long live football

Newcastle have shocked European football with their new partnership with 1860 Munich.

Michael Owen, the "Golden Boy of England" brought back from Real Madrid by the Magpies last year, announced that he will join the new Bundesliga champions Munich 1860 on loan.

If this news is not clearly written on the official websites of the two clubs, the media and fans will definitely think it is a joke-the public knows that Owen has been staying in Munich for treatment after being injured in the World Cup, but how can he heal? Just decided to settle down?

Moreover, it is not surprising that Newcastle have the intention to sell Owen. The latter has spent a whole season telling the world that he is not suitable for the current Newcastle United team, but on loan!There are usually two situations in which European clubs rent out players: one is that there are promising but immature future stars in the youth team, and the competition in the first team is fierce, and the team cannot and will not allocate a main position to train young players , so they rent them out at a low price, let other teams train them, and then recycle them after the players have fully grown up; second, when the club’s finances are tight, and there are high-paying players in the locker room who contribute a lot When there are few fringe stars, in order to get rid of the high salary of the stars, the club will find a team willing to take over and rent out the stars to reduce their financial burden.

Of course, the loan contract between the two clubs can be pure rental (the player will be taken back by the original club after the expiration), or it can be a loan plus buyout (the loaned player in the summer transfer can be transferred in the winter) Buy out the player during the meeting, but this needs to be specified in the contract), the agreement reached between 1860 Munich and Bayern Munich on the loan of Mats Hummels earlier is the latter.

But no matter what kind it is, almost none of the stars who are still playing are willing to be loaned out by themselves. some.

Football in England and Germany began to become very lively.

There are regrets: "Owen is willing to surrender his status!";

There is schadenfreude: "Since the day this agreement was concluded, Michael Owen has already withdrawn from the ranks of top European strikers!"; There is jealousy: "Newcastle only spent 1600 million pounds to buy Irving last year, but this year it will be given away for nothing. 1860, it’s really tsk tsk”; some subjective view: “Munich is very good in terms of living environment and medical conditions. The coach of 1860 is Owen’s friend. He went there for two years to recuperate. Maybe our ‘England’ Golden Boy' can find his form again!"

There are even sarcastic remarks: "Come on, Owen's glass body has already taken shape, and it is impossible to return to the state five years ago just by changing the environment. Do you think that Karl Oston is a wizard and will say 'return to the original'? Moreover, the executives of Munich 1860 have collectively lost their minds, and rented a person who can't play for a while with a high salary! I bet, this will be a three-lose deal in the end!"

The fans of various media have different positions and opinions, and they are almost arguing into a pot of porridge.

But in Munich, most of the 1860 fans were jubilant.

For a long time, due to various reasons such as high taxation, low commercialization and insufficient influence of the German Football League, many German players will go out and make great achievements in other leagues-the most famous is the Inter Milan troika. Linsmann, Bremer, Matthaus, and Sammer, Bierhoff, Rummenigge, Völler, Müller, etc. - but few world-class stars are still young When I came to the Bundesliga to develop.

Although Irving is generally not favored by major managers due to injuries, it has not been too long since he followed Liverpool to achieve the "five crowns" glory and won the European Footballer of the Year. Even two years ago, he still stood At the forefront of the world's top stars.In terms of strength before injury, he is a world-class striker. In terms of influence, under the momentum of the English media, his fame has spread all over the world. He is a representative of British football like Beckham and Rooney... There is such a player With the joining of stars, the image of 1860 Munich in Europe and in the world football will definitely be rapidly improved. The original "civilian club" will also start to have a "star flavor".

What's more, Lions fans are no strangers to Owen himself: In September 2001, England and Germany met in the World Cup qualifiers. Irving miraculously staged a hat-trick in the game and helped England beat the German team 9:5 away. .That game was held at the Munich Stadium, and the fans here were very impressed with him.

When the former opponents became teammates, the fans of 1860 Munich, like most England fans, had expectations for Owen. They hoped that he would get better soon and find his former self on the field.

……

At the beginning of August, 8 Munich made two more small transfer deals, but they were all older players who applied to transfer to low-level teams, which had little impact on the locker room as a whole.

Summer is not only the season of transfers, but also the season of finalizing commercial endorsements and sponsorships. At this point, the club benefits both as a whole and individually.

