I build a giant in the Premier League

Chapter 31 Borrowing chickens to lay eggs
March 3, noon, Cardiff Millennium Stadium.

In the final of the British Championship, Bayswater Chinese played against Blackpool.

Yang Cheng stood in front of the home team's coaching booth, looking at the fans' stands on the opposite side, then turned around and looked behind him, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Our fans' appeal is still a little weak."

Brian Kidd naturally knew what Yang Cheng meant.

It was clear from their position that there were more Blackpool fans than Bayswater Chinese.

"It is said that they had over 1 fans in attendance, while we barely broke 5."

The stands at the Millennium Stadium are all covered and can even be completely enclosed.

Even at noon, fans don't need to hide from the sun.

The Millennium Stadium can accommodate more than 7 fans, but there were only more than 2 fans from both teams, so the seats were very sparse.

Especially on this side of Bayswater where the Chinese are.

In order to attract more fans, Bayswater Chinese have tried many methods.

Ticket prices for London teams have always been higher than those in other cities, but this time at the Millennium Stadium, Bayswater Chinese's ticket price was the same as Blackpool's.

As a result, the number of visitors was still far less than expected.

In the recent League Cup final, Bolton played Middlesbrough and the stadium was packed.

"Actually, it's not easy anymore." Brian Kidd consoled with a smile.

"You should think, at least we have broken through 10,000."

Yang Cheng couldn't help but burst out laughing.

At the beginning of the season, the number of Chinese fans attending Bayswater was only around 2.

As the team's performance continues to improve and the games become more entertaining, they are attracting more and more fans.

Now every home stadium is consistently full.

For this final, the Chinese at Bayswater tried every possible means and promoted it for a month, only then they attracted 1 fans.

This in itself is a huge improvement.

"By the way, have you thought about the home stadium for next season?" Brian Kidd asked with concern.

With the current situation of the Bayswater Chinese, promotion is a foregone conclusion and winning the championship is also a high probability event.

But the next season in the Championship, problems began to arise.

The first issue to be addressed is the home field issue.

There are many teams in London.

If we zoom in to the entire Greater London metropolitan area, there are dozens of them.

But it is not easy to find a home stadium that meets the needs of the Chinese in Bayswater.

After several years of accumulation, plus this past season, the team now has at least a few thousand hardcore fans, which are the basic base for Bayswater Chinese match-day revenue.

If the team went too far out to the suburbs, how many of them would be willing to go?
Yang Cheng felt that it would be best to locate it near Hyde Park to facilitate this core group of people.

That doesn't leave much choice.

Chelsea, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers, and barely Arsenal's Highbury Stadium.

If he really has to choose one, Yang Cheng thinks that Queens Park Rangers' Loftus Road Stadium is the most suitable.

It's not just because it's the closest, the stadium has a capacity of 19200 people, which is not particularly large.

The home stadium is too big and there are few fans entering, so the atmosphere will be very bad.

In addition, Yang Cheng has a selfish desire that he cannot reveal.

Borrow a chicken to lay an egg.

British fans are indeed loyal, but most of them are not particularly firm.

They are more accustomed to going to the football stadium to watch a football game every weekend.

If Bayswater Chinese can lease Loftus Road, they will surely attract some of the more neutral fans of Queens Park Rangers.

During the year that Yang Cheng has been coaching, the playing style of the Chinese players at Bayswater has been obvious to all.

Not to mention in lower-level leagues, even in the Premier League, it is famous for being great to watch.

After 37 rounds, Queens Park Rangers are now ranked 3rd, 6 points behind Plymouth.

In other words, they are very likely to enter the promotion play-offs.

If they fail and the upgrade fails, the advantage for the Chinese in Bayswater will be huge.

This is what Yang Cheng was thinking.

"Your idea is indeed good, but I'm worried that Queens Park Rangers may not be willing to rent it to us," said Brian Kidd.

They are not stupid. Don’t they know about this hidden danger?

Of course Yang Cheng also thought of it, "Anyway, let's talk about it first."

Forget about Chelsea and Arsenal's home games.

If Queens Park Rangers are unwilling, then they can rent him from Fulham.

If that doesn't work, then we can only go west.

Take Brentford for example.

There are also several usable stadiums around Wembley Stadium.

But these are last resort options.

In Yang Cheng's opinion, Queens Park Rangers are not having an easy time at all.

As the founding team of the Premier League in 1992, Queens Park Rangers has been a force to be reckoned with in the top league since the mid-s, even stronger than Chelsea and Arsenal.

But in 96, the team was relegated from the Premier League.

In 01, they were relegated from English League One.

Queens Park Rangers' current owner is Italian Gianni Paladini.

The reason why he bought Queens Park Rangers at a low price was to bring the team to the Premier League and then cash in.

Not long ago, the media revealed that Queens Park Rangers was preparing to apply to the bank for a ten-year long-term loan worth 700 million pounds to alleviate the team's debt of tens of millions of pounds.

Therefore, Yang Cheng believes that the die-hard fans of Queens Park Rangers may not be happy.

But Italian owners should be interested in renting from the Chinese in Bayswater.

……

Steve McMahon, England international.

In the 1980s, he played for strong teams such as Everton, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City, and witnessed the glorious heyday of English football.

