Florentino had never taken the opposition members on Real Madrid's board seriously. To him, they posed no real threat.
Back then, had Florentino remained on the board, Calderón would have still been working as his lawyer.
It was the same situation now.
Gao Shen knew this well. That was why he had always ignored the opposition faction and had repeatedly refused to meet them. Because meeting with them would only boost their visibility and lend them credibility.
What Florentino was truly worried about was the anger of Real Madrid's members.
The team's performance this season had dropped sharply. For a combination of reasons, the results had been dismal, sparking widespread dissatisfaction among the club's membership. As president, Florentino Pérez could not escape responsibility.
Regarding the potential collaboration between Real Madrid and Gao Shen, Florentino had just one request: Gao Shen must return to Real Madrid and take full control of the situation.
"You should know that Real Madrid is in serious trouble right now. There's a very real chance we won't qualify for the Champions League. This is a terrible situation, and they desperately need someone to step in and turn it around."
If last summer, when Gao Shen chose to leave, Florentino had still believed that Real Madrid wouldn't fall into the same trap as Manchester United, then now, that confidence was gone.
Because the team had collapsed this season.
Real Madrid had long prided itself on its modern management, with a strong internal technical team responsible for monitoring and analysis. Yet even that had produced complex conclusions that pointed to the same problem.
Real Madrid had always been known for its physical preparation, particularly the conditioning and athletic training of its players. In recent years, they had consistently had one of the lowest injury rates among top European clubs. Even last season, when they suffered a wave of injuries due to a mix of subjective and objective factors, they still managed to overcome them.
This was mostly due to the advanced standards of their training system.
Ramos had once told Florentino that their elite team staff tracked the players' physical data daily and adjusted training loads accordingly. But Benítez ignored that completely, believing that overcoming discomfort was something players had to do on their own.
Florentino had spoken with many players and, at first, was confused. But after watching one of Gao Shen's in-depth talks, he finally understood the root of the problem.
Gao Shen always emphasized helping players become better versions of themselves, not managing or disciplining them.
This was a fundamental mindset shift required of modern head coaches in professional football.
The old-school approach was patriarchal, with the coach as the all-powerful boss, commanding absolute obedience in the dressing room.
But now, a head coach should be a service-oriented manager, someone who considers the personalities and needs of the players.
As a businessman, Florentino deeply understood this shift.
Across the globe, young people in the workforce were no longer like they used to be.
This new generation, raised on the internet, had now grown up and become the core of both society and the football world. That was a fact everyone had to face.
Still unwilling to give up, Florentino had studied Manchester United and discovered something even more concerning.
In the final three or four years of Ferguson's reign, the Carrington training ground had barely changed. No new equipment, no major upgrades. Yet, during that time, football had evolved drastically, and the overall standard of training had risen sharply. Manchester United's players were falling behind.
Why did Manchester United fans dislike Zaha?
Because he told the truth.
After joining the club, he suffered an injury and later told the media that Manchester United's training was outdated. He compared it to Leeds United and said United were at least ten years behind. That statement enraged the fanbase.
But he wasn't wrong.
Gradually, Florentino had come to realize just how profound Gao Shen's approach really was.
Gao Shen was different from other coaches in his mindset, ambition, and values. He was younger, bolder, and more forward-thinking.
He dared to think about things other coaches wouldn't even consider. He dared to do things they wouldn't dare to attempt. More importantly, he truly treated football as a career.
Yes, a career.
Guardiola might see football as his faith. Ancelotti might view it as a lifelong passion. Others might see it as a job, a craft, a means of living…
But for Gao Shen, football was a career. Something he was building, growing, and improving continuously.
Gao Shen didn't know what Florentino was thinking, but for the Real Madrid president to speak the way he did was already a kind of admission. Maybe even an apology.
An apology for the past.
"Actually, Real Madrid's issues are internal, and none of them are unmanageable. If we formally sign a cooperation agreement, I can immediately begin planning for the next season."
Florentino smiled and nodded.
To be honest, you don't really see the difference until you compare.
Over the years, Florentino had seen many head coach proposals. Gao Shen's were by far the most professional. In fact, they were more convincing than some of the business tenders submitted by his own companies.
