Chapter 77: Sell, Sell, Sell — and Buy, Buy, Buy
Although the media had already stirred the pot once before, Adam Crozier's official appointment at Bayswater Chinese FC still sent shockwaves through English football.
At the very least, the media acted very "surprised."
If Weibo existed back then, this would've rocketed to the top of the trending topics and stayed there for two straight days.
Adam Crozier, for his part, was confident in his influence and remained calm and composed.
He even completely ignored the media buzz, personally visiting the third-party ticketing company to finalize the new season's ticketing strategy.
Once that was done, he went straight to Umbro headquarters.
Yes, the guy had connections at Umbro, and he went straight to the top for a talk.
After just one afternoon tea session, he returned with a £5 million, two-year sponsorship deal.
Since last year's cross-holding arrangement, the Yang family technically owned shares in Umbro too—but even Yang Cheng admitted he couldn't have pulled off something like that.
So how did Adam Crozier manage it?
"Was that hard?"
"I just had afternoon tea with their CEO."
"And?"
"I just chatted with him about Umbro's Premier League strategy for the next two years. Didn't Chelsea just pay them £24.5 million?"
That was Chelsea's contract termination fee.
Under their original agreement, Umbro was supposed to sponsor Chelsea until 2011.
But the Blues were no longer satisfied with Umbro and decided to switch to Adidas or Nike.
So, they had to cough up a £24.5 million breakup fee.
Still, for the 05/06 season, Chelsea's kits would remain Umbro-branded.
So, Yang Cheng told his "cheap old man" back in China to take full advantage of Chelsea's brand exposure and milk the free traffic for all it was worth.
"I told him we'd be playing in the UEFA Cup next season and aiming for a top-10 league finish. So, he agreed to sponsor us for two seasons and said they'd work with us more on kit sales too."
Adam Crozier made it sound like the easiest thing in the world.
But Yang Cheng knew it couldn't be that simple.
Umbro must have weighed the pros and cons.
The brand wasn't exactly thriving—after all, it got acquired by Nike in 2007.
Still, a £2.5 million annual kit sponsorship deal was nothing to scoff at.
Looking at Adam Crozier again…
Yeah, this is the kind of brag worth doing!
...
June rolled in.
Europe's summer transfer window was slowly opening.
The 20 Premier League clubs began ramping up their transfer activity.
Bayswater Chinese FC's moves, however, were relatively quiet.
First, they announced the £2 million signing of Leighton Baines from Wigan Athletic.
This was a targeted reinforcement for the left-back position.
As for the £50,000 deal to sign Edin Džeko from Bosnia and Herzegovina, that didn't attract much attention.
The player was unknown, and the fee laughably low—who would care?
But worth mentioning: after meeting Yang Cheng, Džeko wrapped up the paperwork by the end of May and flew from Sarajevo to London.
He wanted to get a head start on training.
Especially on building physical strength.
Since Sade Forsyth and Oliver Bartlett hadn't gone on vacation yet, Yang Cheng asked them to develop a specialized physical training program for Džeko, assigning a coach to train with him.
At the same time, Yang Cheng began preparations to invoke the Special Talent Clause for Džeko.
Bosnia wasn't an EU country yet, and Džeko hadn't even made the national team, so this was the only way to get him into the Premier League.
A "talent" for just £50,000?
Even Yang Cheng felt a little awkward about it.
After signing those two players, the club also announced the £1 million sale of left-back Capaldi to Plymouth Argyle in the Championship.
Back when Bayswater Chinese FC first signed Capaldi, Plymouth had already shown interest.
Last season, the three teams relegated from the Championship were Gillingham, Nottingham Forest, and Wrexham.
Plymouth barely escaped.
Bayswater's signing of Baines made Capaldi feel threatened.
He knew that even if he stayed and played in the Premier League, the competition from Baines and Danny Collins meant he might not even get any minutes—just wasting away on the bench.
So when Plymouth came knocking, both sides struck a deal quickly.
Capaldi got a better salary, Plymouth got a solid Championship-level left-back, and Bayswater Chinese FC received £1 million.
It was yet another validation of Yang Cheng's long-term strategy from two years ago.
Capaldi had joined on a free transfer at age 22, spent two seasons with the team, developed tremendously, and gained experience in high-level matches.
Now sold for £1 million.
A great deal for both the player and the club.
...
Even before the league ended, a bidding war had begun for Dave Kitson.
The English striker had scored 28 goals in the Championship the previous season, earning the Golden Boot.
Now, Premier League clubs like West Brom, Middlesbrough, and Charlton were lining up to sign him.
All three clubs made inquiries and offers.
West Brom's opening bid was £5 million.
That was £1 million less than what Norwich paid for Dean Ashton halfway through last season when he led the Championship in goals.
But Bayswater Chinese FC rejected the offer.
Kitson had scored 15 goals by mid-season, no worse than Ashton.
And he continued to score afterward, proving his consistency.
The £5 million offer scared off cash-strapped Charlton, but it pulled Middlesbrough into the race.
They quickly upped the offer to £6 million.
Still, Bayswater Chinese FC said no.
