Before the start of the first game of the new season on August 6, York City first attracted the attention of English football and the media because of one incident.
According to the rules, before the start of the season, the club must provide the English Football Association with the player registration list for the new season.
York City also registered players in accordance with the rules, but to everyone's surprise, the list provided by York City actually included more than a dozen non-domestic players.
England is already relatively special. Players from Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland among the British Isles are all considered domestic players, but York City has just hired more than a dozen non-domestic players.
This is actually rare among English League One teams.
Because in low-level leagues, domestic players are often the main players.
This is not caused by the so-called "hukou book" restrictions.
The registration rules for League One are very simple, that is, the list must have more than six players trained by the youth training camps of English clubs.
And York City has just six of them, young people like Baker and Rice who can play as the main team, and they even have serious English household registrations, not to mention there are many people who played in the second division last season. , is originally a person of the old British flag.
In fact, the household registration system affects more top league clubs that can participate in European competitions.
They often have a large number of foreign players, and sometimes they cannot even meet the requirement of four youth training teams from their own team + four youth training teams from their own country.
However, low-level clubs mainly use locals, which is mainly restricted by factors such as scouting funds and players' willingness.
After all, if the money earned is not much different, who would want to travel so far to play football in a foreign country?
The scout search scope of low-level clubs cannot be too large. After all, the larger the scope, the higher the cost, which small clubs cannot afford.
In addition to these, there is another reason, which is the labor certification system.
You must have a labor certificate to work in the professional leagues in England!
This also makes many players from non-EU countries shy away from England.
However, most of Pan Yi's "foreign" players are from the European Union, such as Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany.
At this time, the UK was still an EU country, so players holding EU passports did not need to apply for a labor permit to play in the UK.
Lin Liangming is in the youth training camp of a big club like Real Madrid, and Amon has played in the Norwegian Super League for half a season. Alphonso Davis is in Canada, a Commonwealth country, and has already played in the American League. Therefore, after passing the application, I successfully obtained the labor certificate.
The most troublesome thing is the Japanese player Kenyo Tomiyasu. He has only played in the Japanese league. He has no European residence history or competition experience, and it is impossible to have a national team appearance record.
This is the time when Pan Yi needs to "brush his face".
He used the "Special Genius Clause"!
What is this?
The special genius clause applies to clauses established for those who are unable to obtain an English League labor certificate (non-EU players have a national team appearance rate of more than 75% within two years and the national team ranks above 75th). This clause is mainly for Premier League clubs and continental European clubs. Compete for those non-EU talented players and provide convenience.
Therefore, when you are interested in a non-EU player, but you are suffering from the fact that he has not played for the national team, or the number of appearances has not reached the standard, then you can use this right to apply for a labor certificate for him.
This also requires preparing its materials and providing a favorable witness, followed by a hearing.
The club applies to the Ministry of Labor to hold a hearing. The Ministry of Labor will select a 6-member jury for different labor certificate application cases. After listening to the club's statement, it will decide whether to issue a labor certificate.
A club only has one quota per year, and Pan Yi wants to give this quota to Fuan Jianyang.
In fact, this "special talent clause" often requires young players to prove their abilities in the European leagues, but these things are flexible.
In other words, it is a bit subjective. As long as the reviewer feels that the player can "make a special contribution to the development of the British league", then they will vote to let him get a labor certificate.
Of course, due to the lack of written basis for this manual review process, it is often criticized by public opinion due to excessive subjective factors, but now it happens to be used by Pan Yi, right?
For example, William originally wanted to move to Chelsea, but he had only represented the Brazilian national team in two A-level events, which was far from the 75% requirement of representing Brazil in the past two years.
However, Chelsea appealed after William's labor certificate application was rejected, saying that the Brazilian national team is strong and full of talents. If William did not play for Brazil, he would definitely become the main player of the national team.
Later, the Ministry of Labor recognized the above statement and believed that William met the conditions of being able to contribute to the development of the Premier League, so William was issued a labor certificate.
In fact, when English teams recruit players from the Americas, they often use this method. Some of them are not even international players and can pass.
Of course Fiyasu Kenyo's conditions are much worse than William's, but the Japanese national team's world ranking is not low. In addition, he has indeed played in the J1 league and is not yet 17 years old this year, which makes sense.
