Football giants

Chapter 337 Troika
When Eddie Ku was at the Apple headquarters in Silicon Valley, explaining the importance of WeChat to Apple's new CEO Tim Cook to Apple's new CEO, Yang Huan was in Southampton's Ting Yu Xuan, sipping afternoon tea leisurely.

Sitting opposite him were two middle-aged men who had obviously gained weight.

The one on the left has a big bald head. If a media reporter saw him, he would be able to recognize him at a glance.

Former Manchester United and Chelsea chief executive, Peter Kenyon.

After getting out of class from Chelsea, Peter Kenyon broke into the American entertainment industry and did other things, but none of them went very well.

Today, he is the team's chief executive at Middlesbrough.

But for a talent like him, everyone knows that Middlesbrough is just a transit point.

Don't look at Peter Kenyon's dejected resignation at Chelsea, but in fact, in the professional football business circle, he is still sitting on the top spot in a veritable name.

The other is Ron Gourley, who is obese, and he also dismissed get out of class from Chelsea not long ago.

This professional manager is known as a disciple of Peter Kenyon. He is best at dealing with the relationship with the media. At the same time, he has his own uniqueness in commercial sponsorship negotiations and the construction of a product sales system.

It has been rumored in professional football circles that Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourley are golden partners.

The former is the most outstanding football marketing expert, good at opening up new business models, building the club's image, and enhancing the club's market value, while the latter is better at specific business operations.

The cooperation between the two helped Manchester United establish the status of the king of the football world business empire.

After that, the two quit Chelsea at the same time, and helped Chelsea sign a series of commercial sponsorships such as Samsung and Adidas, which greatly improved Chelsea's image and popularity, and ranked among the top ten in the income list of European giants.

Sitting on both sides of Yang Huan are the two top executives of the team, the executive chairman Nicola Cortez, and Sun Yue.

Before Yang Huan decided to invite Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourley to negotiate, he discussed with Nicola Cortes and Sun Yue, and they both agreed, especially Sun Yue.

But Peter Kenyon obviously decided to go south after a period of deliberation.

"I have a question!"

Yang Huan smiled and looked at the two middle-aged men in front of him, especially Peter Kenyon with a big bald head.

"Please speak!" Both of them raised their heads and looked at Yang Huan.

Young, so young!
This is their first impression of Yang Huan.

But while marveling at Yang Huan's youth, they have to admit that Southampton has indeed done quite well in the past year or so, showing an exciting blueprint and prospect.

"Why do you think Chelsea is in the current predicament?" Yang Huan said straightforwardly.

In the eyes of ordinary fans, Chelsea seems to be just poor results.

But in the narrow professional football circle, everyone knows that Chelsea's influence is not as good as before.

This is not difficult to see from the fact that Adidas dared to spend 3000 million pounds to sponsor Southampton, but refused to increase the sponsorship fee for Chelsea.

Even from the player's point of view, Chelsea's introduction of Torres was based on money, and it was a big parallel import.

Really capable top players, no one wants to go to Chelsea!

After Peter Kenyon and Ron Gurley looked at each other, the former nodded and answered.

"I think this problem has to be looked at separately. In the years when Chelsea rose, the traditional giants were at a trough, or fell into their own troubles, such as Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League. Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga were in a trough and adjustment period. Serie A was relatively better, but Juventus and AC Milan also had their own problems."

In those years, the Bundesliga was not very competitive at all, and it was even in danger of being caught up by Ligue [-].

"Under such circumstances, Chelsea has emerged as a new force. It doesn't care about the value of the players, but only cares about the team's strength. The signing strategy has undoubtedly greatly stimulated the entire football world and catered to the tastes of countless fans."

When Peter Kenyon said this, he paused for a moment, and thought about it seriously.

"Although it would be controversial to say so, it must be said that in those years, Chelsea led the transfer market of the entire European football world. At that time, Chelsea was the vane and leader, so the media and fans paid great attention."

