In the next two rounds of the English Championship, although they faced two strong teams, York City still played smoothly.
They won Fulham 1:0 away from home, and then beat Yorkshire's city rivals Sheffield United 3:1 at home.
After consecutive defeats against Leeds United and Sheffield United, York City fans can now shout loudly: "We are now the boss of Yorkshire!"
After a 3-0 win over Apollon Limassol in an away game on December 8, their Europa League group stage journey officially ended, with 5 wins and 1 draw, ranking first in the group!
As a second-tier league team, it was able to squeeze out teams from Serie A and Ligue 1 such as Atalanta and Lyon to win first place. York City's performance has also been widely praised.
In other groups, some stronger teams also qualified one after another, and basically there were no major upsets.
Villarreal, Dynamo Kyiv, Zenit St. Petersburg, Real Sociedad, AC Milan, Arsenal, Ajax and other teams have all successfully entered the top 32.
Of course, these are not the only teams competing in the top 32.
Among the eight third-place teams in the Champions League group stage, there are also strong teams like Atletico Madrid, Naples, Borussia Dortmund, and RB Leipzig. Although they were eliminated in the Champions League, it can be said that they are still in the Europa League. Relatively strong.
On the third day after the group stage, the draw for the top 32 knockout rounds was held.
The opponent York City drew was Villarreal from La Liga.
Nicknamed the "Yellow Submarine", they have performed very well in La Liga recently and have been firmly in the top six this season.
Although it is not enough to say that it can launch a championship challenge against Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid, it is quite an achievement for such a small town team to participate in the European War.
For this team, the players that impressed Pan Yi most were mainly their frontcourt attacking trio.
One forward is Bacca from Colombia. He played for AC Milan in the first two seasons and performed fairly well. However, he was sold after Brother Li came this season.
Another forward is Russia's Cheryshev. Pan Yi's impression of him is mainly that he scored a beautiful goal in the opening game of the 2018 World Cup in his previous life.
There is also the attacking midfielder Fornals. Pan Yi's first impression of him came from the FM Football Manager game, because in the game he is a "professional model" player, and Pan Yi often uses him as a role model. Xiaoyao's teacher.
Of course, in reality, his strength is also very good. Later, he was transferred to West Ham United for more than 30 million euros and has been performing very well.
However, the Europa League round of 32 match against Villarreal is scheduled for next year, and the first leg will be on February 16, so there is no need to worry about it for the time being.
But Pan Yi, as the boss, found Scaloni at this time and expressed that he would announce the bonus distribution plan for this season.
This is also a way to prepare for a rainy day.
It's already December, and the winter break schedule will soon begin, and the FA Cup will also be added.
Often by this period, many teams will become unstable and physically and mentally exhausted, leading to a decline in performance and results.
Pan Yi just wants to give the players a little stimulation at this time, so that they can maintain high morale and compete for various championships!
"Although the prize money of the Europa League is much lower than that of the Champions League, it is still a big sum for us." Pan Yi said:
"My idea is that if the team can be promoted this season, all the Europa League prize money will be used as a reward. Of course, if we can go further in the FA Cup, then I will also take it. The prize money from the FA Cup will be used as bonus for the team, and the promotion bonus will be calculated separately!"
Scaloni was a little surprised, but soon understood what Pan Yi meant.
To put it bluntly, playing football for professional players is a job. You must give them enough rewards to make them work harder. If you want to achieve this, Pan Yi's approach is undoubtedly the most ideal.
According to the bonus plan announced by UEFA this year, after participating in the group stage, you can get almost 3 million euros in income, and then you can get 500,000 more if you enter the top 32, 1.1 million for the top 16, 1.5 million for the top eight, and the semi-finals 2.4 million, and reaching the finals, you can get 4.5 million.
In total, if York City can reach the end, it will have an income of more than 10 million euros.
This is of course child's play compared to the Champions League, because as long as they qualify for the Champions League group stage, each team can already receive more bonuses than the Europa League champions...
And if you can win the Champions League, the total bonus you will receive may exceed 70 million euros.
This still does not include television broadcast costs.
As we all know, the appeal of the Champions League is much higher than that of the Europa League. Fans are more willing to watch a Champions League game during the broadcast. Of course, the difference in the shares here will be very different.
This is actually one of the reasons why UEFA has always wanted to throw the third place in the Champions League group stage to the Europa League to play in the top 32, just to increase the excitement of the game!
Otherwise, you can still participate in the Europa League after being eliminated from the Champions League. In fact, it is still a bit unfair to the teams that have been fighting in the Europa League from the beginning.
Why did you come to my place to compete for the championship after you were eliminated? ?
However, the presence of these eight more Champions League teams can still increase the appeal.
For example, sometimes there will be a match between Barcelona and Manchester United in the Europa League. This is always more eye-catching than Celtic and Anderlecht in the Champions League, right?
Having said that, although there is a big gap between the prize money of the Europa League and the Champions League, for many small teams in small leagues, it is already a large amount of income.
