Soccer: I’m Building a Giant in the Premier League

Chapter 11 – The Man Who Piqued Yang Cheng's Interest

While Modrić's hearing had yet to conclude, a major breakthrough arrived on another front: Tom Huddlestone's transfer.

Derby County, after all, wasn't exactly a top-tier club.

Over the years, the team had shown very little ambition.

So when Bayswater Chinese FC offered £1 million, Derby's management was understandably tempted.

Why? Because Huddlestone, at the end of the day, was just a member of the U17 national team.

Young players changed drastically from year to year. Who knew what his future would hold?

For comparison, that same summer, another U17 midfielder, Ross Gardner, transferred from Newcastle's youth team to Nottingham Forest for free.

Even if that was a unique contractual case, consider this: Nigel Reo-Coker, the U19 captain of Wimbledon's national youth team, was pursued by West Ham. Wimbledon's asking price was only £750,000—and West Ham still declined.

Derby had made their own assessments. If Bayswater Chinese FC had been a Premier League club, they wouldn't have offered £1 million in the first place—because Derby wouldn't have been able to keep the player.

After several days of deliberation, Derby formally informed Huddlestone's family and agent that they had accepted the offer.

Next came negotiations on how the fee would be paid.

Lin Zhongqiu traveled to Derby as Bayswater's representative. After a grueling round of talks, both sides signed a final transfer agreement:

An initial payment of £300,000, with the remaining £700,000 split into three installments over two years.

Huddlestone, who had previously met with Yang Cheng and was already intrigued by the project, now saw that Derby was eager to move him on.

Staying would have been awkward at best.

After careful consideration, Huddlestone and his team officially agreed to join Bayswater Chinese FC.

Soon after his transfer was completed, the verdict on Modrić's hearing came in.

Thanks to the testimonies from Vrbanović and Boban, and the materials submitted by Bayswater, both the UK Home Office and the FA recognized that Luka Modrić possessed exceptional talent.

He became the first-ever footballer to successfully receive a UK work permit through the Exceptional Talent Clause.

The decision made headlines in the British media.

Initially, the Chinese acquisition of an English football club had attracted some attention, but the buzz quickly died down.

Now, Bayswater Chinese FC was back in the media spotlight.

But they were still a third-tier club, and the fees involved were small. So the news was more symbolic than anything else and didn't stir up too much noise.

Yang Cheng, of course, was a little regretful.

There was no Weibo yet; public opinion still belonged to the traditional media.

And a League Two club? No traffic.

…

With Huddlestone signed and Modrić's work permit secured, Bayswater Chinese FC's summer recruitment came to a close.

Goalkeeper: Joe Hart

Defense: Laurent Koscielny, Kevin Foley, Steve Jenkins, Luke Chambers, Tony Capaldi, Roger Johnson, Alex Baptiste

Midfield: Luka Modrić, Tom Huddlestone, Andy Holdsworth, Lee Williamson, Martin Rowlands

Forwards: Franck Ribéry, Jonathan Stead, Martin Devaney, Rickie Lambert

Yang Cheng had brought in 17 players this summer. Add the 6 remaining from last season, and he had a 23-man squad ready for the League Two campaign.

But make no mistake: Yang's focus was squarely on his 17 new signings.

At the start of the new season, he would select his starting eleven from among them.

That was the reality of lower-league club operations.

With limited funds, the club could only afford to build one competitive starting lineup.

The squad wasn't strong—most were young players—but the fixture list was brutal.

League Two had 24 teams, totaling 46 matches.

Plus, 2004 was a Euro year, with the tournament in Portugal. So the fixture calendar would be compressed.

League play ran from August 9 to May 8.

And the league—being the path to promotion—was Yang Cheng's number one priority.

Then there was the League Cup and the FA Cup, the two traditional domestic cup competitions.

In addition, there was the EFL Trophy.

Not to be confused with the League Cup, the EFL Trophy, founded in 1983, was designed for League One and League Two clubs—48 teams total.

In recent years, 16 teams from the fifth tier were invited, bringing the total to 64.

From the fifth round (semifinals), the format switched to two-legged home-and-away.

So despite being in League Two, Bayswater could end up playing more games than some Premier League clubs.

Four competitions—an enormous test of squad depth.

Also worth noting: after the 2003–04 season, the entire Football League system would be restructured.

