"ha."

Old Rice smiled as if he knew it. "Lamar, you cunning old fox, you have been fooling me for so long, saying you would give me gifts, let me watch live games, and even said I copied it. Now, you finally hit the nail on the head: that kid doesn't have a work permit."

Carter blushed and coughed twice. "Is this wine, cough cough, expired? Bartender! Bartender, what happened to you?!"

The bartender put down the rag in his hand, calmly picked up a fish knife from under the bar and slammed it on the counter.

Carter immediately gave a thumbs up and said, "Bartender, your wine is really delicious. Old Rice, ahem, where were we talking about just now?"

Old Rice smiled and said, “Labor permit.”

"Oh yeah, damn, work permit," Carter sighed.

Work permits are not just for foreign players in the football field. Foreigners in other fields who want to work in the UK also need to apply for corresponding work permits.

For players with British or EU nationality, a work permit is not required, but for Gu Ran, a Chinese, this is a very serious obstacle.

In non-professional leagues and youth teams, Gu Ran can play however he wants, but if he wants to play in a professional league, he must first have a work permit before he can play.

This is also a big problem that all Chinese players cannot avoid.

If this problem is not solved first, everything will be in vain. Even if Gu Ran makes it to the final of the All-England High School Football Championship, he can only play in informal youth team matches or return to the Asian region to play professional games.

In fact, before 2000, it was not difficult to obtain a labor permit in the football field. Players only needed to take an ability assessment test, which were all basic football assessment items, such as endurance running, sprint running, running around the pole, passing and receiving the ball, accurate kicking, etc.

As long as you pass the passing line, you can get a labor certificate.

However, a major event occurred in the football world at the end of 1999, which directly led to the tightening of labor permits.

This incident happened on December 26, 1999, when Chelsea played against Southampton at home. The then Chelsea head coach Vialli directly sent 11 non-British players to the field.

The result of the day was that Southampton was defeated by Chelsea with a big score.

For this reason, Southampton Club appealed to the English Football Association. After review, the English Football Association believed that if this continued, the interests of British players would be greatly damaged, so they immediately formulated a new work permit policy.

The new labor certification policy can be simply summarized into two requirements:

First, the country must be ranked in the top 75 in the FIFA rankings for the past two years.

Second, the applicant for a labor permit must have represented his or her national team in more than 75% of international A-level competitions in the past two years.

At first, such a labor permit policy did not pose much of an obstacle for Chinese players.

In 1998, China's FIFA ranking was 37th. When it entered the World Cup in 2002, China's FIFA ranking was 50th. In 2005, the ranking was 54th.

Therefore, around 2005, many Chinese players could easily obtain work permits and play football in the UK.

For example, the famous Li Tie, Fan Zhiyi, Dong Fangzhuo, Zheng Zhi, Sun Jihai, and so on.

Sun Jihai even made it into the Premier League Hall of Fame.

However, after the Chinese national team's ranking dropped below 75th (China's FIFA ranking in 2010 was 87th), Chinese players were almost nowhere to be seen on the British field.

This is because a Chinese player over the age of 18 cannot obtain a work permit if his national team has poor performance and has no national team appearances.

This is stipulated by the rules of the English Football Association, and both conditions are indispensable.

Then I heard Old Rice say slowly: "That kid wants to bypass the work permit. There is actually a very simple way."

Carter frowned, "Oh? What's the solution?"

Old Rice said, "He probably hasn't played for their national team yet, has he?"

Carter immediately shook his head and said, "No, in fact, he has only been in football for a short time, and no one in his country knows of his existence."

Old Rice smiled and said, "Then he can give up his Chinese nationality and join our British nationality."

Carter smiled unhappily, "Old Rice, your idea is not very good! It is not easy to obtain British citizenship. He is still on a student visa. Before he can make a name for himself, he must first obtain a five-year permanent residence card in the UK, and then he will have the opportunity to obtain British citizenship. Five years... How many five years can a young genius waste?"

Old Rice smiled and said, "Do you think five years is too long? Then there is another way. He should not be 18 years old yet. As long as he registers with a professional club and plays for the youth team for three consecutive years, then when he is 21 years old, he will not need a work permit even if he is a player trained by the club itself."

Carter interrupted Old Rice directly, "If that's the case, I can just recommend a scout and an agent to that kid. Why would I come to you, my old Rice! Don't even mention three years, even three months! Three weeks! Three days, or even three hours can't be wasted! With that kid's talent, he shouldn't be buried in the youth team for three years!!!"

Carter became more and more excited. "Les Reid! You are the football director of Southampton Football Club! You are also one of the six judges of the English Football Association! Wasn't it you who proposed to tighten the rules on work permits back then?"

Old Rice's mouth twitched awkwardly, and he cleared his throat and said, "...I have already retired from the club. Besides...even if I really wanted to help that kid, I couldn't convince the English Football Association to abolish the existing work permit system."

"No, you can help--" Carter got excited, snapped his fingers at the bartender, and ordered a third glass of strong dark rum.

