Chapter 808: Football Technology War

Manchester City's 10-0 thrashing of Queens Park Rangers sent shockwaves throughout the UK.

It was the biggest winning margin in Premier League history, smashing the previous record held by Manchester United back in the 1990s.

The Times described Manchester City under Gao Shen as a record-breaking machine. The Blue Moon had now surpassed Arsenal's famous unbeaten run and become the team with the longest undefeated streak in Premier League history.

At the same time, many British media outlets released articles and made public appeals, claiming that Manchester City was dominating the Premier League with an unstoppable momentum, and that the influx of money from Middle Eastern tycoons was disrupting the Premier League's original ecosystem.

Whether it was hype or criticism, Manchester City remained calm and detached, refusing to get involved.

According to Manchester City's marketing director Ferguson, this was entirely normal.

Whether it's fans, the media, or professionals in the industry, it would take time for them to accept Manchester City.

But now, Gao Shen had helped the club weather the toughest period.

From here on, as long as City remained consistently competitive in the Premier League, fans and the media would gradually come to accept them as one of the league's giants.

That's the polite way of putting it.

To be blunt, when the media and fans realize there's nothing they can do to stop it, they'll have no choice but to lie down and take the beating.

Though, deep down, it's killing them.

While Manchester City were thrashing QPR in West London, Leeds United were away at Leicester City, grinding out a 1-0 win with Paulinho netting the decisive goal.

What went unnoticed was that this time, Su Qing and Fernando Lucas had personally led the team.

After this match, the Championship had completed 16 rounds. Leeds United's record stood at 13 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss.

Yes, they had lost a game not long ago.

But for now, the White Roses were still leading the Championship table and were firmly on course for promotion to the Premier League.

As Leeds United's performances improved, more and more of their players were getting national team call-ups. For instance, Paulinho was selected for the Brazilian national team, along with Courtois, Benteke, and others.

These players were gradually making a name for themselves.

After the game against Leicester, Sarri led the team back north to Leeds, while Su Qing and Lucas headed south to London.

That evening, they met Gao Shen at a hotel in London.

The next morning, just after the three of them had finished breakfast, a special vehicle from Huawei arrived at the hotel entrance to pick them up. They then headed west to Reading, a few dozen kilometers away.

After leaving London via the M4 motorway and heading west past East Reading, they exited at the West Reading junction.

At the motorway exit, a unique building came into view. Shaped like an arc with six rays extending outward, it stood out.

The Huawei driver explained that this was the UK headquarters of the Quantum Fund.

Just past this building was Tesco's logistics center and administrative headquarters in the Reading area.

But what really caught Gao Shen off guard was that Reading Football Club's home ground was just to the north of Tesco.

Heading south from the road between Tesco's headquarters and warehouse, you could spot a huge wind turbine. Opposite that stood a square-shaped, five or six-story building with a plain exterior. This was Huawei's UK headquarters.

Gao Shen was genuinely surprised.

Did that mean Huawei employees could just walk over to watch Reading's games?

Strictly speaking, this wasn't Huawei's official UK headquarters—at least not yet.

Currently, Huawei's official UK headquarters was in Basingstoke, located southwest of Reading, and quite nearby.

Huawei's European headquarters was in Düsseldorf, close to Dortmund, Germany.

This time, the person who had invited Gao Shen for a meeting was Yu Dazui, President of Huawei's European operations. He had come directly from Düsseldorf and was about to return to China to take over Huawei's consumer business.

Gao Shen had also made this trip especially to meet him.

"Welcome to Huawei, Mr. Gao!"

As soon as he got out of the car, the head of Huawei's UK division came out to greet him.

In fact, they had already met several times before—not just for discussions about Leeds United's stadium WIFI project, but also regarding sponsorship and other cooperation efforts. One of those projects was Leeds United's big data center.

Football is the best promotional medium in Europe. Every home game brings in tens of thousands of fans, with matches happening almost every week. What better platform could there be?

After signing the cooperation deal with Leeds United, Huawei immediately seized the opportunity, organizing teams across its European branches to launch a vigorous promotional campaign. They focused on collaborating with major football clubs to promote home WIFI and related services.

