Of course, York City did not stop during the international break.
They first defeated Plymouth 2:1 in the irrelevant second round of the British Championship group stage, and then ushered in an away game against Oxford United in the English League One.
As an old rival of the same League Two team last season, York City is no longer what it used to be.
Even though it was an away game, they still played vigorously and finally won their opponent with a score of 3:1.
After returning home, York City's momentum continued unabated and they defeated Swindon Town 3:1 again.
After the international break, although York City was forced to a 0:0 draw by Burghley in the next away game, they quickly won Peterborough United 1:0.
The most exciting game occurred in York City's home game against Bradford.
Although Bradford is only ranked fourth, they have remained unbeaten like York City.
Of course, this is mainly because they have too many draws, 8 in total! This also puts a certain gap between them and York City in points.
But this match in the 16th round of English League One turned into a goal battle.
Just four minutes into the game, at a corner kick, De Ligt headed the ball over, and Baker headed the ball into the goal, opening the scoring for York City.
Just seven minutes later, it was Baker's header that succeeded again!
This time it was a pass from Lin Liangming from the left, and the big center headed the ball from close range to further expand the score.
Before the end of the first half, Kenyo Fuyasu suddenly moved forward and reached the right side of the penalty area. After receiving a pass from Kulusevski, York City scored another victory.
After changing sides in the second half, Bradford took the opportunity to launch a wave of fierce attacks and took advantage of the York City defense being a little distracted to score two goals in a row.
After the score was tied at 3:2, York City's situation was once in danger.
But at the critical moment, Rice's assist in the 76th minute allowed Aman to score another victory for York City in the left rib of the penalty area, expanding the score again to 4-2.
In stoppage time, Baker built a wall in the penalty area and returned after receiving the ball. Lin Liangming stepped in and added icing on the cake for York City.
Five to two!
In the end, York City defeated Bradford 5-2 at home.
With this victory, York City has become the only undefeated team in League One.
After this round, York City topped the list with 12 wins, 4 draws and 40 points, followed by Scunthorpe with 34 points.
This not-so-famous team has shown a dark horse trend this year, and it seems that it also has ambitions to break into the British Championship. At least for now, the momentum is very strong.
In third place is Bolton Wanderers with 31 points, fourth is Bradford with 29 points, then fifth is Sheffield United with 28 points, and sixth is Bristol Rovers with 26 points.
These six teams form the first group currently fighting for the English Championship.
——
"Jason, have you noticed that Lionel seems to have a lot more gray hair recently!"
Pan Yi stood in front of the window of the chairman's office, looking at the training ground in the distance, with Chairman Jason McGill standing next to him.
The chairman's office is on the second floor, and right outside the window is the training ground, with a clear view of the situation there.
At this time, Lionel Scaloni was watching the first team training on the sidelines, and his assistant Caskey kept shouting, apparently instructing the players to train.
During this period, the team has performed very well and has become the biggest promotion favorite in the English League One this season.
As the head coach, Scaloni obviously doesn't want to miss out at critical moments, so he has been strictly following the team's training. The entire training base is filled with the smoke of war.
"Well, I see that he has been under a lot of pressure recently and works so late every day. I heard that he has been staying up late recently to watch the opponent's game videos and statistics!" McGill said.
Pan Yi nodded slightly.
Although he would ask Scaloni to relax a little and not push himself too hard when discussing tactics, it was clear that this did not work.
Scaloni worked really hard to repay Pan Yi's kindness, and also to meet Pan Yi's requirements as soon as possible.
I am not yet 40 years old, and there are already some gray hairs on my temples.
But there's nothing I can do about it. Isn't this why Pan Yi chose Scaloni?
He is the kind of person who is very diligent, so diligent that he wants to take advantage of everything that may affect the game, even the smallest details. Pan Yi sometimes suspects that he is a little paranoid.
But it is precisely because of this paranoia, coupled with a harmonious attitude and high emotional intelligence, that Scaloni is deeply loved by the players, and York City's performance is getting better and better this season, and now it is even more powerful for the championship. Contender.
