Chapter 63: "Mythology" Countdown
In the past, the German football club Kaiserslautern won the Bundesliga from the second division to the Bundesliga for two consecutive years, writing the famous "Kaiserslautern myth" in football history, and this year, Blackburn Rovers are very hopeful to continue this myth, as long as they defeat the desireless Fulham in the last round. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 info
After beating Liverpool 4-3 in the 34th round of league play-ups, Blackburn Rovers once again led the Premier League, although the advantage behind Arsenal and Liverpool was only 1 and 2 points respectively, but if they did not make mistakes, no one could stop Blackburn from ascending to the throne!
Regarded as a civilian team in the Premier League, with only one star from Stam, a number of former balloon stars such as Henning Berg and a bunch of rookie players, they have played a fantastic performance this season, and with only one round of league games left, they are already infinitely close to the Premier League trophy this season.
After Frank Lampard's header to Liverpool, ESPN published an article analyzing Blackburn's current title winning situation, although victory is in sight, Blackburn Rovers are not completely at ease.
In the final round, Arsenal's opponent is the mid-table team Everton, and it is not difficult for the team to win, while Liverpool's opponent is Ipswich, who has been relegated early, and the three points are even more handy.
In contrast, Blackburn will face their favourite rivals Fulham, who are currently the highest-placed team in the top three of the top three, significantly stronger than Everton and Ipswich All.
If Blackburn Rovers are unable to take all three points, the trophy will inevitably fall out as long as one of the teams from Arsenal and Liverpool wins.
Finally, ESPN has not forgotten Manchester United, who are fourth in the Premier League, with only 76 points and no theoretical qualification for the title, which means that Blackburn Rovers have already qualified for next season's Champions League.
If Blackburn Rovers win the championship, it will be a miracle in the history of modern football, how "strange" is this miracle?
Before the season, given that Blackburn Rovers were a newly promoted team, the bookmakers offered Blackburn Rovers 1000 to win the Premier League title for 2001-02.
And what is the event that the bookmaker assesses to be as likely as Blackburn's victory?
Among them is the opening ceremony of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, which was attacked by UFOs.
The odds of 1000 to 1 fully illustrate how low the probability of something happening is.
However, Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League title, which the bookmaker thought was impossible, and it was gradually achieved.
Every time the exaggerated odds eventually come true, some lucky ones will be created, and Blackburn Rovers will hopefully benefit a group of die-hard fans this time around.
Before the start of the 2001-02 season, 26 fans were betting on Blackburn Rovers to win the title, and no one was optimistic about them at the time, so the odds were as high as 1,000 to 1.
Last month, a Blackburn Rovers fan who bet £20 had opted to cash out early (taking the discounted prize early to reduce risk) and walked away with £13,000.
And before Blackburn Rovers played Liverpool, another fan who bet £50 cashed out early and took £21,000. In fact, if he waits until Blackburn's win over Liverpool to cash in, he will get £38,000. However, the fan must regret it even more now, because now it seems that Blackburn's victory has become unstoppable, and if he persists to the end, this fan's £50 will turn into £50,000!
Of course, there are also avid fans who don't care about money.
The British media recently revealed an inspirational story: this fan is called Tony Stark - the same name and surname as the famous Iron Man. In March last year, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, when doctors told him that he had up to four weeks to live.
However, Blackburn's League One title was a boost to him, and this season, the fan saw Blackburn's surge in the Premier League, giving him the courage to overcome his illness.
"I know I'm not in good shape, it's getting a little bit worse, but I'm going to hold on for a couple of weeks to see Blackburn win," said Tony Stark. Toney was a fanatical supporter of Blackburn before the start of the season, and he also bet £10 on Blackburn to win the title, saying he would never claim the prize early because he firmly believed that Blackburn could do miracles.
Of course, these 25 ordinary fans who bet on Blackburn Rovers to win the title this season will not make the bookmakers care, and they add up to nearly a million pounds in prize money, but this last person will make the bookmakers vomit blood.
Although Arthur was not optimistic about the team winning the championship before the season, this did not prevent him from betting 100,000 pounds on the major bookmakers Blackburn Rovers to win the championship, because 100,000 pounds is really not a big expense for him now.
Now, as long as Blackburn Rovers win the title, the total prize money of the £100,000 that Arthur invested before will turn into a staggering £100 million.
And unlike China's high gaming taxes, England's gambling taxes are almost tax-free, and Arthur's final prize is at least £90 million.
With Blackburn's Premier League title fairytale getting closer, many football professionals are gradually calming down and looking at Blackburn's huge possibility of winning the title with a calmer eye, so what made them such a great success?
Among them, the "Team Newspaper" used a series of data to reveal that Blackburn's Premier League championship was not accidental, and it also completely stirred the balance of the Premier League giants.