First, because the team successfully entered the UEFA Champions League next season, Nike took the initiative to approach, hoping that 1860 Munich would change its jersey sponsor after the contract with Adidas expired. This touched a sensitive nerve of Adidas, and they offered to modify the contract , increased the sponsorship amount and number of years, and ranked fourth in the Bundesliga with 2000 million euros in five years, which also allowed Adidas to finally crush Nike in their home base in Germany.

Then there was Deutsche Postbank and British Aston Martin, who had been vying for the main sponsor spot of Munich 1860 - which usually goes to the main sponsor on the chest of the team jersey - and finally Deutsche Postbank for 4000 million euros over five years , According to the sponsorship of up to 6000 million euros, their red, yellow and blue tricolor logo replaced Aston Martin's eagle wings pattern, which will appear on the chest of the Lions' home and away jerseys from next season.

One more thing, in the Bundesliga, only Bayern Munich, Schalke 04, and Wolfsburg can match such a lucrative main sponsorship contract.

Although it failed to compete with state-owned enterprises such as Deutsche Post Bank, Aston Martin still became a sub-sponsor of Munich 1860 (sub-sponsorship is very common, there are as many as 20 sub-sponsors like Bayern Munich ), lacking the most favorable way of publicity, chest advertisements, Aston Martin proposed that in order to achieve sponsorship, 1860 Munich needs to print a small badge representing their company on the team car and jersey, and make the team owner Coach Karl Alston has reached a personal partnership with the British premium car brand.

Munich 1860 had no objections. They quickly communicated with Carl's agent, Jorge Mendes.

Karl's personal endorsement contract with Aston Martin was also signed soon: In addition to the club's collective promotional activities, Karl needs to shoot a group of fashion blockbusters for Aston Martin and attend many promotional activities (if possible, 007 The premiere of the film series is also planned), and he is paid £100 million a year plus a limited edition sports car. (The treatment is only provided for the spokesperson, even the high-level executives of Munich 1860 will not get a limited-edition sports car)

Aston Martin's sponsorship of Munich 1860 caused a lot of laughter throughout Germany when word got out.

Who are you laughing at?

Of course not at Munich 1860, but at the German auto industry - if you have to name names, at the BMW Group.

The full name of BMW is "Bavaria Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd.", and its headquarters is located in Munich, but neither of the two football teams in the city, Bayern Munich and Munich 1860, is sponsored by BMW.

Bayern Munich's car sponsor before 2002 was Opel, which was owned by General Motors of the United States. After 2002, Opel's center of gravity began to shift from the European market, and Audi replaced it and became Bayern's exclusive car sponsor.From the beginning to the end, BMW has allowed Opel and Audi cars to rampage on the streets of Munich without any sense of territory. Now there will be a new breed in this group of dancing cars: Aspen from the UK Don Martin.

Could it be that BMW is so stingy that it refuses to pay millions of euros in sponsorship fees every year?No, not really.BMW is very generous in sponsoring golf, and "Don't Touch Me" is even the brand that invests the most in golf sponsorship.

BMW simply has little interest in sponsoring football clubs.Probably their management thinks this way: "How many football fans can afford a BMW? There are more rich people who play golf."

Now, after hearing about the cooperation between Aston Martin and Munich 1860, I don’t know if the BMW Group will feel slapped in the face—Aston Martin’s reputation, quality, and history in Europe are better than BMW’s They are strong, but they just like the Lions football club.

However, Bayern Munich and Munich 1860 are not the only two remaining "little poor" in Germany. There is also a team with a similar fate to them in Stuttgart - Stuttgart is also a famous German motor city, where Mercedes-Benz and Porsche headquarters take root There, Porsche played racing and golf like BMW, and the bulk of Mercedes-Benz sponsorship was given to the German national team, but it was only a secondary sponsor for Stuttgart. The automobile groups in Munich and Stuttgart are not at all like Volkswagen for Wolff. Like Fort, it is simply taking money out of the heart, and now even the holding has reached 90%.

Carl's personal endorsement signed this summer, in addition to Aston Martin is shared with the club, Adidas may also be counted as one.