Pan Yi thought for a while and said: "You find a time to talk to him and ask the coaching staff if they want to expand the number of people. It may be that there are too many things to do personally. If necessary, I will help him find someone."
The current number of first-team coaches at York City is indeed a bit insufficient.
In addition to a goalkeeper coach and a fitness coach, there is also an assistant coach Kaski.
As for Kaski, he works hard and gets along well with the players, but after all, he is just a coach left over from the old York City, with average abilities.
In other words, it is okay for him to be responsible for some daily training, but it is difficult to help Scaloni with deeper work such as tactical design.
This resulted in Scaloni basically having to do everything with one hand, and there was really no one he could rely on.
In this case, Pan Yi naturally wanted to find a few people to help him.
McGill nodded in agreement after hearing this, and was about to walk out when he saw Horta bumping in.
Victor Horta is a Spaniard who is currently the club's director of football.
He is only 37 years old this year, but he has already served as the director of Valladolid, Sevilla, Zenit, Elche, Middlesbrough and other teams. He is a highly rated football director in FM games.
In Pan Yi's previous life, this guy later joined Leeds United, also from Yorkshire, and helped oversee the club's reforms. These reforms also led to Leeds United's return to the Premier League in 2020.
Now, Pan Yi has taken the lead in poaching him from Middlesbrough and letting him be in charge of the team's business management.
Although Chairman Jason McGill is a die-hard York City fan and has absolute enthusiasm and loyalty to York City, some things still require people with strong business capabilities to do it.
The arrival of Horta can also share McGill's work well.
After Valentina resigned as financial director, Horta also took charge of a series of financial and operational matters.
It can be said that in York City now, McGill is in charge, Horta is in charge of outside, and Scaloni is in charge of training and games.
As for the boss Pan Yi...
They all care, but at the same time they don’t care.
Even matters big and small will be reported to him, but he usually doesn't interfere. Only when he encounters something that only he can handle, Pan Yi will take action personally.
That's how Pan Yi can live his life as a boss comfortably, and then take the time to give Arteta some guidance here and Lippi's advice there. It's great.
"Hey, is there anything good today? I'm so happy!" McGill asked curiously, looking at Orta's cheerful face.
Horta laughed and said: "You can see this! Because I went to help the club and made a lot of money and came back!"
"Oh?" McGill stopped now, and Pan Yi came over curiously to listen.
Horta explained: "I went to meet our sponsors and went through the contract again. Obviously, the original contract was not reasonable because we were a newly promoted team but now we are a League One team. The strongest team must have a different value!"
McGill and Pan Yi looked at each other.
They hadn't thought much about this.
After all, as a League Two or League One team, to be honest, it's pretty good to find sponsors.
If it weren't for Pan Yi's sake, how could Musk and Abramovich's companies come to our door?
Maybe in the end we can only find a local stationery store to advertise.
So this Horta is not simple, he can actually increase the sponsorship fee?
"I went to talk to them all, and they thought what I said made sense, so they decided to increase the original sponsorship fee by 50% in the second half of the season! Of course, I also gave them feedback, such as putting up the billboards on the stadium. I gave them all to show.”
"Moreover, the sponsorship contract will also become a one-year model. The price of League One is the price of League One, and the price of English Championship is the price of Championship. In other words, if we can successfully reach the Championship this season, the sponsorship fee will be okay. Get a big raise!”
"As for the remaining parts of the billboards, I will rent them separately, and I will also keep a few display boards as public service advertisements. When our stadium expansion is completed, our home court will be able to accommodate about 20,000 spectators. This is also a It’s quite a publicity platform.”
"Of course, as our record gets better and better, and more TV stations are willing to broadcast our games, there will be a lot of income here, and the publicity effect of the billboards will be better..."
Horta talked eloquently, and Pan Yi and McGill nodded frequently.
The money-making part is fine, it's Horta's job, and he does it well.
To be honest, even if Pan Yi does this kind of thing in person, he may not do it better than him - after all, Pan Yi just needs to brush his face. If he can't brush his face, sometimes he doesn't know what to do. .
