Author: Ant who watches football ruthlessly

"Great, he's wanted to go there for a long time!"

On the plane from England to Sweden, Valentina hugged Pan Yi happily.

No, they asked to go to Sweden again.

The destination that time was not Stockholm, but a small city called Østersund.

Even though the city has a population of about 60,000 people and does not seem to be famous, it was awarded the title of "City of Gastronomy" by UNESCO in July and 27th 2010!

Around the world, there are three cities that enjoy the official title of "Gastronomy Capital": Popayan in Colombia, Chengdu in the Kingdom of Dragons, and most notably Östersund in Sweden.

The sparsely populated agricultural region has a long-standing culinary tradition and has developed its own unique food culture based on locally produced green food.

It is commendable that the city government has provided strong support to local food entrepreneurs and agricultural producers through guidance, training support and product development, and the resulting food tradition that is closely connected with the surrounding natural environment has not only transformed

The city of Östersund is promoted as a world-class gastronomic capital.

For Valentina, who has always considered herself a "foodie", this kind of city is the most attractive to her.

Why does she also like Huaiyunke City? It’s probably because the food there is much better than in other parts of the UK!

"I'll take it easy when I eat. I don't want to turn into ball lightning again!" Pan Yi said with a smile, "He doesn't want to press F to enter the tank..."

"Bah!" Valentina spat, and then asked, "Wrong, how could I even think of coming to a small city like that to find someone?"

"He has studied whether this guy can bring a fourth-level team to the top league. Is there something there, and he should be very suitable for a low-level team like them."

Pan Yi answered, then looked out the window, thoughtfully.

The person he was looking for when he went to Sweden that time was Potter.

Of course, it's not Harry Potter, but Graham Potter, the Potter who will become Chelsea's head coach in the future.

The 41-year-old Englishman Graham Porter was unremarkable in his playing days.

As a defender, he has played for 10 teams in his club career and has been involved in England's lower leagues all year round, including Birmingham, Wycombe Wanderers, Stoke City...

He even played for York City, so he is considered a team star!

After retiring in 2005, he did not immediately refocus on professional football and instead went to university to study.

During that time, he served as the assistant coach of the England college football team, and even led the primary school women's football team. In 2007, he served as the technical director of the Ghana women's football team.

It was not until 2010 that Porter successfully obtained a taught master's degree in leadership and emotional intelligence from Beckett University and finally started his head coaching career.

Unlike many local coaches who have been working hard in English football, Porter came directly from the UK to Östersund, located in the cold climate of Sweden.

In January 2011, Porter officially took over as the head coach of Ostersund. At that time, the football club was only 14 years old and had been relegated to the fourth tier of Sweden for the first time. The situation was extremely bad.

The arrival of Porter succeeded in giving Östersund a completely new look.

In 6 years, he not only led the previously sinking team to clear away the gloom and become a winning team, but also promoted from the fourth level to the first level of the Swedish Super League, becoming a meritorious coach in the history of the Ostersund team.

It can be said that in the minds of Ostersund people, that Potter can be Harry Potter!

The fact is, Potter's magical experiences are endless.

Later, he led that small team to win the Swedish Cup championship, which was also the first championship in his coaching career.

Through that championship, they also secured a spot in the Europa League qualifying rounds. They fought their way out of the competition and entered the main draw. In the group stage, they even shared the same points with Athletic Bilbao, and the top spot advanced to the knockout rounds.

After that, Porter played a famous game that allowed him to return to England to coach a month later: in the second leg of the 1/16 final, his Ostersunds defeated Arsenal led by Arsene Wenger 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium.

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London's Evening Standard also gave him a title worth pondering: Harry Potter? No, Graham Potter!

Leading the team to defeat Arsenal made Porter famous. Finally, he spent 7 and a half years wandering overseas in exchange for a ticket home.

The first person to greet him was his hometown team Swansea. At the time of Swansea's relegation, Porter's first English coaching season was not too conspicuous.

But one Premier League boss who makes a living from football statistics noticed him - Brighton boss Tony Bloom.

Bloom is not the typical son of a wealthy British man: rebellious and bold. He graduated from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Manchester. He first accumulated his first pot of gold not through family property, but through gambling and Texas Hold'em poker.

After that, he invested in and founded an investment management company called "Star Lizard", which was actually a gambling management company that specialized in managing funds for wealthy people through football betting.

His company has five powerful servers that collect football data from all over the world.

When he needed to find a potential manager for Brighton, one of the machines spit out a name: Graham Potter.

And when Porter came to Brighton, he immediately built a strong team.

Unlike coaches who come from wealthy families, Porter is cautious in the transfer market and has never asked any boss to spend money. Instead, he prefers to believe in the players' own abilities.

