The Young Lion

On the evening of May 18, 1997, the Millwall Club, which won the Triple Crown, held a bus parade in East London to celebrate. Millwall fans gathered on both sides of the road and cheered enthusiastically.

Players in suits and leather shoes feel the glory brought by the championship. For them, the season is over, and the celebration at this time is part of enjoying life.

But for another main character who didn't make an appearance, the work continued.

Aldrich lives in an apartment in the Millwall Club community.

Ronaldinho, with tissues stuffed in his nostrils, sat cross-legged on the sofa with half a watermelon in his arms, scooped out the flesh of the watermelon with a spoon and delivered it to his mouth, staring intently at the football news on TV.

This afternoon, compared to the sensation of Millwall celebrating the Triple Crown, another piece of news in the English football circle became the focus.

Cantona, the king of Old Trafford, officially announced his retirement this afternoon!

The football superstar, who was about to turn 31 in a week, unexpectedly chose to bid farewell to the green field at this time, which not only caused an uproar on Fleet Street, but also shocked the Manchester United dressing room and all Manchester United fans.

Aldridge came down the stairs, followed by two young men in overalls carrying a malfunctioning treadmill.

We will take this treadmill back for inspection. If it is due to quality reasons, we will replace it with a new one for you.

After the two boys finished speaking, they carried the treadmill and left Aldridge's apartment.

Aldridge closed the door and came back and complained to Ronaldinho: You are not heavy, why did you break my treadmill? After all, the team is on holiday. You don't go to celebrate with the first team If you want to exercise by yourself, just go to the youth training base.

Ronaldinho said without turning his head: The distance is a bit long, and I don't know if there is anyone there. Boss, your treadmill is too fragile. I ran for three minutes, but the machine stopped suddenly. It made me hit the wall directly, and now my nose still hurts.

Aldridge patted his forehead a little helplessly. Ronaldinho suddenly turned around, pointed to the TV and said, They say Cantona is a superstar, why do I feel that he is not good at all? He played in England for six and a half years, and the goals he scored are not as good as Henry's. Rick was at Millwall for over three years.

Aldridge scratched his head and was silent for a moment, then said: Because you can't just regard him as a striker, he is not only the core player of Manchester United, but also the spiritual leader of Manchester United. The impact on team morale,

Uh. This invisible effect is difficult to discover through data. Why is he a superstar? Because he is not only a star himself. It can also help teammates become stars.

For a superstar like Cantona, scoring efficiency cannot reflect his value. The value of this kind of player in the team is more intuitively reflected: whether he is on the court or not, the team's record fluctuates.

There are also such players in the Millwall team. Nedved is one. His fighting spirit infects his teammates, makes them not give up in adversity, and gives others the belief in tenacious fighting. This invisible spirit is the most valuable.

Therefore, there are not many stars in the history of Manchester United who scored more goals and more efficiently than Cantona, and there are also a lot of players who have played longer. In terms of status, the King of Old Trafford is not in vain.

Ronaldinho put down the watermelon in his arms, stood up and stretched himself. He could understand the literal meaning of what Aldridge said, but he didn't understand the meaning.

What is not only being a star yourself, but also helping your teammates become stars?

Ronaldinho didn't think too much about it, it wasn't something he should worry about, it was just a random question just now.

He picked up the travel bag he put on the other side of the sofa, waved to Aldrich, Boss, I'm leaving, don't think about me.

Aldridge gave him a thumbs up and encouraged him: Go to the national team and perform well.

Ronaldinho walked out of the gate, waved his hands without looking back, and said, Don't worry, I won't embarrass Millwall.

Aldridge laughed dumbfounded, ashamed? To lose is to lose Brazil's face.

Ronaldinho was called up by the Brazilian national team to participate in the World Junior Championships held in the summer.

There will be World Youth Championships in the summer, and Aldridge’s colleagues are all ready to watch the games and search for good seedlings, but he doesn’t plan to watch the games because it’s too far away. One will be held in Africa, and the other will be held in Asia. Even the Confederations Cup is being held in Saudi Arabia, and Aldrich's plan for this summer is to play in Europe.