"When everybody was still talking about the Blackburn championship being a fairy tale; When everyone is still sighing, in this era of giants, such a champion is like a gust of wind.
Blackburn's boss, Arthur, laughed, we were never poor!
How can it be poor?!
As can be seen from Deloitte's 2001-02 Premier League Standings report, Blackburn's revenue is £56.7 million, ranking sixth out of 30 teams.
With this season's Premier League title, Blackburn Rovers will have a huge economic take-off. Sports market research consultancy Repu says Blackburn's Premier League title this season could bring them a huge gain of more than £50 million, bringing Blackburn's total revenue to more than £100 million this season.
And by qualifying for next season's Champions League group stage, Blackburn can almost lock in another tens of millions of euros in Champions League income.
I believe that when we look at Deloitte's 2002-03 financial report, Blackburn Rovers is very likely to be in the top 3 or even higher in the Premier League club income list.
After talking about income, let's talk about expenses.
Blackburn Rovers are still one of the lowest cost teams in the Premier League in terms of team building costs, but considering that almost all of their players have joined the team in the last year or so. It's fair to say that Blackburn's title is the result of their team building in a short period of time.
In terms of transfer spending, Blackburn has spent more than £60 million on a net basis in the past two years, ranking fifth on the Premier League money burn list in the past two years.
In other words, they have spent more than £60 million in net transfer spending over the past two years to bring home a Premier League title for their team. Actually, this can't be said to be a small amount of money.
Many would say that Blackburn Rovers have been lucky this season. Because their core players are injury-free, Ibrahimovic, Frank Lampard, Alonso and other absolute main players have insisted on playing the vast majority of games in the end.
As of the end of April, Blackburn had the fewest injuries of any team in the Premier League this season.
But in fact, there's a reason for that.
Blackburn Rovers are a team that excels at using sports science data, and with the world's most advanced Blackburn Lab, they use sports science data to help managers make the best decisions possible. At Blackburn, the opinions of sports science experts can influence manager Jose Mourinho's decision-making.
As we all know, this season's Blackburn, under the leadership of manager Jose Mourinho, has played a set of defensive counter-attacking tactics. In order to realise the manager's tactical thinking, his players need to be constantly sprinting during the game.
Blackburn used a tendon strength tool called Nordbord – a tool that helps them detect and improve tendon strength. It allows players to be better at sprinting and strengthens their legs.
They not only use this equipment during their regular training, but also use this tool to check the muscle condition of the players after the game.
Frank Lampard tops the league in terms of speed, while Blackburn Rovers Duff and Benayoun are also on the list, and the number of counter-attacking goals and shots that come with them is also ahead of the rest of the team.
Statistically, Duff is the fastest player in the Premier League this season, averaging 500 metres per game.
It is worth mentioning that Blackburn have benefited from this training style and training equipment, which has allowed them to successfully reduce the probability of injuries due to sprints.
For Blackburn, the economic base, the scientific training, is the logistical strength of the team. And the core competitiveness that really helped them reach the top is that the team has ace players with top strength in the Premier League on the offensive end.
For the current Premier League, with three aces in attack, you actually have the possibility of attacking the title.
For Blackburn, regardless of the previous statistics and backgrounds, Ibrahimovic in the forward line this season, Frank Lampard in the forward position, Duff on the wing, and Alonso, the team brain in the back position, are all top four or even one of the top players in the Premier League in their respective positions.
Now more and more teams are starting to understand that as long as the whole team shrinks defensively, it can achieve great results. And if you have a few aces, then a small range of aces can lead to enough goals to bring you the victory, provided your team is really subjectively working very the defensive end.
On the defensive end, Blackburn leads the team in the two most critical defensive stats, interceptions and steals per game.
This season, Blackburn Rovers can also occupy the first place in the key statistics at both offensive and defensive ends, but this actually shows that Blackburn's Premier League title this season is much higher than some fans expected.
Cambiaso, in particular, averaged 4.6 steals and 4.2 interceptions per game, plus 1.2 fouls. In other words, he has to disrupt his opponent's attacks 10 times per game! Moreover, he averages exactly 20% of the team in terms of steals and interceptions, which is equivalent to one person doing the work of two people.
The center-back combination composed of Stam and Carvalho has become the most solid defensive line in the Premier League this season, and unlike Stam who has been famous for a long time, Carvalho has gradually grown into the world's top defender in the latter part of the season.
On the offensive end, in addition to Duff and Ibrahimovic, Benayoun and Drogba also contributed 6 goals, 6 assists and 5 goals and 2 assists respectively, becoming a very important force on the offensive side of the team.
In short, Blackburn is only one step away from creating a miracle. All it takes is one last win to witness a fairy tale together, and the Portugal manager and his Blackburn Rovers are the protagonists of this Premier League fairy tale. -- "Team Newspaper"