Yang Huan also kept nodding, at least he felt that what Peter Kenyon said was absolutely right.

"This is an opportunity for Chelsea, especially with the accumulation of the Ranieri period, and the outbreak of the Mourinho period, Chelsea ushered in unprecedented development prospects. As long as they complete the last step, they will be able to establish their own position among the giants of European football!"

"That's the Champions League!"

When many fans mention the Champions League, they just notice its importance, such as the monetary benefits it brings.

As everyone knows, the importance of the Champions League to a team, especially a team like the invincible Chelsea in the early years, is very important, and it is an important opportunity to complete the transformation from cutting-edge to powerful.

If you don’t believe me, take another look at the UEFA Champions League since the restructuring and now, all the champion teams are all traditional and strong!

Porto can be regarded as declining and powerful, but it also helped the head coaches and main stars including Mourinho, Carvalho, Deco, etc. to complete the transformation and evolve into the world's top.

Year after year in the Champions League, Chelsea have gradually lost their spirit.

As the saying goes, one effort, then decline, and three exhaustion, this is the truth!
"Losing the Champions League is undoubtedly a painful blow, but the even more painful blow comes from two levels!"

"One is the owner Abramovich, who was blinded by personal feelings time and time again and interfered too much in the team's internal affairs. Starting from Mourinho, the head coaches have been changed one after another, especially since he pursued Guardiola hard. As a result, Guardiola did not consider Chelsea at all, which shows how much the team owner's excessive interference in the team has affected the team."

"There is another level, that is, the subprime mortgage crisis and the European debt crisis hit, and Abramovich's assets have shrunk sharply. At the same time, the large investment in the past few years has failed to exchange for the championship trophy, so he also began to doubt whether the team's strategy is correct and whether it should continue."

"This kind of suspicion has been transformed into the transfer market. It is that the investment is not firm enough. For example, Kaka, Chelsea stared at it for three years, but he almost went to Manchester City, and finally went to Real Madrid. The most ironic is Ribery, Gerrard, Villa, Tevez, Robinho and Ronaldinho and others."

Yang Huan frowned when he heard this.

This is indeed an interesting question.

In terms of influence and status, Chelsea is indeed enough to rank among the giants.

But why signings failed again and again?
"Both Abramovich and Chelsea are very interested in bringing in these players, and many of these players are also interested in joining Chelsea, especially Robinho, but he ended up going to Manchester City, which is not even as good as Chelsea."

"As I said just now, leading the transfer market and spending a lot of money, the result is not a championship, but this is not a problem, because everyone believes that if we continue to invest in this way, the strength of the team will improve steadily, and the championship will come sooner or later!"

Yang Huan couldn't help nodding, this direction is correct.

Many people suspect that money can't buy a champion. This is because there are other reasons behind it that cause the champion to fall by the wayside.

May I ask, in the entire professional football world, which championship team is not piled up by money?
This is true even in Barcelona!
"What really caused Chelsea to face the current predicament is a dead spot!"

Peter Kenyon's analysis can be said to hit the nail on the head, because no one is more familiar with and understands Chelsea than him.

Therefore, everyone present immediately looked at him.

"Insecurity!"

When he said this, everyone seemed to understand a little bit.

"Everyone in the football world has doubts about Chelsea and Abramovich!"

"What is the basis of your Chelsea status as a wealthy family?"

"How long can you last for Abramovich's enthusiasm for football?"

"You are not a traditional giant, you lack heritage, and the so-called heritage is to stand in the forest of giants for a long time, to give players, fans, and everyone in the football world a sense of security."

"It's not terrible to lose the championship, but Abramovich's continuous coaching changes have led to chaos in the team, and the subsequent tightening of money has greatly deepened the outside world's sense of insecurity towards Chelsea."

"This is the biggest and most serious dilemma that Chelsea has encountered at the moment!"