"We've already secured more than a dozen contracts and reached close to a hundred cooperation agreements across the top leagues in Western Europe. You might not know this, but our competitors like Cisco and Ericsson haven't even reacted yet."

When the UK regional head spoke about this, he couldn't help but laugh proudly.

And rightly so—their efficiency was astounding.

From what Gao Shen knew, most major stadiums used Cisco systems for home WIFI.

Of course, this business wasn't massive. The core business for telecom equipment vendors still involved giants like BT and Vodafone. The stadium WIFI business was just a small slice, but it had massive branding value and could provide Huawei with a breakthrough opportunity.

Their rapid expansion this time was mainly due to partnering with local telecom operators in each country, who provided endorsements.

Gao Shen praised them repeatedly, admiring their aggressive strategy.

The group arrived at an executive conference room.

As soon as they walked in, Gao Shen saw a familiar face.

He had often seen this person at press conferences.

There was even a viral video online featuring him saying, "Qualcomm, Qualcomm, Qualcomm, Kirin!"

Now seeing him in person, Gao Shen felt a bit dazed.

But Gao Shen was no ordinary person now.

As soon as President Yu saw him and the others, he came over enthusiastically to welcome them and express his thanks.

This collaboration with Leeds United had truly surprised him.

He had flown in from Germany in person, not only to discuss further cooperation, but more importantly, to meet Gao Shen himself.

He was very curious about Gao Shen—not only was he a well-known figure in football, but the partners he had at Leeds United had also caught his attention. He was very interested.

To Gao Shen, meeting President Yu felt like a fan meeting their idol.

His overall first impression was one of clarity and openness.

How refreshing was it?

The entire meeting was filled with laughter and ease, leaving a strong sense of goodwill.

When Gao Shen asked why Huawei had chosen Reading and Basingstoke for its headquarters, most people might have answered tactfully. But President Yu simply waved it off and said, "Because Vodafone and BT are based here. It's convenient!"

These two giants were Huawei's biggest partners in the UK. They had even set up a dedicated Vodafone systems department.

Well, honesty from a gentleman, while the villain hides his motives.

But this openness made things easier—they didn't need to beat around the bush or read between the lines.

Gao Shen's main purpose for the visit was to discuss further cooperation with Huawei.

Previously, Huawei had sponsored Leeds United and successfully built the WIFI system at Elland Road Stadium. Both sides were very satisfied with the partnership. Gao Shen appreciated Huawei's capabilities, not only in hardware but also in software.

He had been facing some business challenges.

For example, data collection and analysis.

In the media, we often see that teams collect players' training data using vests and equipment. But in reality, this method is limited. The data isn't that accurate, and the gear is often uncomfortable for players.

Gao Shen believed that with today's technology, it should be entirely possible to develop better and more advanced wearables that use sensors to collect player information—speed, distance covered, pace, cadence, balance, etc.

Even if the hardware were up to standard, the software was a major headache.

If it were just one team, the data could be processed manually. But Leeds United was now building a comprehensive database, with scouts uploading data from around the world in real time.

Without a more advanced data processing system, Gao Shen would have to keep hiring more staff. Sooner or later, the big data department would bloat, and labor costs would skyrocket.

Video analysts, editors, and other roles involved repetitive and heavy work. Gao Shen believed these tasks could be streamlined—if only someone would develop practical automated systems.

He even proposed an idea.

Give each player a smart wristband or another small device. It could track sleep, temperature, heart rate, blood pressure—basically anything. It could also be used as a smart access card at the club, or a hotel key card for away games.

At the training ground, optical tracking cameras combined with jersey and shoe sensors would feed player training data into the big data center in real time. Coaches could then use tablets or computers to monitor player performance and adjust training loads accordingly.

In short, what Gao Shen wanted was a complete smart ecosystem covering everything—player data, video analysis, match footage, all in one place.

Aside from Su Qing and Lucas, who had heard this before, the Huawei executives, including President Yu, were stunned.

Is this still football?

It sounded more like cutting-edge tech.

But it was very appealing, and fit perfectly with Huawei's next strategic direction.

That was also why President Yu had come to meet Gao Shen in person.

(To be continued.)