Pan Yi was eloquent, and everyone on the jury admired Pan Yi and believed in Pan Yi's vision, so:
"We all agree that a world-class coach who has produced countless outstanding young players will not bring a mediocre player from Japan to England for no reason. Therefore, we believe that Tomiyasu Kenyo meets the requirements of the special talent clause of!"
Then, the vote passes.
All the players Pan Yi recruited some time ago were successfully registered!
And York City also has a truly international team from Europe, America, Asia, and Africa...
This is really different.
For comparison, Sheffield United, the favorite to compete in the English Championship this season, has all their players from the British Isles.
Of course, York City’s registration list is unique not only in terms of nationality.
Their players are either veterans over 30 years old or children under 20 years old, with almost no one in the middle around 25 years old...
This has also caused countless media, fans, especially other teams in the English League One to talk about and be curious about this newly promoted team.
"Is Pan Yi's lineup of leading the new with the old a bit too extreme?"
"It can be seen that Pan Yi, as the owner of York City, wants to train young players to generate revenue. But can this guarantee the team's performance?"
"Perhaps as a newly promoted team, Pan Yi was not prepared to let York City compete for the British Championship. This is also very sensible. It is correct to settle in the English League."
"This is so irresponsible. Once you become your own boss, you only care about making money. You don't care about Scaloni's feelings..."
——
"Hahaha! God helps me." Charlton head coach Carl Robinson smiled while holding the information in hand.
York City's first-round opponent in the 2016-2017 League One season was Charlton!
Charlton can be said to be a veteran English team. Since being relegated from the Premier League in the 2006-2007 season, they have been in the "post-Zheng Zhi era" and have been unable to return to the Premier League.
During this period, they were even relegated to League One several times, but worked hard to get promoted back to the Championship.
But last season, they only ranked 22nd in the English Championship and were relegated to English League One again with third-to-last results.
However, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.
A relegated team from the English Championship plays against a newly promoted team from League Two. Isn't this a dimensionality reduction blow?
Carl Robinson has been paying attention to York City's signings for a long time. When he heard that Pan Yi had brought in several Swedish international players, he was still a little worried, even though he was old and young.
After all, everyone knows how important the opening stage of the league is!
Winning may boost the team's morale and make them advance;
Failure may cause the team to have doubts about summer signings and training, and morale will drop, which will then create a vicious cycle of losing games one after another.
Therefore, Charlton is particularly concerned about the first opponent in the league.
But later, Carl Robinson heard that Pan Yi was staring at those players that no one cared about, and he felt a little relieved.
After all, they are a newly promoted team and their funds are still limited.
A winger from the Dragon Kingdom, a forward from Cameroon, a full-back from Canada, a defender from Japan...
What are these?
And each one is younger than the other, with few even over 18 years old!
"When Pan Yi becomes the boss, does he think he is playing a football manager game?" Carl Robinson said to his assistant Richard Buck with a smile, "Only buying children to level up? And then looking for opportunities to sell them in the future. go?"
Richard Buck also laughed and said: "Obviously, he has been coaching at a wealthy club for a long time and does not understand the cruel competition in leagues such as English League One and the English Championship. It is time for us to let him see what the real world is."
"It's really stupid." Carl Robinson sneered and shook his head, "As a newly promoted team, you have to have the awareness of a newly promoted team. Who knows what this person is thinking, he actually replaced so many experienced main players and introduced these Little brat."
As a coach who has worked hard in English League One and the English Championship for many years, Carl Robinson knows how difficult it is for a newly promoted team to avoid relegation in English League One.
Even a team like Charlton, which has just come out of the British Championship, dare not take it lightly.
He adopted a very safe transfer strategy this summer. He retained most of the team's main players, which also gave Charlton a strong strength in English League One.
And most of his main players are experienced players in their prime.
He firmly believes that to make a name for himself in a low-level league like English League One, you need to rely on these experienced veterans.
Richard Buck laughed and said: "I just don't know if York City loses consecutively after a few rounds, will Pan Yi fire his head coach Scaloni?"
Carl Robinson laughed: "These players were all bought by Pan Yi himself. Let's see if he will take the blame for his poor head coach..."