Adidas had the intention to cooperate with Karl Oston as early as last year, but they also knew that Oston would probably not appear in public wearing sportswear in any camera, which made them sidelined. I am glad that I will probably not be poached by my old rival Nike, and at the same time regret that I have lost such a good publicity platform-every Bundesliga game, every game!The cameras have a special liking for Karl Oston, as long as the lens starts to stick to his face, they will shoot endlessly, and the live broadcast signal of the Bundesliga can radiate to the whole of Germany, all of Europe and even the whole world.

Until later, I don't know who first came up with such a genius idea: "Auston never wears clothes with obvious LOGO, which is something that anyone with a little bit of brand concept can realize— ——I read a few magazines my girlfriend bought. Those fashion editors like to infer which brand Auston likes most from the design and style of his clothes. Once the brand is confirmed, it is easy to trigger a trend, even My girlfriend bought me a pair of Edward Green leather shoes! Handmade things are different to wear, and they are very comfortable to walk on! It is not easy to make a fuss about clothes, but what about other accessories? If If Austen refuses to wear sportswear to the stadium, he must add some other measures to keep himself warm when the weather is cold? The winter in Germany is long and cold, and everyone wears hats and scarves for more than half a year. If we can Let him appear in the public eye every day wearing a scarf with the Adidas logo on it..."

One word awakens the dreamer.After discussion and research, the Adidas marketing department felt that this was very feasible, so a new endorsement was reached: as long as Carl wears hats and scarves with the Adidas logo every season, enough of them appear in the public eye , 50 euros will automatically go to his bank account obediently.

"Look at what I said back then?" Mendes tried to move Carl's chin, but the latter shrewdly avoided it: "With such a face, the money will come faster and faster."

As the new season drew to a close, even Braun joined in the fun of putting money in Karl's pocket.

As world-renowned brands, Gillette of the United States and Braun of Germany have always been the two leaders in the field of men's shaving. The former is famous for its historical heritage and good user experience, while the latter is famous for its outstanding design and rigorous craftsmanship.Gillette's global spokesperson is Beckham, and heartthrobs have attracted many new users for it. In order to compete with its opponents, Braun is also preparing to bring in Auston to fight.

One is a player and the other is a coach. Both of them have real materials while having a handsome face. The former allows people to see what is called the ultimate commercial value of a star, and the latter makes people know that coaches can also join like players. To the camp of attracting money.In the end who is the most beneficial promoter of the brand may be known after a few seasons.

……

Before the arrival of the new season, because Michael Owen has not completely recovered from his injury, 1860 Munich held a low-key media fan meeting for him, announcing the official joining of the "England Golden Boy".

Karl also introduced Irving to all the players in the locker room.After more than a month of hospitalization, Irving has now been discharged from the hospital and started physical recovery. He frequently appears in the club's training base and the team doctor's room. Even if he does not perform physical exercises with everyone, he will deal with everyone. It's very good.

The players of Munich 1860 are full of curiosity about Owen. For them, Owen made his debut in the last century. During the period at the beginning of the new century, some of them were even in grades. Owen has already experienced I experienced the most glorious moment in my life, won Mr. Football, and then there were several ups and downs. The ups and downs of my career are like a movie, so although Irving is not very old, he is only 27 years old this year. In the eyes of many players, he looks like an "old-timer".

On August 8, the Bundesliga restarted.

The first game of the new season ushered in by 1860 Munich was against Nuremberg at home. Relying on the advantage of the main players not being lost in the transfer season and a stable lineup, the Lions defeated the opponent 2:0 at home and made a good start .

On August 8th, UEFA held the UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony for the 17-06 season and the UEFA award ceremony for last season at the Palace of the King Power in Monte Carlo, France.

In Monte Carlo, Karl met many old acquaintances: Mourinho, who has continuously introduced Shevchenko and Ballack, can be called the transfer winner this summer; C Ronaldo and Rooney, who have reconciled with each other after a long talk; Van Nistelrooy, who joined Real Madrid to accompany Beckham; Ferguson, who didn't invest much in the summer transfer, but seemed to be in a particularly good mood...But Beckham, who Carl thought would appear at the awards ceremony, was not coming.

"David had some business activities to attend, but he couldn't make it in time, so he didn't come." In front of everyone, Fanny said to Carl.

But once the lottery ceremony started and the lights in the hall dimmed, Ruud secretly revealed the secret to Karl: "It's not that he didn't want to come, it's that the head coach didn't want him to come."