West Brom countered with £7 million but also leaked that they were now considering Yakubu from Portsmouth and Ellington from Wigan Athletic.
Even Kanouté from Tottenham was on their radar.
But according to the media, Portsmouth wanted £7.5 million for Yakubu.
Wigan, meanwhile, flat-out refused to sell Ellington, calling him untouchable.
Yakubu had proven himself in the Premier League, scoring 12 goals in 30 games last season.
Not a staggering number, but a safe transfer with low risk.
Kitson had the better goal-scoring record in the Championship but was untested in the top flight.
Still, his biggest advantage?
He was English.
Yakubu was Nigerian.
After much deliberation, Middlesbrough raised their offer to £8 million.
That immediately forced West Brom to pull out.
Their wage budget for the season was just over £10 million, and the transfer budget wasn't much better—how could they compete with Boro?
Seeing West Brom back down, Yang Cheng knew the time was right.
Dave Kitson was sold to Middlesbrough for £8 million.
While not the biggest deal of the summer, it was still notable in the Premier League.
The real heavy hitters?
Chelsea and Newcastle.
The Blues were, as always, spending big—Michael Essien and Shaun Wright-Phillips both cost over £20 million.
Even Del Horno from La Liga's Athletic Bilbao cost them £8 million.
Newcastle wasn't holding back either.
They brought golden boy Michael Owen back from Real Madrid for £16 million, and signed winger Luque from Deportivo for £10 million.
They also spent £6.5 million to get Parker from Chelsea and £3.8 million on Emre from Inter Milan.
The Magpies were splashing serious cash this summer.
After finishing 5th in 03/04, they slumped to 14th last season—infuriating their fans.
Hence the spending spree.
As for where the money came from...
For many Premier League clubs, that question didn't even matter.
The more debt, the less it seemed to bother them.
It was rumored Newcastle's debt sat at £70–80 million. But who knew the real figure?
...
Another ambitious side was Tottenham Hotspur from North London.
They finished 9th in the 04/05 season—not bad at all.
After French coach Jacques Santini stepped down early in the season, Dutchman Martin Jol took over, and results immediately improved. At one point, they even climbed to 7th, nearly qualifying for the UEFA Cup.
That gave the club a sense of opportunity.
And so, as the season ended, they launched an aggressive pursuit of Bayswater Chinese FC's homegrown midfielder, Tom Huddlestone.
The tall, strong midfielder had excellent long-range passing and solid defensive skills—an ideal fit for a Spurs attack featuring Defoe, Robbie Keane, and Mido.
They started early, using agent Jonathan Barnett to initiate contact with Bayswater.
But no one expected Huddlestone to blast in a screamer during the League Cup final, stunning everyone.
That goal made him a household name!
A homegrown talent, loyal through all the national youth teams, honed in League Two and the Championship over two seasons—Huddlestone was now highly regarded.
The Sun even reported that Chelsea had taken interest in him.
That set off alarm bells at Spurs.
Their first offer was £6 million.
For a defensive midfielder not yet 19, that was already a hefty price.
But Bayswater Chinese FC turned it down.
Spurs came back with an improved offer and continued negotiations through Barnett.
After Yang Cheng returned from Ukraine and met with Adam Crozier, Spurs CEO Daniel Levy invited him to dinner twice—both times to discuss Huddlestone.
One of the reasons Spurs were so nervous was that they lacked quality domestic players in their first team.
Especially competitive ones.
Understandable, given their last two managers—one French, one Dutch—weren't fans of using English players.
Spurs had gone through a continental transformation, even in their youth system.
For instance, they poached Arnesen from PSV Eindhoven—only to later have him stolen away by Chelsea in a high-profile saga.
Under these circumstances, Spurs' first team lacked solid homegrown talent—an undeniable problem.
Yang Cheng capitalized on that anxiety and ultimately pressured Daniel Levy into accepting Bayswater's asking price.
£10 million.
Tom Huddlestone transferred to Tottenham Hotspur!
Compared to Kitson's move, Huddlestone's switch drew far more media attention.
Everyone was excited to see how the English midfielder would perform at Spurs.
But some fans and media were worried.
Bayswater had now sold both full-backs, their striker, and their defensive midfielder.
So far, they had only signed a new left-back. Would the team's strength suffer?
By mid-June, Bayswater Chinese FC began announcing more signings.
First, Yang Cheng traveled to France personally and signed Pascal Chimbonda from Bastia for £350,000.
The 26-year-old French right-back played 36 Ligue 1 games last season, scoring 3 goals and adding 2 assists.
After Bastia's relegation and with his contract expiring, plus a relegation clause, Yang Cheng managed to snatch up a solid player for cheap.
Then, Bayswater announced a £2 million signing of Ivorian international Yaya Touré from Metallurg Donetsk in Ukraine.
Yang Cheng had flown to Ukraine to meet with him in person and sealed the deal.
He promised Yaya a key role in the upcoming Premier League campaign—a guaranteed starting spot.
Yang Cheng believed that a midfield trio of Modrić, Yaya Touré, and Lassana Diarra would rock the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Barnett finally brought the news Yang Cheng had been waiting for.
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