And Horta mentioned public service announcements, which Pan Yi has paid more attention to recently.
In the past year or two, Pan Yi has also established a foundation in the name of York City Club, with the purpose of serving the community and fans, while also taking care of some charity activities.
For example, in their free time, some York City players will visit local nursing homes and children's welfare homes to visit the elderly and children, and at the same time bring them some gifts and send blessings;
If there are die-hard fans who have difficulties in life, the foundation will also provide sufficient help, such as providing job opportunities and helping their children go to school.
In establishing such a foundation, in addition to Pan Yi really wanting to do something practical for the local people, this will actually greatly enhance the club's local image.
This is very important for an English football club that is based on the community.
In Yorkshire, the current largest representative team is Leeds United. Although they are still in the English Championship, they are still the best team in Yorkshire and the team with the best historical results.
Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday are undoubtedly above York City.
Pan Yi established such a foundation because he wanted to let all Yorkshire fans remember the York City team in another dimension besides improving the team's performance.
“This is a team that truly belongs to the people of Yorkshire!”
York City still has a long way to go if we want the people of Yorkshire to have this awareness and get more people to support York City Club.
Therefore, in addition to the foundation, York City will also make its own contributions to more public welfare undertakings, which of course includes the free public service advertisements that Horta just mentioned.
"In fact, our foundation and charity activities have not only enhanced the reputation of our club, but have even helped me develop business operations."
Horta continued: "Due to the improvement of the club's image, many players have also become the targets of advertisers."
"For example, a razor company found Baker, while Amon received an invitation to be an advertising spokesperson for facial cleanser."
"Of course, Kenyo Tomiyasu from Japan is more popular. Many Japanese companies have approached him, including Okamoto, saying that Kenyo Tomiyasu's defense is solid and unbreakable like Okamoto..."
"Oh, Lin Liangming has been performing very well recently, and he has countless endorsements from Dragon Kingdom. These are all being discussed for the time being. Of course, I will operate them without affecting their training and competition..."
The three of them were chatting, and Scaloni happened to have finished the team training. He happened to come over to see Pan Yi for something, so he walked into the chairman's office.
Hearing their conversation, Scaloni asked.
McGill told Scaloni the good news again, and Horta also took the opportunity to discuss with Scaloni about arranging players to shoot commercials for manufacturers.
Scaloni smiled and said that as long as the time is right, he and the players will cooperate with the club's commercial activities.
He has been a head coach for more than a year and knows that being a coach is more than just leading the team in training and games.
In addition to being a confidant in the locker room and chatting with the crowd at press conferences, he often has to do things that he might not otherwise be willing to do.
Just like this kind of business activities.
But there is indeed a lot more to football than just football.
Commercial activities can bring in money, increase the club's profile, and sometimes improve fans' favorability.
For example, why do many wealthy teams go to the United States, Asia and other places to play games during summer training?
This is actually not very good from a pure football perspective. After all, it is a long journey and the horses are tired.
But from a business perspective, firstly, such a game can earn attendance fees, and secondly, it can please local fans, why not?
This includes asking coaches and players to record videos during holidays and say "Happy New Year" in various languages. Although you won't make any money, you will definitely gain favor.
Therefore, Scaloni fully supports the business activities prepared by the club's senior management, unless there is a special time conflict or something.
If you really feel a little uncomfortable, look at the master, Pan Yi, who is also the boss!
How hard he has worked to improve the reputation of York City!
I am running a foundation, actively participating in various community activities, and working hard to shoot videos and upload them to become an Internet celebrity...
Pan Yi is so handsome and yet works so hard, why are you embarrassed not to do it!
"By the way, since everyone is here today, let me also talk about the planning of facilities around the stadium."
As he spoke, Horta took out a piece of paper from his pocket and placed it on his desk.
Spread out, this is the map near York City's West Siberia Stadium.
"At present, our team's performance is getting better and better, and more and more fans are pouring into the stadium. The current parking spaces can meet the requirements, but when the stadium expansion is completed, I am afraid there will be trouble."