"Capello doesn't like him?" Karl glanced at a corner in the hall.

Fabio Capello, the former Juventus coach, after Real Madrid's new chairman Roman Calderon took office in July this year, he quickly dug him from the relegated Bianconeri and became the new helm of the Galacticos.The Madrid media recently broke the news that the relationship between Capello and Beckham was "very cold". But there is no Beckham's name, and in the few friendly games of Real Madrid in early August, he did not arrange the heartthrob to start. It seems that Beckham will not be reused under him.

"It doesn't have much to do with the coach, it's because of the chairman Calderon." Ruud van Nistelrooy said in a low voice, "David and the club's contract extension have not been negotiated. Today I heard from others that David didn't start the recent warm-up match. , because Calderon ordered Capello to 'snub out' David."

"The rich team is full of things." Karl sighed.

Before the lottery ceremony, Carl had brief conversations with Ferguson and Mourinho respectively. The latter two said to her solemnly: "I heard that you have a lot of income recently. If we are assigned to a group, you Don’t forget to bring gifts when you go back to China.” Carl’s response at the time was to joke: “In order not to break the bank, I still don’t want to share with you.”

But then, this joke turned out to be true: Munich 1860 was not in the same group as Manchester United or Chelsea, but their opponents were worse. The other three teams in Group E where the Lions are in are From Real Madrid in La Liga, Lyon in Ligue [-] and Dynamo Kiev in the Ukrainian Premier League.

Because there is no live broadcast signal and the star flavor is not strong, Ligue [-] has not received much attention in the Far East. Many people think that Ligue [-] is not good enough, but in fact Ligue [-] is one of the five top leagues. Where are you going?Ligue [-] can often occupy a large page in European football news, and Ligue [-] has a particularly strong influence in Africa. Many African players choose France as the first stop to play abroad.

Lyon is one of the most powerful giants in Ligue 01. Since the beginning of this century, they have had an extremely terrifying record. Although they have never made a breakthrough in the European battlefield, they have won the French Ligue 02 for five consecutive years since the [-]-[-] season. This summer, not only did not lose an important player, but also introduced a lot of strong support.

Needless to say, Real Madrid is the "best club of the 20th century". Even Dynamo Kiev Football Club, which sounds the most unknown, is also a super team in the former Soviet Union and Ukraine. Shevchenko came from here.

When Munich 1860 participated in the UEFA Champions League for the first time, it landed in the death group. Looking at the grouping of Bayern and Hamburg, who also came from the Bundesliga, Karl thought his luck was really "good".

……

The draw ceremony for the UEFA Champions League group stage, Beckham sat at his home in Madrid and watched the whole process live on TV.

When the live broadcast camera frequently cut to Real Madrid's seats, Beckham couldn't help but fell into a sense of loss and trouble.

He has no doubt that in the team's main lineup for the new season that Capello conceived, he may not be named on the list.

He has been sitting on the bench in the recent warm-up matches of Real Madrid. Because of this, many Madrid media are shouting, "Beckham was rejected by Capello!" But in fact, some players in the locker room Everyone knows the truth: Real Madrid snubbed Beckham, the main responsibility is not the team coach, but the club chairman.

Beckham, Ronaldo (Ronaldo), and Zidane were introduced by former Real Madrid chairman Florentino. At the beginning of this year, because of the poor record of the team, Florentino brought his "superstar policy" Together they resigned, and after months of turmoil, it was Romain Calderon who finally secured the Real Madrid presidency in July this year.

Calderon came to power with two slogans, one is "Returning Real Madrid's golden dollar football to football", and the other is a promise to the board of directors that "the new generation of superstars such as Robben, Kaka, Fabregas and so on will be introduced to the Bernabeu. "And these two slogans are all contrary to Florentino's policy.

As the legacy of the former chairman, Beckham did not like Calderon at all, not to mention a Real Madrid fan opinion survey in July showed that "7% of Real Madrid fans want the club to sell Beckham", but due to "want "Fantasy" has huge commercial value for Real Madrid (half of all the jerseys sold by Real Madrid around the world are Beckham's numbers), so Calderon has been swinging between selling and not selling.

Under the lure of commercial interests, Calderon first tended to renew his contract with Beckham.