——
August 6, 2017.
The game between York City and Charlton is the opening game of the new season. The game kicks off at three o'clock in the afternoon, and at noon, the entire York City is almost empty.
The tickets for this game have been sold out early because this is the first time in the club's history that they have played in League One!
For this game and this day, York City people have been waiting for too long, too long.
Match day is almost a carnival for the entire York City!
In the home stadium that has been named the West Siberian Stadium, the players are entering amid the cheers of the fans, and the home team's head coach Scaloni is also shaking hands with the visiting team Charlton head coach Carl Robinson.
Then, bursts of warm applause erupted from the stands.
That's because the fans saw their boss, Pan Yi, sitting on the rostrum with his girlfriend and former club treasurer Valentina.
For such a historic game, of course Pan Yi, as the boss, has to attend.
And you can also see how the players you have brought in these days can perform.
These are players that I spent a lot of time and money to acquire!
Well, it took a little time, but not a lot of money.
Regardless of the fact that there are as many as ten new players, the total cost is actually about three million euros, most of which is the money to buy De Ligt...
The transfer fee of three million is a bit low compared to a "powerhouse" like Sheffield United, but it is actually relatively high for an ordinary League One team.
After all, the transfer budget of many English League One teams is only a few hundred thousand euros.
But for Pan Yi, it’s time to let the water go.
The main reason is that the salary level of this group of players is not high, which is probably the upper-middle level in the entire English League One. This means that York City's overall financial status will not be greatly affected.
At this time, Valentina no longer works in the club. Her job is to accompany Pan Yi around.
Since the summer transfer was arranged, Pan Yi immediately had nothing too important to do.
After all, he is no longer the team's head coach, and all specific matters are left to Scaloni to handle.
He only serves as Scaloni's mentor, helping his disciple answer questions when he has any difficult problems.
At other times, Pan Yi either takes Valentina around, or becomes an Internet celebrity, posting videos on the AB website, doing live broadcasts, sharing life and so on.
His number of fans has exceeded 100 million!
To be honest, as long as he is willing, he can make a lot of money just by carrying any goods.
Now, Pan Yi stood up from his seat, waved to the fans, and then took out his mobile phone to capture himself and the cheering fans behind him into the camera:
"Look, veterans, this is our team's first League One game, and the atmosphere is already very intense..."
Then the barrage on the live broadcast screen was so blurry that nothing could be seen clearly, and only some repeated text such as [66666666] could be seen...
At this time, off the court, the head coaches of both sides had already obtained the opponent's starting lineup.
York City's side is a 4-4-2.
Forward: Baker, Armand.
Midfielder: Lin Liangming, Karlstrom, Rice, Kulusevski.
Defenders: Alphonso Davies, Westerman, De Ligt, Toyasu Kenyo.
Goalkeeper: Isaacson.
The main reason for using 4-4-2 is that it is better to use simpler tactics in English League One games.
This is what Pan Yi suggested to Scaloni, and this tactic was verified in actual combat in the English Second League last season.
Moreover, such tactics can also take advantage of the current characteristics of York City's forward line, which is high and fast.
Amon used his strong body and speed to confuse the opponent's defense, while Baker stood in the middle, looking for opportunities to header and grab points!
At the same time, the impact of the two full-backs, Lin Liangming and Kulusevski, and the two full-backs, Alphonso Davis and Fiyasu Jianyang, on the wing can also provide huge support to the two forwards.
In the defensive midfielder position, Karlström + Rice, and central defender Westermann + De Ligt, are a combination of one old and one young, and they also complement each other in style. It can be said that they are both stable and aggressive.
It can be said that this lineup is relatively balanced on both offense and defense, and it has absolute dominance in League One.
However, such a starting lineup is a bit funny in the eyes of the Charlton coaching staff.
"Three veterans, leading eight youngsters?" Charlton head coach Carl Robinson laughed and said, "They really put all the newly introduced players on the field."
"Scaloni actually dared to do this." Assistant Richard Buck said in surprise, "Is this pressure put on him by the boss Pan Yi? Lest others say that the boss buys useless players..."
