People’s Daily Online: We all know that modern football started in England; can you tell us some football stories in England? Why do English people have so much passion in football?  04:50

John Gallagher: I think because it got a long history, it means that families in Britain have history of being football fans, so young people stay then, their parents, grandparents and great grandparents are all football fans too, it is a very strong connection to football in Britain, and because of that, people feel very deeply, that means something to everybody in the UK cares about. Whatever it is world cup, the England matches are always the highest the TV ranking in Britain, because everybody watches it; it is the national game and is the most popular one. And I think because of the fact we have such long association with football, and we have the most famous football teams in the world, we know the best football players playing in Britain. This is a great way of making people feel much closer to connect to the most famous and modern football. It is something that people feel very close to.

People’s Daily Online: Which football team and which football player is your favorite?

John Gallagher: My favorite team is Arsenal, my favorite player at the moment may be Jack Wilshere, who is a young English player with Arsenal, and he is quite rare. The team has lots of foreign players for the past 10 years, may be longer than that. They have been known as a team with many foreigner players, but that is really good because what they have meant is young English players are trained and played with these very good foreign players. They have opportunity to learn, to develop their skills. I think that it is the sign of British’s openness, and we are open to foreign players to come in, to play with our best team, passing skills and knowledge, helping their own skills to grow. That is the long-term project, and I think it will be well before English player become playing other same level players or the best international team. But I think it definitely moves to right direction, and that is a sign of British openness and open culture to foreign players. It will be fantastic if more Chinese football players come to play in the UK as well.