Yang Huan, Sun Yue and Nicola Cortez kept nodding.

I have to admit that Peter Kenyon's words touched and stimulated them a lot.

It is also a team full of strong competitiveness established after the strong influx of capital.

The problems Chelsea have encountered are entirely likely to be the problems Southampton will encounter next.

Why do the outside world suspect that Southampton is going to fall apart?
Why did the fans react so strongly when Southampton decided to sell their players?
Why do the outside media always like to hype Southampton's pessimistic remarks?
The same dilemma, the same problem, happened to Southampton, and what they saw was a precursor to disintegration.

But if it happened to Manchester United, what they saw was a trough, and they expected Manchester United to recover.

Arsenal has not had a championship for so many years, but why no one said that the Gunners are going to die?

After all, it's not because the media is biased against you.

It's because you haven't shown signs of convincing them!

Even if Yang Huan stood up and said that I will invest [-] million a year in the future, who would believe it?

You can say that today, but you can also say that I am not committed tomorrow.

Is it possible that there are still people holding guns, forcing you to continue investing?

Yang Huan sighed deeply, then laughed.

He has to admit that Peter Kenyon is indeed the professional manager who is most familiar with football in today's football world, and he is also a very good football marketing expert.

Among other things, just looking at him and his simple analysis are enough to prove his strength.

Nicola Cortez may be a very good manager of the club, but he will never be a talent like Peter Kenyon because he lacks this keen eye.

Of course, this is not to say that with Peter Kenyon, there is no need for Nicola Cortez.

The latter has a good temper and character, and is someone Yang Huan trusts, so he has a great effect.

"Tell me again, how can Southampton avoid repeating Chelsea's mistakes? How can we achieve corner overtaking and catch up?"

Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourley laughed too.

They knew very well that Yang Huan would ask such a question, which proved that they had passed the first round of the interview.

Then it's time to test their real materials.

Being able to see the problem proves their vision, but whether they can solve the problem is their test.

"Mr. Yang Huan, the key to the problem lies in the sense of security, which is the most solid foundation for a team!"

"We need to establish a complete set of club management and operation system, and implement it unswervingly in accordance with this system, so that players, fans, media and club employees can clearly see our long-term ambition to run this team."

"As long as they see this, they will naturally become dependent on the team and feel safe!"

After finishing speaking, Peter Kenyon and Ron Gurley said a lot of specific matters.

For example, how can the team better serve the city, community and fan organizations within its capabilities?
How does the team protect the interests and treatment of players and employees, so that they can play and work for the team with more peace of mind?

It's not hard to see that Ron Gurley is better at specific details.

For example, he proposed a minimum living wage system.

In the UK, there is the so-called minimum wage, which is £[-] an hour.

However, this remuneration standard does not take into account the cost of living, commodity prices and inflation in the area.

For example, such a salary is obviously not enough to guarantee the most basic living in areas such as London and Southampton.

The so-called minimum living wage system is based on the comprehensive consideration of Southampton's living costs such as renting a house and travel, and then based on factors such as price fluctuations and inflation, and calculates a minimum wage system that can ensure that employees have a basic and worry-free life.

This doesn't just apply to employees and staff, but to players as well.

Yang Huan feels that this system is very meaningful and necessary, and it can also improve the image of Southampton's club.

Outside of professional football, many large companies have adopted a minimum living wage system to ensure the livelihood of their employees.

But in professional football, especially in the mainstream professional football in Europe, no one has adopted it yet.

Southampton will be the first team to implement it!

This also strengthened Yang Huan's opinion. Nicola Cortes continued to serve as executive chairman, Peter Kenyon served as CEO, and Ron Gurley served as chief operating officer. The three together formed the troika of Southampton's management.

With a judgment in his heart, Yang Huan began to discuss some issues with them in more depth.

At this moment, Yang Huan's cell phone rang.

It was a call from the clingy Hamad!

(End of this chapter)