After retiring, he coached Swindon and Blackpool. In this British Championship final, facing the Bayswater Chinese, McMahon still deployed England's iconic 442 tactics.

On the front line, he arranged a tall and fast combination of center forward John Murphy and forward Mike Sheron.

This is also the most common tactical play in England.

Not only that, at the Millennium Stadium, Blackpool reversed their slump in the league, took the initiative and took the lead.

Just 1 minute and 30 seconds into the game, Kurosawa got a chance for a quick counterattack through a midfield stranglehold.

Martin Block, a New Zealand-born player who is only 1 meters tall but very fast, received a pass from his teammate on the right and made a cross to find center forward John Murphy in the penalty area.

There was a dangerous situation at the doorstep of the Chinese in Bayswater.

At the critical moment, Joe Hart shouted to his teammates, decisively abandoned the goal and rushed to the front of the small penalty area. He jumped high, stretched out his hands, and snatched the ball from mid-air before John Murphy.

This excellent attack won Joe Hart warm applause from the audience.

McMahon, who was sitting in front of the visiting team's coaching booth, shook his head dejectedly.

If this ball had gone in, the situation would have been very different.

……

Although he lost the upper hand at the beginning, Yang Cheng was not in a hurry at all.

His players on the field were equally unhurried.

After a season of running-in and familiarity, they already know clearly how to deal with such situations.

In other words, they have adapted to the English team's simple, rough and aggressive style of play.

With an overwhelming advantage in overall strength, the Bayswater Chinese slowly controlled the ball and patiently consumed their opponents.

This is a life-and-death final!
Only weak teams need to use surprise tactics, while strong teams need to be stable.

The first ten minutes or so were a struggle between the two sides.

After 15 minutes, it was obvious that the Bayswater Chinese gradually began to control the situation on the field.

Blackpool, who failed to score a goal in the opening minutes, began to switch to defense.

The head coaches of both teams are also targeting their opponents.

Knowing that Ribery was the main attacker for the Chinese team at Bayswater, McMahon arranged for Danny Kuyd to play as the right back.

The player Kuyd is 1 meters tall and is good at both defense and offense.

But his greatest strengths are speed and agility.

And he is proficient with both feet.

McMahon's purpose in doing this is very simple. He uses Kuyt to defend Ribery alone. Whether he goes down the bottom or cuts inside, Kuyt can block him.

But Kuyd's weakness is his physical confrontation and high ball control.

Fortunately, Ribery is worse in both respects.

Freeze Ribery, deploy heavy troops in the midfield, especially the two central midfielders who are basically on defense.

This will minimize the Chinese offensive in Bayswater.

The match went just as McMahon judged.

From the 15th minute, Bayswater Chinese took the initiative, but their attack failed to pose a threat.

The connection between Ribery, Martin Roland and Modric was basically cut off.

Lambert was also caught in a hand-to-hand fight between two high school defenders, Mike Flynn and Steve Elliott.

In this situation, Blackpool's defense looked fierce, but in fact did not give Bayswater Chinese good opportunities.

Yang Cheng did not make any adjustments in the first half, but let this situation continue until the halftime break.

0-0, both sides shook hands and made peace.

……

“In the second half, our offense needs to adjust its play.”

During the half-time break, Yang Cheng called Dave Kitson into the locker room.

He was to replace Martin Devaney.

The latter failed to exert his due advantage in the first half against mediocre left-back Tommy Zanzzu.

This is very bad.

"Ricky."

Yang Cheng walked among the players with a confident and calm look on his face, and called out Lambert's name first.

Lambert immediately raised his head and looked at the head coach.

"In the second half, you go and deal with Kuide."

"We need to pass the ball more to the left. Lambert will be responsible for grabbing the first point, while Ribery, Roland and even Capaldi will control the second point."

"Kitson, your mission is to pin down the two central defenders, Flynn and Elliot, and...score a goal!"

After hearing this, Dave Kitson rubbed his hands and nodded, looking like he couldn't hold back any longer.

"Our task in the second half is to score a goal, open a breakthrough from their right side, and then disintegrate their entire defense!"

……

At the beginning of the second half, after the Chinese players of Bayswater made substitutions, they were the first to sound the clarion call for attack.

McMahon also smelled danger. He stood on the sidelines and kept shouting at the players.

But in the 47th minute of the second half, Blackpool's goal was lost.

After Modric and Ribery connected, the Frenchman dribbled the ball along the left flank and rushed straight forward.

Lambert pressed Kuyd with his body outside the left corner of the penalty area, then received Ribery's pass and made a cross pass to help the Frenchman complete a two-pass at the front of the penalty area.

Ribery dribbled the ball quickly into the left side of the penalty area. Facing Flain who was returning to defense, he made an abrupt stop and then made a cross pass to the front of the goal.

Dave Kitson got in position in the middle and sent the ball into the Blackpool goal.

"The ball went in!!"

“Just two minutes into the second half, the Chinese from Bayswater took the lead in breaking through Blackpool’s goal!”

"Yang Cheng's adjustments in the midfield once again produced magical results."

"Kitson, who came on as a substitute, scored again!"

"What an efficient shooter!"

　Thank you all for your enthusiastic voting support! Thank you very much!!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)