When the wine slipped to his hand, Carter grabbed it and stared into Old Rice's eyes. "Old Rice, you should remember that there is a [Special Talent Clause] in the labor certificate, right?"

"That's right!" Carter drank the liquor in the glass!

The so-called [Special Talent Clause] is a supplementary clause to the labor certification rules.

The special talent clause requires professional clubs to appeal to the FA and also requires a strong witness. The FA will hold a hearing for this purpose. Only when more than half of the FA's review passes it can the clause be officially activated! A club can only have one quota per year.

The most troublesome thing is that the six judges of the English Football Association are actually independent of each other and have their own plans. Therefore, although this clause seems good, it is extremely difficult to activate.

Why is it called the "hair dryer clause"?

This story begins when labor certification requirements were tightened.

At that time, Manchester United coach Ferguson was very opposed to the policy of tightening work permits. He believed that this policy would make Britain lose the opportunity to compete with other European clubs for young talents. So he and Manchester United's general manager David Gill (one of the three giants of the English Football Association) jointly opposed Les Reid's proposal to tighten work permits.

Finally, after coordination among all parties, the new labor certification program was passed, and the [Special Talent Clause] was also written into the labor certification program.

Because Ferguson's nickname is "Hair Dryer", this [Special Genius Clause] is also privately called the Hair Dryer Clause.

Old Rice couldn't help but smiled and shook his head. "Lamar, are you giving me a gift? You want me to use Southampton's special genius clause for that kid? Do you know how difficult it is to do this? Do you know what the price is? I have to convince the big bosses of Southampton's board of directors first. After convincing them, I have to get close to David Gill, whom I don't like... I really just want to fish quietly!"

Carter calmly waited for Old Rice to finish speaking, and then said in a deep voice: "Old Rice, think about the football we love, think about the performance of that kid on the field today! Do you really have the heart to let him be buried? Do you really have the heart to let him be frustrated in the youth team of another club for three years without being able to play in a professional game?"

Old Rice frowned and said, "But is he really worth our efforts?"

Carter nodded firmly, "He deserves it! I believe in my vision, I believe he is a one-in-a-million genius! Old Rice, I, Lamar Carter, have never begged you before, right? This time, I beg you, even if it is to help me, please consider persuading the board of directors of the Southampton Club to activate the special genius clause for him!"

Old Rice took a deep breath, frowned slightly and asked, "Lamar, you did so much for that kid, does he know it?"

Carter was already half drunk, but his words were still clear. "I don't need him to know. I just think... that kid is a lot like me when I was young. It would have been great if I could have met a coach who was willing to show me the way when I was young. I don't want a young genius to have such regrets."

"Besides, Old Rice, he is really a great gift. I believe you must understand this. If you can help him enter the professional league, then he will definitely play for Southampton for a full year! Regardless of whether he continues to stay or is poached or sold after a year, Southampton Club will obtain a very high price difference profit, and you will regain control of the Southampton Club board of directors!"

"Old Rice, what are you still hesitating about? Throw away your broken fishing rod! You are not born to be a fisherman! You are a football man!"

Coach Carter became more and more excited as he spoke, and raised his hand to ask the bartender for another drink.

Old Rice said quickly: "Carter, you are drunk. If you drink again, it will be your fourth drink!"

Carter grinned and said, "I'm not drunk! This cup is for you--"

The corner of Old Rice's mouth twitched. "You spent my money and treated me to a drink I didn't want to drink? You still want me to thank you?"

Carter patted Old Rice on the shoulder and said, "No, I know you want to drink! Drink this glass of wine and recall the passion we had playing football when we were young! I believe you will help me!"

After saying that, Carter staggered out.

Today, he did drink a lot and talked a lot.

"etc--"

Old Rice half turned around and said in a deep voice, "Regarding the hair dryer clause...if you can make it to the top 4 in the country, and that kid can score more than 8 points in every game from now on, I think I will seriously consider it. But if he can't even average 8 points in the top 4, he is not a genius, and don't bother me with this kind of thing in the future."

Carter's eyes were suddenly filled with surprise. He raised his hand and made a drinking gesture, "Les Reed, salute to you!"

Although it is very difficult to make it to the top four in the country, there is still hope! Carter turned around gracefully and bumped into the door frame.

There was laughter in the Pink Mermaid Bar.

Carter himself laughed out loud, holding the door open and walked out.

Old Rice couldn't help but smile. He looked down at the glass of strong dark rum in front of him and muttered, "Will that kid be the next Bell? No... I don't think so. I watched Bell grow up personally. No one knows Bell better than me."

"That kid... should be stronger than Bell."

Old Rice grabbed the black rum on the bar and drank it all in one gulp with great skill!

“Hiss…ha!”

Old Rice stretched his muscles happily, "Fuck, I'm alive again!!!"

…

Probably starting from 2021? The work permit system has been changed to a points system, and the rules are more detailed and complicated. Anyway, it is more difficult for Chinese players to obtain a Premier League work permit.

The labor certification described in this book is based on the labor certification policy around 2010.

(End of this chapter)