So in early July, Real Madrid offered Beckham a contract. In the contract, the club will renew the contract with Beckham until the summer of 7, with the annual salary unchanged.

Beckham originally wanted to renew his contract with Real Madrid until 09, but he had his own requirements, that is, to take back all portrait rights and make the team promise that he will retain the main position.

But this harsh condition is unbearable for Real Madrid. They chose to renew the contract with Beckham purely for the commercial value of the other party. They want to take back all the portrait rights. Is this a joke?What's more, Real Madrid has no shortage of superstars who can play football. In Capello's plan for the new season, there is no place for Beckham.

The renewal of the contract is so deadlocked.

Ballack's contract with Bayern Munich expired in the summer, and he chose to transfer to Chelsea for free, which reminded Real Madrid that according to the Bosman Act, if a player expires with the club's contract in the next summer, he can be transferred to Chelsea in the coming year. I contacted the new owner myself in January.This is undoubtedly what Ballack did. His free transfer left Bayern with nothing, and no matter how you look at it now, Beckham, who has only half a year left in his contract with Real Madrid, is following the old path of Ballack!

Seeing that the contract extension was not possible, Real Madrid let other clubs make offers, and prepared to sell Beckham for a good price.

There are many clubs that have heard the news, from other teams in La Liga, to Serie A, Ligue [-], and the Premier League, all of them.

Real Madrid picked the teams with the highest bids, agreed to their transfer applications, and let them negotiate the contract with Beckham themselves.

But when these teams came to the door, they were all rejected by Beckham.

Because these teams, like Real Madrid, are not for Beckham, but for his commercial value.All they said was good treatment and high annual salary, but they wanted to share at least half of Beckham's portrait rights and didn't give him the main position.

With the same contract, Beckham even refused Real Madrid's contract extension, wouldn't he refuse other teams?

So his next home has never been found, and he is still in such a stalemate with Real Madrid.

Calderon once asked Beckham: "You don't like any of the giants, even the teams that offer you a higher annual salary than now. What kind of club are you looking for?"

Beckham's answer at the time was: "I don't care about the annual salary, but I want all my portrait rights and be able to play the main position in the team."

This is Beckham's true inner thoughts.He is 31 years old this year, and his career has entered the middle and late stages, which is why all the giants who want to buy him don't want to give him the main position. They are worried that he will drag the team back.But Beckham himself knows very well that he is very serious in training and desperate in games, and his competitive state is still at its peak. He can definitely play a few more years in high-level professional leagues, instead of entering the retirement age from now on. Expect.

Calderon sneered and said, "Many middle and lower teams in various leagues are happy to meet your request, but are you willing to go?" No one will let go of Beckham's portrait right in any big club. Fat, Calderon thought.

This is true.Some small and medium-sized teams—the kind that will never touch the top three in the standings and will never play in European competitions—have approached Beckham, but to be honest, if possible, Beckham would like to play in European competitions , He didn't want to fight for relegation as soon as he went to his new club.

Seeing that Beckham was silent, and the transfer and contract renewal were endlessly dragging down, Calderon became anxious.He didn't want to end up with Beckham's contract expiring, turning around and leaving, leaving the Real Madrid Club penniless. That's why the transfer window was about to close at the end of August. Now that the new season is coming, he has made a big move for Beckham: Either renew with the club. Make an appointment, or hurry up and find another home to let me earn some transfer fees, or I will keep you banned throughout the season.

Real Madrid wants to kill the fish and break the net, and both sides will suffer.

But why is Beckham not trapped in the siege?

Even at the age of 31, he still wants to find a path that balances competitive football and business development, instead of being forced to choose one or the other.

But the point is, can he find that way?

The author has something to say:

PS: In the real 06-07 season, Beckham played 16 rounds in the league and only got two starting opportunities, and in the only two starts, Capello did not let him play the whole game once. , in the Champions League as well.Before Capello entered Real Madrid, Beckham played more than 30 league games in Madrid's three seasons.

But I don't think it's Capello's fault. Most of the time, Real Madrid's chairman keeps his word, and when Beckham broke the news that he would transfer to Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of the season in early 07, Calderon once yelled at the media. At that time, some news revealed that it was Calderon's intention to block Beckham. (If the facts stated in the article are contradicted by the facts you know, it will be considered that I have emptied a little reality for the plot.