"What makes me even more confused is that among the eleven starting players, York City only used one player from last season, and that was high center Baker." Carl Robinson shook his head and said, "This is too bold. . Aren’t they afraid that there will be problems with the lineup?”
Richard Buck smiled and said: "Isn't this great? Give us a good start!"
The two looked at each other and smiled.
They are already preparing to drink celebratory drinks after the game!
——
Within the first five minutes of the game, the visiting team Charlton took the lead and attacked York City's goal from the very beginning.
Charlton's right back, 25-year-old Solly, was very active.
He frequently provided assists and attacked York City's left defense.
This is the key tactic that Charlton head coach Carl Robinson came up with after research.
In York City's current 4-4-2, right back Takehiro Tomiyasu looks like a rookie, but after all, Kulusevski in front of him is a rising star in the European Cup that just passed, and The experienced right center back Westerman and right midfielder Karlström are both here.
Even right forward Baker performed well in the English League Two last season.
And what kind of crooked melons and cracked dates are these on the left?
The left forward is Amang from Cameroon, the left forward is Lin Liangming from Longguo, and the left back is Alphonso Davis from Canada...
Where did you pick up these big treasures?
The left midfielder Rice and the left central defender De Ligt are both 17-year-old kids who are obviously easy to bully.
Of course, the focus is still on Alphonso Davis, who guards the last line of defense on the left, and he is not even 16 years old yet!
Of course, being able to play Alphonso Davies also benefits from the fact that the English league now has no minimum age limit for players to play.
German law stipulates that employees under the age of 18 are not allowed to be employed. Therefore, it is illegal for the Bundesliga to use players under the age of 18.
In La Liga, players under the age of 16 are not allowed to register with the first team, let alone participate in La Liga.
There are no restrictions in the Premier League, Serie A, and Ligue 1. In theory, newborn babies can also play.
The Premier League record is held by Fulham's Matthew Briggs at 16 years and 68 days. This young left-back still holds the record for the youngest appearance in England's top competition.
Serie A is Pellegri. At that time, he came on as a substitute to make his Serie A debut for Genoa. At only 15 years and 280 days old, he also tied the record of the youngest player to debut in Serie A that had been standing for 80 years.
Pan Yi has not checked the relevant information, but Alphonso Davies, who is over 15 years old, should be at the forefront of the appearance record of young players in the entire English league system when he plays in English League One, right?
In short, Charlton saw that York City's left wing was too young, especially Alphonso Davies, and attacked this side fiercely.
At the beginning, the young Alphonso Davis did seem a bit embarrassed against the experienced and technically delicate Soli.
But after all, he is a young and mature representative, and he quickly adapted to the rhythm of the game - after all, even in a normal timeline, he should have played in the MLS at this time.
Moreover, he is extremely fast and explosive. Even if he is passed by Charlton players once or twice, he can catch up quickly and then fight together again.
In the 10th minute, Solly and his teammates collided with each other, and then deceived Alphonso Davis with a smash. Then, just as he was about to start, he saw York City's veteran defender West. Man rushed forward.
Seeing the tightness on the left, he changed positions with De Ligt and stood at the left center back to help fill Alphonso Davies' position.
This is one of the reasons why Pan Yi signed Westerman!
The veteran is experienced and responsible!
The German veteran pounced on the ball at the right time. Solly was startled and quickly passed the football.
But this pass was intercepted midway by the quick-reacting Alphonso Davis.
"This seems to be a defensive cooperation. Westerman came to fill in, and Alphonso Davis, who had just been passed, was already ready to steal and intercept!" the commentator shouted.
After Alphonso Davis stole the ball, he quickly passed the ball to Lin Liangming, who came to respond. The latter immediately passed the ball to Rice, who organized the attack.
This is actually Scaloni's tactical requirement, so that York City's two midfielders can take advantage of their broad vision and good passing skills.
Of course, whether Karlstrom or Rice gets the ball here depends on who is further to the left at the time.
At this time Rice came over and the ball came to his feet.
At almost the same time, Alphonso Davis had already started running forward.
At this time, Charlton's midfielder had already pounced on Rice, who was receiving the ball. He planned to steal the ball while the immature boy was receiving the ball. At that time, Rice's footing was not stable, which was an opportunity he could take advantage of.
