When Gao Bo returned to the apartment, it was already midnight.
After winning, the members of the coaching staff drank a lot in the bar near the stadium. Because they were happy, they all let go. Even Haruko, the team doctor, blushed.
Gao Bo rubbed his face stiff by the evening breeze, took out the key, and opened the gate of the yard.
"Hey...boy!!!"
Gao Bo was shocked. There was no light in the yard, Elliot Shaw was sitting on the bench in the middle of the yard...
"What can l do for you Mr. Shaw."
Even though Gao Bo knew that nothing had happened between him and Miss Rae, he somehow felt a little guilty when facing Elliot.
"Come and have a drink with me!!!"
Gao Bo discovered that there were a few wine bottles at the feet of Old Shaw. It seemed that the old man had already drunk a lot by himself.
"this late...."
"Stop talking nonsense!!" Old Shaw raised his eyebrows.
It was her daughter who followed her father, Gao Bo underestimated and walked over. Old Shaw picked up a glass cup from the side of the chair, filled it with whiskey and handed it over.
"I haven't seen the team play such a great game in a long time." Old Shaw seems to be drinking a bit high...
Gao Bo sat down on the long chair, and it was definitely not a pleasant thing to listen to an old man talking in the middle of the night.
"You will see it often..." Gao Bo took a toast and took a sip.
"I believe... you are a good coach!" Old Shaw turned around, "The boos at home today were caused by the distorted reports of those nasty media..."
"I know." Gao Bo doesn't care. He doesn't have any feelings for Luton's team. He now regards this team more as the pedal of his own career. He wants to use this platform to make something. Career, as for what the fans think, to be honest, Gao Bo doesn't care too much.
"That's good..." Old Shaw easily believed Gao Bo.
"If I could see such a game every week...I would not object to you and Rae..." Old Shaw blinked at Gao Bo.
Gao Bo couldn't laugh or cry: "Miss Rae and I are not in that kind of relationship you imagine..."
"Come on..." Old Shaw picked up the bottle and took a swig. "My daughter is so beautiful, would you not be tempted?"
"Ha... it's beautiful..." Gao Bo also took a sip from his wine glass and leaned against the back of the bench.
...
When Gao Bo got up the next morning, there was still a faint ache near his temple. He had always handled alcohol well, but after drinking at the bar last night and then downing even more with Old Shaw in the yard, it had caught up with him. By the time he returned to his apartment, he'd collapsed straight into bed and fallen asleep.
He glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was already past nine in the morning.
Gao Bo pushed himself upright and sat there in a daze for a moment. As usual after a win, he had given the team the day off. Of course, that was because they had won; if they had lost, Gao Bo had promised long ago that the players would learn exactly what the head coach's anger felt like.
After sitting there for a while, Gao Bo suddenly remembered he hadn't checked the Football Edge System after the victory. He hadn't seen what reward the system would give him for his first official win.
A light curtain appeared out of thin air. Gao Bo was no longer surprised by it. He was a result-oriented person—if the system brought him something useful, he didn't care about the principle behind it.
[Congratulations, you have won the first official game of your career! You have gained 300 experience points, and you will be rewarded with an additional lottery draw!!]
It was that sweet, greasy voice again, enough to raise goosebumps.
"Change your voice, please!"
[Noted!]
The tone immediately shifted back to a mechanical, robotic voice. Only then did Gao Bo feel normal again.
He opened his attribute panel. His stats hadn't changed after the win; only the experience bar had updated:
Level 1: 300 / 3000
It seemed that a League Two win earned him 300 experience points. Would ten wins be enough to reach Level Two?
By the way… what were the benefits of levelling up?
[Your card slot number can be expanded after the upgrade!]
The mechanical voice sounded again. Gao Bo was helpless regarding how the system always knew what he was thinking, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Still, an extra card slot was extremely practical. After experiencing the effects of the cards he had drawn before, Gao Bo's expectations were high for whatever came next.
"An extra lottery draw? Does this mean I get two draws?"
[That is correct!]
Gao Bo rubbed his chin for a moment. Just then, the system spoke again.
[You can choose to redeem directly a White Card Voucher for two lottery draws!]
White card exchange voucher?
He remembered the system explaining earlier that white cards were the lowest-grade cards.
"May I know the probability of drawing a high-level card in the lottery?" Gao Bo asked.
[Lottery drawing has:
— 80% chance of a White card
— 15% chance of a Yellow card
— 3% chance of a Green card
— 1% chance of a Blue card]
"Stop—just tell me the probability of drawing the highest-level purple card."
When Gao Bo heard the number that followed, his heart instantly turned cold.
[0.001%.]
"…Fuck."
Gao Bo collapsed backward onto the bed.