Not to mention very small leagues, such as the Eredivisie, which is already ranked relatively high, the total TV broadcast fee is only 80 million euros, and the Eredivisie has a total of 18 teams, and each of these teams can only receive an average of 400. More than 10,000 euros.
As for participating in the Europa League, just participating in the group stage also has a basic income of almost 3 million euros. With broadcast distribution, the money received by many small teams is almost as much as the entire income of their own leagues.
Therefore, teams in minor leagues work very hard in this event, unlike some big teams that sometimes fail in this event.
After all, for small teams, the Europa League is also a good source of income.
The same is true for York City currently.
A British Championship team, under ideal operating conditions, can earn around 30 million a year, or that's the average.
Therefore, if York City can achieve good results in the Europa League, it can earn more than 10 million in revenue, which already accounts for a large proportion.
Pan Yi took it out and gave it to the players directly, which can be said to be very generous.
And this can also be regarded as a kind of business commission. The better the team plays and the further it goes, the higher the bonus it will receive, and the higher the bonus the players will receive.
If we can win the championship, the bonus of more than 10 million will be distributed to the players of the first team, at least more than 500,000 each. This will definitely be a big stimulus!
Don't underestimate the five hundred thousand, don't forget that they are all players in the British Championship, and their weekly salary is generally only between ten thousand, twenty thousand and thirty or forty thousand.
For many players, this may be half a year or even a year's income!
Of course, Pan Yi said that the premise of this bonus distribution plan is "if the team can be upgraded this season."
After all, compared with promotion to the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Europa League are all scum.
Once promoted to the Premier League, the income will be at least 100 million euros, and in theory it can even reach 150 million or 200 million. This is really not an order of magnitude.
Pan Yi has already offered high-priced upgrade bonuses this season, and coupled with upgrade commissions from sponsors, he always puts the team's upgrade first.
As for the Europa League and FA Cup, Pan Yi also hopes to achieve better results, which will help enhance the club's prestige and image - as well as a large amount of future revenue.
Especially the Europa League, after all, it is a European-level competition, and you must try your best.
And if they really win the championship, York City can even call themselves the "European Champions"! Its name is even louder than when it won the FA Cup.
Of course, what's more important is that winning the Europa League will qualify you for next season's Champions League!
This is another huge amount of income!
If everything goes well this season, we will play in the Champions League as soon as we are promoted to the Premier League. There is no better result than this!
Therefore, Pan Yi will not hesitate to distribute all the Europa League bonuses to the players.
The team's income from operations, sponsorship and other aspects, plus ticket income, is definitely far greater than the team's income. There is also the intangible improvement of the team's reputation. This intangible asset is also full of Seductive.
"Okay, I will convey this to the players and they will be very happy again!" Scaloni laughed.
The morale boost is a sure thing.
When Pan Yi was playing FM, as long as the team bonus was increased, the morale of all the players would be boosted and they would strive to be the first. Of course, this is even more true in reality.
It is true that many players do not play football purely for money, but who would think that they earn less?
If you can win the championship, make more money, gain both fame and fortune, no one will refuse such a temptation!
"By the way, the winter window is coming soon, do you have any other players you need to introduce?" Pan Yi asked with concern.
This is Pan Yi's biggest benefit as a boss.
He will take the initiative to ask the coaching staff about their needs, instead of being like some inactive bosses who wait until there are no more players available and the team's performance drops sharply before rushing to sign players.
However, Scaloni shook his head and said gratefully: "No need, boss. I don't think we need to operate our winter transfer. The current personnel are enough for me to fight on the third line!"
York City now has two to three players who can compete for the starting position at each position, and the gap in strength between the starting lineup and the substitutes is not large.
In addition, most of this wave of players are young people, very physically fit, and rarely injured, so there is really little need for additional personnel.
This is due to Pan Yi's large amount of work at Xia Chuang. What more can Scaloni ask for from such a boss?
If a team is formed in the summer, there is no need to sign in again during the winter break. Just like York City is now, it feels perfect!
Moreover, the price of signings during the winter break is often higher than that in the summer, because when the season is halfway through to poach other players, they also need to replenish their personnel, which is more troublesome than in the summer.
——
After Pan Yi offered a large cup bonus, the players in the first team were generally very excited. The most direct manifestation is that their enthusiasm in training sessions has been greatly improved compared to before.
Being able to earn half a year or even a year more salary will undoubtedly give them more motivation for many players who have not yet "escaped poverty and become rich".
Of course, the announcement of this bonus plan also reflects the club's senior management's expectations for this team, that is, it is best to win the Europa League!
This is also a great motivation.
Looking at the current players of York City, some of them were unknown in low-level teams before, and some even never played in professional leagues in the youth team. They can enter the top 32 of the Europa League and have the opportunity to hit higher goals. , it’s the first time for them.
Pan Yi linked bonuses to performance, which undoubtedly gave them enough motivation in terms of competitive goals and interests.
Regarding the upcoming winter transfer window, Pan Yi has made it clear that it is closed.
This doesn’t just mean York City are happy with their current squad and won’t make any signings;
At the same time, this also shows that York City will not sell any players, and any club that wants to introduce players from York City will be disappointed.
