Football: English coach White makes mark in 'ruthless' Chinese football

After making a splash on the tiny, honeymoon island of Guam, English coach Gary White is already proving a hit in the cut-throat world of Chinese football.

The 42-year-old, who left the palm-fringed Pacific island to manage Shanghai Shenxin earlier this year, has his eye on winning promotion to the Chinese Super League next season after saving the team from relegation.

"I came in June and the club was basically in free-fall," White told AFP in a telephone interview. "Now there will be pressure to go up."

White, who formerly played for English non-league club Bognor Regis, began coaching in 1998 when he was living on a council estate in Luton, north of London, and faxed every national association in the world looking for work.

Following spells with the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas before Guam, he arrived in Shanghai, where he was forced to plunder the reserves after being told there was no money in the transfer kitty.

"I got rid of a lot of dead wood and made some tough decisions," he said, after guiding his side to a top-10 finish in China's first division, one below the Super League.

"The first thing I had to do was get the players to think more positively because they didn't have much belief, there was no motivation," added White.

"It's been a lot of hard work: getting to know the players, taking them for coffee to find out what makes them tick."

Football: top arrivals in China (AFP)