"So, I am going to walk on two legs to solve this problem. The first is to expand the parking lot outwards and consider building an underground parking lot. Otherwise, it will be difficult to meet the requirement of doubling the number of vehicles."
"Secondly, it is to make public transportation more convenient, so that more fans can watch the game without driving, which saves parking spaces. Of course, we cannot do this ourselves."
"So I plan to talk to the government and ask that this be fully taken into account in the new round of urban planning, and more bus lines be arranged to pass through us, and more stops here be arranged."
"Due to the improvement of our club's performance and image, York County officials are very willing to give us some policy preferences. What's more, such a plan can indeed facilitate the travel of people around the stadium, and at the same time, it can also promote the development of this area. economic development."
"And once there are more and more convenient ways to get here, it will also attract more fans to watch the game live. This is a win-win situation!"
Listening to Horta's analysis, Pan Yi also greatly agreed.
Sometimes, when fans don’t come to the stadium to watch a game, it’s really not because they don’t like watching, or they don’t have the money to watch.
Mainly it’s inconvenient!
Too far, too congested, inconvenient parking...etc.
This is actually the same as where to go shopping, watching movies, and watching shows.
If everything is convenient, you'll be more willing to go out.
Don't expect York City's games to be full now, but if the stadium is expanded to 20,000 people, it might be possible.
What's more, Pan Yi's ultimate idea is to build a brand new stadium, which may be able to accommodate 50,000 or 60,000 people!
That makes me even more dissatisfied.
After all, the entire population of North Yorkshire is only a few hundred thousand!
So we need to attract more fans from West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire to watch.
There are more people in these two places. South Yorkshire has more than one million people, and West Yorkshire has more than two million people.
Therefore, this aspect is to make the club bigger and stronger, and take root among the people, so that more Yorkshire people will regard York City Club as their first home team;
On the other hand, we need to improve transportation to make it more convenient and faster for them to come here to watch football!
"In addition, I can also talk to the government about the commercial facilities near the stadium and strive to make the surrounding areas into large shopping malls and supermarkets."
"In this case, everyone can come here not only to watch football, but also to shop, go shopping, and have entertainment. At that time, the value around the stadium will also increase with the tide!"
"And if we want to build a new stadium, we can also reserve a piece of land first, just in the northeast corner of the current stadium. When the new stadium is built, the old stadium can be converted into a new commercial center..."
Hearing Horta's excitement, Pan Yi and others also felt a little excited.
He is indeed a business wizard, so awesome!
And this is actually the biggest advantage of York City Club.
That is, although the place where the stadium is located is not in the city center, there is plenty of open space and the potential for development is very large.
If you were in a place like London, where land is at a premium, how could I possibly give you such trouble?
If we really build a new commercial center around the York City Stadium - whether it is the old stadium or the new stadium - introduce various shopping malls or other service and retail enterprises, and operate the surrounding land Get up, it's really going to happen.
Once it takes shape, just collecting rent will be a very large income, not to mention the income brought to the club itself by attracting traffic.
"I never thought that being a team owner could become a charterer..."
However, even though Pan Yi was happy with his thoughts, he still did not forget to remind Horta that commercial development is important, but everything must be remembered. The bottom line of business is that it cannot affect the team's performance and preparations!
Therefore, when Horta's business plan conflicts with the team's training and games, he must find Scaloni and McGill as soon as possible and discuss countermeasures together.
Horta nodded in agreement, and Scaloni respected Pan Yi even more.
After all, he is a head coach and an owner, and he will never look at a football club only from a business perspective.
Competition and performance are the eternal core of a team!
"By the way, I just wanted Jason to ask you if you need an assistant coach?" Pan Yi asked Scaloni.
Scaloni nodded politely: "I am indeed a little overwhelmed. The competition in English League One is very fierce and the schedule is also very intensive. In two days we will play the British Championship and the FA Cup again..."
"No problem, leave it to me." Pan Yi did some stretching exercises, "It just so happens that I haven't gone out for a while..."