At the same time, he also said that the current atmosphere of the team is very good, everyone has a sense of belonging to this stable lineup, and they are also confident to survive the cruel winter break.
Just when the outside world was doubtful about the news released by Pan Yi, York City defeated Middlesbrough cleanly 4:0 at home, showing a strong will to fight and a desire to win.
Subsequently, they defeated Derby County 2-0 and continued to maintain the lead at the top of the British Championship.
Then York City ushered in the most troublesome schedule around Christmas.
They had to play three games in the six days from Monday to Saturday, one of which was a make-up game, but it was arranged between the two league games.
This is also unavoidable, because the upcoming winter break schedule is also very tight.
York City can only accept this.
The fans are optimistic that as long as they win these three games, they can continue to widen the points gap with the Wolves and at the same time successfully win the half-way championship!
But actually, it's hard.
Although Scaloni has two years of experience fighting the winter break, the situation is different this year. The winter break is particularly difficult and the schedule is more frequent than ever.
After York City experienced busy matches in November and December, by the end of December, the team's state still had some problems. Even though Scaloni made a substantial rotation, it still failed to prevent the team from encountering a crisis. A loss.
This is York City's second defeat this season, losing 1:2 to Aston Villa away from home.
This old and traditional Premier League team has been struggling in the British Championship in recent years, but it has shown signs of recovery this season and has ranked among the top six.
They also caused considerable trouble for York City during the game.
York City's performance in this game was not bad, but they were a little negligent at the beginning and were sneaked into a goal by Aston Villa forward Keiynan Davis.
Through the team's efforts, York City's Leo broke through and shot to equalize the score, and then immediately launched a fierce counterattack against Aston Villa.
But the team always seems to have no chance of scoring the next goal, especially since Baker, who has been in great shape recently, forgot to bring his shooting boots. He failed to score a goal after several shots. Instead, the opponent scored again with a sneak attack!
This time it was Aston Villa's veteran midfielder Whelan, who received the ball during the counterattack and scored with a long shot. Onana was positioned too far forward and could not return in time.
In the end, York City lost 1:2, but York City took 21 shots in the game, 16 of them were on target, and scored 1 goal. Aston Villa took 6 shots in the game, and 2 of them were on target, and they scored both times. !
In an interview with the media after the game, Scaloni said that the defeat in this game was due to the team's bad luck.
Because York City had every advantage in the game. But he lacked luck and was never able to seize the last opportunity and score a goal. Otherwise, this would have been a big victory.
Faced with the media's belief that York City's state has declined, Scaloni did not deny it. He believed that the season is very long and a team's state will inevitably fluctuate. It is normal for the team to decline, but he believes that the team can survive the difficulties.
Pan Yi also accepted an interview with the media the next day. He publicly stated that he believed that the team lost at the right time. Now is just the beginning of a battle. A defeat can allow the team to completely put down its burdens and work better. state to prepare for the upcoming sprint.
He believes in the head coach and players and believes that they can survive this most difficult schedule.
"But some people say that because York City has been taking care of the Europa League, the team's physical fitness cannot keep up and the state has been affected. If they continue to insist on multi-line operations, I am afraid that after the season I got nothing!" A reporter immediately asked his question.
This is not nonsense from this reporter. After all, there are many lessons learned from this experience.
Especially for some small and medium-sized teams, relegation in the league is not a big problem.
But suddenly one day, they burst into the European war, and then they couldn't cope with it. They would often be disadvantaged in the European war in the next season and suffer the tragic fate of being relegated in the league.
Putting aside the distance, wasn't this the case for the Espanyol team in Pan Yi's previous life?
Wu Lei helped Espanyol qualify for the Europa League at the time. Later, they barely made it to the top 32 and were eliminated in the Europa League. Then the league was even worse and was directly dropped to the Spanish Second Division.
"I don't deny that this will happen to some teams, but what I want to say is that York City will not be like this." Pan Yi said with a smile:
"Although we just lost a game, we are still 7 points ahead of the second-placed Wolves. This can't be considered a failure in any case, right?"
"And our players finally had the opportunity to play in the European competition, and they also performed well and entered the top 32. Do I have to tell them that they can give up now?"
"It can be said that our team performed very well in the Europa League and I am proud of the players!"
"Yes, our main goal this season is promotion, but our team is also eager to go further in the Europa League, so I will definitely support them!"
The reporter asked again: "Since York City's goals are on multiple fronts, why did you, Mr. Pan Yi, announce early that the winter window has been closed?"
Pan Yi smiled: "After consultation, we believe that the team's current staffing is very good and there is no need to make any more signings. And we all believe that this is the best for the current team."
"After all, whether a team is strong or not does not depend on the number of signings it has, but on how the players in the team perform."
"Keeping a stable team now, with players who know each other well, that's the most important thing."
"Does it mean that after investing hundreds of millions of euros in one transfer window to buy people, this team will definitely be strong? Haha."
(Chelsea in 2022-2023 is very hot)
(End of chapter)