That was one chance in a hundred thousand.
Relying on a draw to get a high-level card was basically the same as buying a lottery ticket. If luck wasn't on his side, he might go his entire coaching career without ever seeing one.
"Wait, what's the deal with two lottery draws being able to redeem only a White Card Voucher? Since white cards can appear in the draw, why does it take two draws to redeem a single white voucher?" Gao Bo asked, raising his doubts.
[With the card exchange voucher, you can choose the card you want.]
Gao Bo understood immediately. A lottery was random—you never knew what would come out next. But a voucher was different. You could choose the exact card you wanted.
"Can I see what cards can be exchanged?"
[Of course!]
A moment later, the screen flashed rapidly, and the card exchange interface appeared.
He went straight to the highest tier—the purple cards.
When the first card appeared, Gao Bo froze on the spot.
[Player Card (Maradona): Gain all the attributes of peak-form Maradona for 90 minutes. You may designate one player to use it. Cooldown: one week. Usable 10 times.]
Your team would have Maradona at his peak.
What kind of concept was that!? This was equivalent to creating a superstar out of thin air!
Then he scrolled through the rest. Ronaldo at his peak, Messi at his peak, Zidane, Maldini, Buffon, R9, Ronaldinho, Beckham in peak condition… even legends like Beckenbauer and Cruyff were there.
Gao Bo could practically feel himself drooling as he reluctantly moved on to look at the other categories.
Besides the player cards, most of the purple cards were team-wide enhancement cards.
[Pass success rate +15%, Shot-saving probability against you −15%, Team stamina +20%…]
Gao Bo stared at the card, almost salivating. If all his cards were of this level, he would be a god-tier coach—a real deity on the touchline.
Now he finally understood why purple cards were so rare. Considering the kind of power they granted, such rarity made perfect sense.
Gao Bo didn't want to look at the other cards after seeing the purple ones. He first checked the white cards he could exchange.
White cards mostly increased a single fixed attribute of a specific player. For example: heading ability +5%, long-range shooting ability +5%, and so on.
Gao Bo wanted to exchange for a long-shot boost card, but after thinking it over repeatedly, he felt it was meaningless to spend his voucher on such a basic white card.
"If it's a higher-level card exchange voucher, how do I get it?"
[You can use your lottery draws.
A White card requires two lottery draws.
A Yellow card requires four lottery draws…]
"That means a Green card needs eight lottery draws," Gao Bo said confidently.
[…No. Sixteen lottery draws!]
"Then… what about the Blue card?" Gao Bo felt a bad premonition rising.
[Two hundred and fifty-six lottery draws!!!]
Gao Bo immediately grabbed his calculator. By this rule, a Red card would require 65,536 lottery draws, while an even higher Orange card would need… 4,294,967,296 lottery draws.
There was only one lottery chance per win. Forget purple cards—Orange cards were practically impossible.
It was completely unreliable to try redeeming high-level cards through lottery draws alone.
[Don't panic. In addition to lottery draws and exchange vouchers, you can also obtain rewards by completing tasks!]
"Completing tasks?"
The task interface appeared in front of him.
**[Main Mission: Save Luton!]
— Lead Luton to avoid relegation:
Reward: 3,000 experience points, 1 Green Card Redemption Voucher, 10 lottery draws!
— Lead Luton to promotion:
Reward: 5,000 experience points, 1 Blue Card Redemption Voucher, 10 lottery draws!
— Lead Luton to win the English Football League Two title:
Reward: 8,000 experience points, 1 Orange Card Redemption Voucher, 100 lottery draws!]**
High waves of saliva were practically flowing.
Task rewards were set according to difficulty!
Yes!! Yes!! He wanted the title!! Even if only for those outrageous rewards, it was worth fighting for!
In the end, Gao Bo did not use his two lottery draws to exchange for a lacklustre white card voucher.
He used his first lottery draw and got only a white card: designate one player and increase heading ability by 2% during the match.
Seeing such a weak attribute card, Gao Bo sighed. Drawing a truly good card through the lottery was basically impossible. High-level cards would have to come from completing missions.
He then used his second lottery draw. Since he wasn't expecting to redeem any exchange vouchers with these chances, he might as well use them. If luck smiled on him, maybe he could even draw a purple card.
But as it turned out, Gao Bo's luck was no better.
The second card was also a white card: designate a player and increase crossing ability by 3% during the match.
Sure enough, Luton's current crosses rarely relied on high aerial balls. When the full-backs pushed forward, the centre-forward usually had three options to attack the near post. Luton's two strikers were good at attacking loose balls, and Drinkwater moved over a wide range. Gao Bo often instructed him to push into the box. In the front area of the penalty area, the two wide midfielders would support around the edges, giving them the chance to win second balls. This opened up another passing lane for the full-backs as well.