However, when Rice faced the big man who was rushing towards him, he leaned forward slightly and resisted the opponent's upward movement. However, he deftly tapped his heel and went around from the other side.
The opponent missed the point!
"Free time! Opportunity!" Scaloni suddenly stood up from the coaching bench.
On the rostrum, Pan Yi also leaned forward slightly.
They all could see that the opportunity had come.
Charlton really regarded York City as a rookie who could be bullied at will. The offensive was very fierce and the formation was very forward.
Just now, their midfielders were pressed to the top of York City's penalty area. Now, he made a miss. The direct consequence of this miss was that there was a large gap in Charlton's half!
And this is the counterattack opportunity that Scaloni emphasized in his pre-match preparations.
At the same time, this is also the most important point in Pan Yi's advice to Scaloni, which is to use the speed on the left to play a very fast attack on the left!
This is actually somewhat similar to Pan Yi's approach in the Swedish national team.
Alphonso Davis and Thomas Amon on the left are both extremely fast!
Lin Liangming's absolute speed is not as good as theirs, but his instant explosive power is also outstanding, and he has a stronger sense of tactics and coordination, which also helps the team's offense a lot.
With this combination, York City's left attack can be said to be lightning fast!
This time, after Rice dunked the opponent's defense, he turned around with the ball, looked up in front, and immediately passed a long pass to the feet of Lin Liangming who had already rushed in front!
"York City's counterattack!"
Lin Liangming stopped the football beautifully. At this time, there were only three Charlton defenders in front of him.
At this moment, on the left, Aman was advancing at high speed. Behind him was Alphonso Davis, who was sprinting forward after just stealing the ball. And on the right, Kulusevski was also rushing forward. In the sprint, ahead of him, Baker is also running.
At this moment, York City instantly formed a five-on-three situation in the frontcourt.
The Charlton defender had no choice but to come up and block Lin Liangming's dribbling route.
Lin Liangming, on the other hand, was not greedy at all and immediately passed the ball to Alphonso Davis who was on the edge.
"Alfonso Davies! He's so fast!"
Alphonso Davis was very fast, pushed the ball forward, and then accelerated to catch up with the football. At the same time, he changed direction beautifully and cut directly into the penalty area!
Charlton's defense was torn to pieces at this time, and Alphonso Davies was so fast and cut inside so resolutely that almost before Charlton's defender could react, he Already entered the restricted area.
After Alphonso Davies approached the penalty area, he tried to shoot. He deceived the Charlton defender who was desperately trying to chase back and fell to the ground to slide the tackle to block it. Then he saw Alphonso Davies dunk the ball back. When the defender slid off the baseline against the turf, he calmly passed the ball across.
In front of the goal, the tall and strong center Baker carried Charlton's last center back and made a half-turn to volley!
The Charlton goalkeeper flew to save the ball and the ball was saved by him to the right side of the goal.
At this time, another red figure rushed up, it was Amang!
The young Cameroonian forward grabbed the ball before it hit the baseline and shot directly!
"Thomas Amon! He's unmarked now... shoot!"
The ball flew straight towards the goal, and the Charlton goalkeeper, who had just completed the save and was still lying on the ground, was completely powerless at this time. He could only raise his head and watch the ball fly into the net in despair.
"GooooooooooooooooooooL!"
"Beautiful counterattack! Speed! York City showed us their speed! Wonderful goal! Thomas Amon, he scored the first League One goal in the club's history for York City! One to zero! The home team York City are in the lead!”
In the stands of the West Siberian Stadium, fans stood up from their seats.
They cheered, shouted, jumped and applauded to celebrate the arrival of the team's first goal in the history of English League One!
After scoring, Aman didn't bother to celebrate himself. He ran towards the fans' stands and reached out to invite young people like Lin Liangming, Baker, Rice and Alphonso Davis to come and celebrate together.
After hugging coach Scaloni, they also pointed to the stands together.
This means that this goal should be dedicated to the boss Pan Yi!
It was Pan Yi who brought these children from all over the world here, and this goal was achieved!
On the rostrum, Pan Yi waved to everyone with a smile and grinned:
"Isn't it just a ball? Calm down and continue!"