Some other coaches came to negotiate with nothing. No proposal, no plan, just their mouths.
It was all far too basic and crude.
...
Gao Shen had shown real sincerity in hosting Real Madrid's top brass.
After all, both sides had a solid foundation for collaboration and knew each other very well.
So Gao Shen also made sure to share valuable insight wherever possible.
For example, when they visited the University of Leeds, he took Florentino and his team to visit a special interdisciplinary project group.
The team was small, fewer than ten people, including computational scientists, economists, management experts, and others.
"They're developing a decision-support system," Gao Shen explained.
"What do you mean?" Florentino was puzzled.
Whether it was at the AXA Centre or here at the university, he had already experienced too many surprises.
"Last year, at a sports tech seminar at Leeds United, I met a British economist who was very interested in what we were doing but thought we were still lacking in some areas. For example, he suggested using workflow software to increase our efficiency."
Seeing the confused looks on Florentino and the others, Gao Shen smiled and elaborated, "Workflow software isn't just about going paperless. It's about automation. It can handle a lot of repetitive, high-frequency tasks. For example, automatically organizing data reports or generating the training matrix from earlier. There are already mature solutions for this."
"The same applies to human resources. In large corporations, when reforming internal structures, they'll often simulate outcomes in advance, like who gets promoted or laid off. So some companies developed decision-support systems for that exact purpose."
"Management scientists set the parameters, economists use game theory to model decisions, computational scientists solve the models, and programmers build a system that helps businesses simulate changes."
Even José Sánchez and Butragueño looked stunned.
In their minds, this all sounded complicated and borderline science fiction.
What exactly was this?
Gao Shen gave up on trying to explain the academic side and instead cut straight to the point.
"Look, we're always complaining that signing new players is risky, right? And we're always worried about how well a new player will adapt to the team."
Everyone nodded. That was a very real issue.
"It's one of the biggest issues we face."
"I'm currently developing a system to predict team resource allocation. By inputting past player and team data, we can simulate how well a player might integrate after joining a new team. It also helps identify weaknesses in the current squad. Basically, it gives us a stronger reference for making decisions."
"You mean, before signing a player, we simulate the transfer in the system to see if it works?" José Sánchez asked.
"Exactly. The same goes for selling players," Gao Shen said, smiling.
Florentino and the others were completely dumbfounded.
This was insane.
If this actually worked, it would be revolutionary.
Not just clubs. Even players would love it.
Because it represented a huge leap forward in professional football.
Imagine a world where clubs and players didn't need to worry about transfer risks. Where you didn't need 100% certainty, just a high enough success probability. No more "flop" transfers.
Especially for a club like Real Madrid, which relies so heavily on buying top players, this would be a killer weapon.
"Gao, I really want to take you to a lab, open your skull, and see what your brain looks like. It's definitely different from ours," Butragueño said, half-joking, half-serious.
"Of course we're different. We're human, you're a vulture," Gao Shen shot back.
The group burst into laughter.
Butragueño's nickname as a player was, after all, "The Vulture."
But when you thought about it, many of these ideas weren't actually new in the business world. Some were already commonplace. So why hadn't anyone brought them into football before?
The biggest problem was that football club management had long been outdated. Even more importantly, many people viewed football with a kind of mysticism or superstition.
Gao Shen had been working with big data since 2006. Back then, he had even forced Fernando Lucas to learn data analysis. That story was still widely known among fans and the media.
Gao Shen wasn't the first to apply data to football, but he had been the key force in making it mainstream.
Florentino was truly shocked now. Even more than during yesterday's match.
There was only one genius. Leeds United was just one club. But what Gao Shen was building had the potential to transform professional football as a whole.
"Let's go back."
At that moment, Florentino stood up.
"What? There's still more cutting-edge tech you haven't seen yet," Gao Shen said, surprised.
"We'll see it next time. Let's go back and sign the agreement first."
It was rare to see Florentino this impatient.
It was as if he was afraid Gao Shen might change his mind or get snatched away by someone else.
Clearly, he had been genuinely frightened today.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)