But regardless, it was still better than nothing. At least now he could equip cards for all three card slots.
Gao Bo's mood quickly improved. In League Two, Luton didn't feel much pressure. If he wanted to claim the top-tier mission reward for "saving Luton," he would have to lead Luton to the League Two title. That was much more difficult…
But the car always finds its way to the mountain. Luton's points were still negative, so thinking about winning the league now felt unrealistic.
Gao Bo got out of bed, washed up, and made himself a simple breakfast.
He decided to visit Luton's youth academy today.
The players had the day off, but Gao Bo himself didn't.
The head coach of an English club wasn't simply a first-team coach — he was essentially a manager. The youth academy also fell under his responsibilities.
Compared to the first-team training base, Luton's youth academy was located on the edge of the city, near the suburbs.
Gao Bo didn't take a taxi. He decided to experience Luton's public transportation system for himself.
The city of Luton is actually quite small, which is a common feature of British cities. Except for an international metropolis like London, most cities here would only be the size of a county-level city in China… maybe even smaller. For example, Manchester—famous among football fans—has just over 400,000 people in its urban area. By Chinese standards, that would barely qualify as a small city.
Double-decker buses are a trademark of England. Even though the buses themselves are quite large, there weren't many passengers inside.
Turning left onto Luton's main road and passing through a small street beside a park, Gao Bo finally reached Luton's youth academy.
Although it was called a youth academy, it didn't actually occupy much land. A row of low houses served as the offices for the academy staff. Most of the boys in the Luton youth system were children from Luton and nearby towns, so the academy didn't even have dormitories. Compared to the youth academies of major clubs—full of talented players scouted from across the country and even across the world—small clubs like Luton simply didn't have the scouting reach or network to recruit widely.
The academy had one standard eleven-a-side pitch, and next to it were two smaller pitches that could be used for seven-a-side or five-a-side games.
Youth Academy Director Steve Powell greeted Gao Bo with obvious enthusiasm.
"You really should come here more often, boss. We've got some great lads here!" Steve said as he accompanied Gao Bo into the academy.
"We have more than ninety kids in total—U15 to U19 are all here." At this time, the young players were divided into groups, receiving basic technical training from their coaches. On the main pitch in the centre of the academy, a match was underway.
"That's the U18 internal training game," Steve explained quickly when he noticed Gao Bo watching.
Although it was labeled as U18, many of the players were only sixteen or seventeen. With so many U18 and U19 players promoted to Luton's first team this season, the academy's upper age groups were clearly understaffed.
Gao Bo stood on the touchline and observed for a while. Luton was a typical English club, and even at youth level, the ball kept flying through the air.
After watching for a bit, he quickly lost interest. In the lower divisions of English football, teams still stubbornly relied on outdated long-ball tactics—long passes, direct charges, and constant aerial duels. They lagged behind modern football trends, and it was no surprise that despite England's massive league pyramid, it was becoming harder and harder for these clubs to produce players capable of stepping into Premier League giants.
Meanwhile, the Premier League's top teams had long begun abandoning the old English style, drawing more and more from continental Europe. Capital kept pouring into the Premier League, accelerating tactical evolution across the league.
Arsenal under Wenger had already become an international side. With a large number of continental players brought in, Arsenal—once a purely British-style team—had transformed into one of the Premier League's most elegant, technical teams.
Chelsea, meanwhile, was shaped by massive foreign investment. Abramovich's spending spree brought in top stars from Europe, and these players were bound to influence Premier League structure and philosophy.
Gao Bo placed enormous importance on the youth academy. Although money could buy stars, a club's internal "blood-making ability" was still essential for long-term development. Manchester United's revival had begun with the Class of '92. Barcelona was on the verge of a golden era—and its foundation was the rise of La Masia's products, led by Messi.
Gao Bo looked around at the crude facilities and rough pitch. He was far from satisfied with such a youth training environment. But expanding the academy would require heavy investment, and Luton had only just escaped financial disaster. There was simply no spare budget.
Still, Gao Bo kept it in mind. The first step had to be changing the youth training style. It seemed he would have to personally invest time and effort here in the future.
"Sort out the training curriculum for the academy players. I'll take a look at it first," Gao Bo said, glancing across the pitch before turning to Steve Powell.
The boys on the field had naturally noticed Gao Bo on the sidelines.
The first-team head coach visiting the youth academy filled them with excitement. The intensity of the match instantly increased. Every young player hoped to catch Gao Bo's eye and earn a chance to join the first team.
At that moment, a sudden commotion on the touchline caught Gao Bo's attention.