Like many of his comrades who have fought alongside him, Tang Miao also shared a video depicting the club's journey, "If we have to part, we should say goodbye, be grateful for the memories it has given us, and see you again in the jianghu."
This is what Tang Miao said on social media.
Until Chengdu Rongcheng club announced on April 9, Tang Miao officially joined, his microblogging name is still "Guangzhou Tang Miao" - Guangzhou, this name for him, has long become a brand that can not be rid of.
Nonetheless, he has now set foot in a new city to start a new battle.
At Guangzhou City FC, Tang Miao is that flag.
"The club, that's my home."
In an interview a few years ago, he expressed this desire: "I've been here forever, and my contract is long-term, and I would like to be a legend here."
When Guangzhou City FC announced its withdrawal, a reporter from Punch News talked to Tang Miao, who had just returned to Chengdu. His voice was slightly heavy. "I'm a player with a mild character, from my twenties to my thirties. I didn't expect it to end like this ......"
One man, one team, one city, this may not be Tang Miao's dream at the beginning of his career, but he has the opportunity to write his own legend.
At the beginning of 2011, Tang Miao from Beijing Guoan's second team joined Shenzhen Phoenix in the Central League. Half a year later, the team was acquired by Guangzhou R&F and moved to Guangzhou. In this way, Tang Miao dedicated the golden 12 years of his career to the club.
He still vividly remembers his first game for the club. The fans were in high spirits at the Yuexiushan Stadium. The team debuted against Yanbian and eventually won 2-0.
Tang Miao has also represented China in the World Qualifiers.
"To be honest, when the contract was renewed, the club offered me the highest salary in the team. Even when other clubs offered more, I never thought of leaving."
At the time, R&F was a club with stable investments and, more importantly for Tang Miao, that human touch.
He remembers that in his 100th game representing the club in 2015, he suffered a serious ACL rupture in his knee. At that time, the domestic medical level was not yet developed, the club immediately contacted a German hospital to treat Tang Miao.
After surgery and rehabilitation, Tang Miao spent seven months in Germany, spending about 500,000 RMB for the whole treatment. Upon returning to Guangzhou, the club immediately reimbursed all of his treatment costs.
"Thank you very much boss, we caught a good time." Tang Miao said.
Tang Miao also represented the national soccer team against the Philippines.
A tweet full of kinks.
During those years, from a young player to an absolute starter, to being selected for the national team, eventually becoming the team captain, and finally settling in Guangzhou, Tang Miao knows the major events of the R&F period like the back of his hand, and his words are quick to come out of his mouth without having to think about them.
"We completed the Super League in six months and qualified for the AFC Champions League in three years. 2014 was the best year in the club's history, finishing third with 57 points."
"Then, our derby matches with Guangzhou Evergrande over the years have brought back many fond memories for our fans, and it should be a glorious moment in the history of Guangzhou soccer."
Tang Miao suddenly sighed, "Unfortunately, we failed to win the championship, and that's the only regret I have in my many years with the team."
Don Miao said he first felt this sentiment in 2019.
At that time, the club was experiencing some difficulties, and then the impact of the epidemic intensified. Many real estate companies were experiencing difficulties, and R&F was no exception - starting in the second half of 2021, the club began to fall behind on wages.
On Thanksgiving Day, Tang Miao posted a tweet, "Although I owe a lot of paychecks, I'm very thankful for my boss, who has been very good to me these past ten years. I hope this team will get better and better."
Last year, the negativity of R&F never came to light, it's the love our players have for the team."
Outsiders thought it was an accusation that the club owed wages, but Tang Miao had his own helplessness. In fact, during that time, as the owner of the team, Tang Miao sometimes needed to coordinate the relationship between the players and the club.
For example, when a club wants a player to renew his contract, perhaps in the face of a threshold of access when the club is in arrears, the player needs to make some compromises, and Tang Miaoli will be there to support him as a big brother.
After completing his job, Tang Miao will naturally want the club to fulfill its promise as soon as possible.
But he was a bit conflicted and posted a tweet a few days later, "Everyone really likes the atmosphere and environment of the team and no one is saying anything bad about the owner. I hope our R&F can get over the hump and get better."
In his last moments at the club, Tang Miao was still training with his teammates.
These two regrets cannot be remedied.
In the 2022 season, Guangzhou City FC was eventually relegated due to the intervention of a consortium of state-owned enterprises, and the players were paid their salaries for the year. However, some of the salary arrears ended up being a fizzle as the state-owned enterprise consortium's interest in stock reform cooled.
Tang Miao himself has calculated that the club still owes him a few million - the player has no shame in asking for it. In the access work before this year's league, Tang Miao led the local players are still in some parts of the signature confirmation, hoping to help the club to complete the access, but ultimately with Tosic's salary disputes become one of the important factors in the exit of Guangzhou.
"I also tweeted and communicated with Tosic many times, telling him the actual situation of the club, hoping that he can understand, but he may have other ideas ...... ah."