The First Division would be renamed the ChampionshipThe Second Division (current League Two) would become League OneThe Third Division would become League Two

Don't be fooled—it wasn't just a name change.

The rebranding of the First Division to the Championship was a brand-new beginning.

The FA would launch a professional league management company, operating with modern corporate practices, sponsorships, and media rights.

Put simply: going forward, the Premier League would be run by Premier League Ltd, while the Championship, League One, and League Two would be managed by the FA's new Football League Company.

As a transmigrator from the future, Yang Cheng knew exactly how significant this reform was.

It was the first step that would eventually turn the Championship into the sixth-best league in Europe.

And the man behind it all?

Adam Crozier, the business genius.

That only made Yang Cheng even more interested in him.

…

As the league approached, Yang Cheng had more work than ever—he was swamped.

First priority: arranging accommodations for players.

Not just foreigners like Modrić, Ribéry, and Koscielny—even domestic players like Huddlestone needed help.

Most European clubs just left new signings to fend for themselves.

But not Yang Cheng.

He took the initiative, personally handling every detail.

Just finding rentals gave him a major headache.

London rents were high. Extremely high.

Given the club's limited salary budget, most of the players couldn't afford to live in central London.

So Yang Cheng had to pull strings and call in favors.

Fortunately, the club's stadium and training facilities were in the same location—prime real estate, surrounded by six subway lines. Even if players lived further out, the commute was easy.

Still, sorting it all out cost Yang Cheng a ton of time and energy.

Most of the players were young, and London's nightlife was notoriously tempting—so Yang also had to monitor their personal lives.

The upside? These arrangements gave Yang a chance to build strong relationships with the players.

Once everyone was housed and settled—including the coaching staff—it was time to prepare for preseason training.

As Yang had told Seth Forsett and Oliver Bartlett:

"If all I wanted was standard physical training, I wouldn't have gone through all the trouble to bring you here."

And he was right.

If the players were the dish on the table, then the coaches were the chefs who turned raw ingredients into gourmet cuisine.

The same dish, cooked by ten different chefs, could result in ten very different flavors.

Yang chose Forsett and Bartlett for two reasons:

Their training methods had proven successful in his past lifeThey could bring in extra knowledge that Yang specifically needed

Forsett, for instance, brought in cutting-edge American sports science.

And no—this was no exaggeration.

When it came to sports science and physical performance, the U.S. was far ahead.

Forsett specialized in warm-ups, load management, and targeted improvements in speed, strength, and stamina.

As a coach from 2024, Yang Cheng knew how vital individualized training would become.

From AC Milan's legendary "retirement home" squad to veterans like Modrić staying dominant into their late 30s—everyone knew it was training that extended careers.

And that meant one thing: targeted training programs.

Given how thin and frail Modrić was, Yang's first assignment for Forsett was to design a custom program for the Croatian.

Forsett wasn't easy to please, either.

While the club's hardware was average, the facilities were decent enough.

He immediately suggested a number of upgrades, and brought in affordable equipment.

Like resistance bands that forced players to shuffle awkwardly between steps—training lower body coordination.

He also introduced a physical performance scoring system, to monitor player fitness.

Oliver Bartlett, meanwhile, worked hand in hand with Forsett.

Together, they designed an entirely new training curriculum.

Once Brian Kidd arrived, the three of them spent hours brainstorming, eventually producing a comprehensive summer training plan for Bayswater Chinese FC.

Yang Cheng didn't participate in every detail, but as the core figure, he provided direction.

His tactics required high speed and stamina, and he also submitted customized training needs for key players.

Often, he would casually suggest a training method from 2024 that would leave the coaching staff stunned—and then deeply impressed.

After all, the next 20 years would be the golden era of training innovation in world football.

Brian Kidd, coming from Manchester United, wasn't just the father figure behind the Class of '92—he also understood United's legendary off-the-ball movement system.

Under Ferguson, United's off-the-ball play was the best in Europe.

Yang Cheng hoped Kidd could bring that DNA to Bayswater.

But it would take constant repetition in training to embed it in the players.

Yang had a clear goal for this summer's training camp:

Blend and Bond.

The first part was obvious. With so many new players, chemistry was critical.

The second—blending playing styles and mentalities—was just as vital.

In the lower leagues, teams often depended heavily on individual brilliance.

Yang Cheng, however, believed in his players.

If he could mold them into a cohesive unit, then Bayswater Chinese FC would be unstoppable in the new League Two season.

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