Former manager Hatsuhiko Tsuji, who is very motivated, “spends his days gathering information at the Berna Dome! Motivated former manager Hatsuhiko Tsuji “spends his days gathering information at the Beruna Dome.

At the Seibu Holdings shareholders’ meeting held on June 21, plans for the “sudden return” of a former manager were heard from the Seibu Lions, whose shareholders have been calling for the team to be blamed for its stagnation.

At the shareholders’ meeting, a man who appeared to be a Seibu fan reportedly made the following comment.

I am saddened by the very disappointing results this year. I had the impression that the Lions were a strong team. I hope that the Lions will choose a coach who can win without being an alumnus. I want them to focus on winning.”

In response to these comments, which seemed to represent the feelings of the Lions, owner Takashi Goto (75) said, “As an owner, I feel a keen sense of responsibility. I will take the lead in carrying out major reforms to make the Lions an ever-winningteamagain,” he said.

Before the start of this year’s season, when asked by the media what players he expected to see, Goto is famous for his “baseball-phobia” to the extent that he mentioned veteran players Takumi Kuriyama (40) and Takeya Nakamura (40), who are both over 40 years old. Yet, they are more strict than others about compliance. The owners are probably more interested in finding a manager who can drive the team in a “safe and secure” manner than one who can win.

The manager who is said to be secretly seeking that slot is former manager Hatsuhiko Tsuji (65), who was in charge of the team from 2005 to 2010.

Tsuji’s leadership is the real thing. He has a wide range of tactics, and there is no doubt that he has the power to make his team win. In fact, in ’18 and ’19, the Lions won the league championship two years in a row. On the other hand, there are a surprisingly large number of people involved in the team who say that the team’s failure to nurture the youngsters who will carry the Lions into the next generation led to the team’s sluggish performance this year.

However, Tsuji, who does not know this, continues to visit the Verna Dome to gather information on the team.

He spent his playing days with Yakult and has coaching experience with Yokohama and Chunichi, but surprisingly, he is not familiar with them and only goes back to his “old stomping grounds. He was quick to catch on to the fact that Seibu was short of a successor after the dismissal of Kazuo Matsui (48), and he was eager to take on the job.

Furthermore, media people who have hired Mr. Tsuji as a critic are lobbying inside and outside the team, saying, “Mr. Tsuji is the next choice! They are lobbying for him to be the next one. The team officials laugh and say, “We haven’t heard anything about that,” but they also leak, “There’s no one else qualified for the job. …… He seems to be willing to do it, and I think it’s a very realistic plan.

Is the top management position so attractive that the team is still aiming for a comeback, despite the fact that the team is suffering from a lack of strength unprecedented in the team’s history?