an occasion, someone secretly filmed and uploaded the video. The incident has quickly escalated, with public opinion almost overwhelmingly blaming the photographer for Xie Hui's carelessness in making friends. As for what Xie Hui himself said, it did not attract much attention.
Nonetheless, Xie Hui's comments, as the current head coach of a Chinese League One team, have allegedly disparaged other clubs. More importantly, after being secretly filmed and disseminated, these comments became his public statements. As a result, the Nantong Zhiyun club reacted quickly, announcing the suspension of Xie Hui's head coaching position. Xie Hui himself subsequently apologized to the four clubs, and said that the photographer had ill intentions and had seriously damaged his reputation, and that he reserved the right to take legal action.
Nantong Zhiyun, lacking a head coach, lost 0-6 to Heilongjiang Bingcheng in the preliminaries of the AFC Cup Central League on August 19th, regretting to go out of the competition.
As of now, the second phase of the Central League has come to an end. Nantong Zhiyun is in the seventh place with 31 points, 6 points away from the fourth place Wuhan Sanzhen, and still has a chance to hit the play-offs.
