[2] While Shenzhen were promoted after coming second in the league Yuan Lin spent the majority of the season in the reserves that trained in Italy.

[3] However, despite Shenzhen's success influential manager Zhu Guanghu and several major players left the club at the end of the 2005 season.

After kindly making a tactical suggestion to new manager Philippe Troussier during a pre-season friendly, Yuan Lin was constantly dropped out of teamsheet possibly as a set-up example to establish youngsters refreshingly into the 1st team, despite the defensive line clearly needing an experienced commanding-veteran to stop the ball leaking through heavily.

The day after the season ended, Yuan Lin left the club with his contract expired and unlikely to be renewed after 15 years of loyal service.

In the 2012 season at Yi League, Yuan Lin was ever-present captain and the commander of defense, also scored crucial goals to secure a playoff spot and runner-up in Southern Division.