But despite such low investment, Brighton has taken the Premier League by storm.

Brighton, under Porter's command, has flexible tactics, and some players who originally seemed to have fixed characteristics have shined differently than before in their careers.

Soon, Brighton changed from a team that everyone liked before to a real "Seagull Army", which repeatedly overturned the strong teams.

Finally, Porter was favored by Chelsea again. Having previously been on the road to a wealthy club, this could be considered an end to his legendary experience.

Well, why not full stop?

Maybe it's because Porter didn't coach for a full season and quit the class midway...

If not for that initial "failure", his wonderful experience would have been enough to make an excellent football-themed film and television work.

But that may mean that a grassroots coach like him is currently unable to control the locker room of a wealthy team.

In fact, that's normal. There are many coaches who can lead small teams but can't drive an aircraft carrier. Aren't Moyes and Emery like that?

As for Pan Yi, whether a coach like Porter is very suitable for York City.

That person will not only adapt to local conditions, but also like technical football and promote talents.

Later, he played a pleasing game at Brighton, and he also used the usual formation. Everyone in the frontcourt participated in high pressure, and immediately launched a fast break after stealing the ball.

Frequent switching of positions of the attacking legs in the frontcourt is one of their offensive features, with special emphasis on the coordination between the wings and the ribs.

Brighton's offense is based on the midfield, with orderly changes of positions based on the positions of the midfielders. It can be seen whether it has been carefully drilled: when the midfielders stand parallel, the wing backs and outside forwards conduct a group attack;

When positioned in a diamond position, the wingers and wide midfielders take turns to advance forward.

During his three years in charge of Brighton, the players from the Eastern Conference have scored goals one after another, completing the leap from carp to dragon.

Cucurella, who was once abandoned by Barcelona, ​​has become a top all-purpose full-back on the left; Bisuma has grown into a top all-purpose midfielder in the Premier League. He was transferred to Tottenham shortly after the start of the summer window.

Income account owner.

Later, the British media even called Porter: the local version of Guardiola.

But back in time, he didn't even do that in Ostersund.

In the Swedish low-level league, where physical confrontation is particularly fierce, Porter went in the opposite direction and recruited a large number of technical players, laying the tactical foundation for the team's rise in the next month.

Midfielder Jamie Hopcart, who was not playing in the professional league in England and was released by York City, an amateur club at the time, was brought to Sweden after a trial and became the core of the midfield.

Iraqi midfielder Bois Nouri, who has a poor reputation in Sweden and is known as the "bad boy", was also entrusted with important tasks by Porter, and later became the first Iraqi to score in the Europa League...

In short, for a person who can succeed in low-level leagues, including civilian teams like Brighton, will he have his place in York City?——

After arriving in Sweden, Pan Yi did not go to the Östersund Club, but took Valentina to a local theater.

Of course, if Pan Yi simply "disguised" himself by wearing sunglasses or something, that would avoid unnecessary trouble.

After all, as a national hero of Sweden, no matter where he appears in Sweden, he will most likely arouse a warm welcome from the masses...

At this time in Taitung, a group of male actors were performing the ballet "Swan Lake" for more than 1,600 people in Taitung.

And from the poster at the entrance of the theater, we can know that it is a program for a local charity gala.

At this time, in the center of the venue, the protagonist of the show, the "beautiful" princess Odette.

The reason why I ask for quotation marks is not because of the "princess", nor is it a man!

No, the elegant man in the center of the stage is Pan Yi’s target person for this trip: Graham Potter!

The row of actors behind him are actually players of Ostersund Club...

Why did the head coach of a professional club suddenly bring his players to the theater to dance?

That is actually one of Porter's characteristics.

Whether he can be a person who thinks about the club in an all-round way will be equivalent to a position like "sport manager".

Although Porter is not the head coach, he has successfully helped the club establish its own culture in Ostersund, allowing the club to establish a cultural academy, encourage players to participate in community cultural activities, and will lead player organizations to participate in music campaigns.

Ostersund Football Club, which was originally in a bad situation with few people supporting it, has gained widespread recognition and support in the local area.

I think, isn’t that exactly the same as what Pan Yi did in York City?

The support and enthusiasm of the masses are the most important factors for the long-term development of a football club!

Actively participating in such activities can also allow Porter to get along with the players, be honest with them, and win their trust.

In a later interview with the Football Association, Porter once talked about his "five major values" in coaching: transparency, vision, sincerity, reliability and professionalism.

And that is his secret to keeping the players closely united around him.

It can be said that those five major values ​​are very close to the "corporate culture" of York City under Pan Yi Zhidong!
To be continued...