Going back to the gym to tidy up, especially the nosebleeds sprayed by Ronaldinho on the wall. Aldrich spent a long time cleaning it up. When it was time for dinner, he went downstairs to open the refrigerator and searched around. Reluctantly closing the refrigerator door, he sighed dumbfoundedly: Xiao Luo, you thief!

The fruit juice squeezed at noon was kept in the refrigerator, but when I was about to enjoy it, I found that the juice bottle had disappeared.

Ronaldinho, who threw the juice bottle into the trash can at the airport, sneezed, and then started to board the plane with his travel bag, still thinking in his heart: the juice prepared by the boss is really delicious, come back and go Taste at his home.

Aldridge rested at home for two days before quickly getting back to work.

Although the door to the transfer market has not yet opened, as long as the club has no personnel changes, it has already started intensive recruitment work.

Following Millwall's glorious triple crown last season, the official website will update a player's contract renewal news every day, which is a means of publicity to keep the team in the news.

In fact, the contracts of the players in the team have been renewed. Some players have five-year long contracts, such as Southgate, Larson, Nedved, Schneider and other players, and some players have three to four years. A one-year contract, as for a two-year contract, some players wanted to sign it like this, such as Shevchenko, but Aldridge directly refused, and after negotiations, the contract period was set at three years.

The two-year contract has almost no binding force. After one year, the player becomes a semi-free agent. Aldridge will never wait for the remaining year of the player's contract before considering renewing or selling him. It will be sold early and the contract must be renewed. Guarantee the security of the contract for at least two years. Because he sees the big picture. Looking at the construction of the team in the next five years.

If a player proposes to renew his contract for less than three years, and his attitude is firm, Aldridge will immediately think about the player's replacement.

The authority of the head coach must be above the players, but the players are the role of the head coach to achieve the goal. From this point of view, the players are actually above the head coach.

The Millwall club was singing and dancing, but Aldrich could only hide his worries about the future construction and the current situation in his heart. For example, he is already thinking about future replacements for Trezeguet and Shevchenko.

Trezeguet is full of ambitions. When he renewed his contract in the summer, he hesitated. The same is true for Shevchenko. When Aldridge introduced him, Shevchenko expressed that the league he wanted to land in was Serie A. .

In this era, the best players gather in Italy, and the attraction of Serie A is difficult to shake in a short period of time. This has nothing to do with Millwall's strength. It's league influence.

In contrast, Larson happily signed his name on a five-year long contract. The 26-year-old Swede is not without dreams, but he is more mature. He understands the strength of the team better than the fledgling rookie. His scoring rate in the Netherlands was only average, but when he came to Millwall, he scored goals. Efficiency has taken a big leap, and he started the peak of his career this season. He knows that being in an excellent team that suits him is far more beneficial than rushing to the giants.

Stam moved away, Millwall received 15 million pounds, and the other players who are sure to leave in the summer are two, also two strikers, Phillips and Tony.

For the transfer of Phillips, Aldridge reached an agreement with Peter Reed by phone on the night of his FA Cup win on the 17th.

Although Sunderland has been relegated, Reed's coaching position is still very stable, so he has plenty of room to rebuild the team.

Sunderland is not the only team interested in Phillips, there are many higher bids than Sunderland.

However, Aldridge eventually persuaded Phillips to join Sunderland.

And explained the reasons to him, Sunderland will use him as the core of tactics to build the team, his status is guaranteed, and secondly, it is no problem to play in the Premier League with his strength, but because he is not the main force in Millwall, this season He played less games, first went to League One to integrate into the team, Sunderland will give him time, and other Premier League teams may not have the same patience, although their bids are higher than Sunderland, but the emphasis is completely different .

In the end, Phillips joined Sunderland for £3 million.

Tony is on loan to Martin O'Neill's Leicester City team. This deal was announced early, allowing Tony to report to Leicester City in the summer.

At this point, Martin O'Neill appreciates Aldridge very much. Either he does not make a deal, and since he does, he will have a good time.

The head coaches are most disgusted by the procrastinated transactions in the summer, which not only affects the preparations for the game, but also makes people feel irritable: whether the players will come or not!

At the end of May, Aldridge listened to the management's financial report for last season in the club.

Millwall's income from the Triple Crown last season increased significantly, but because of the small size of the stadium, the income from tickets was a weakness. Fortunately, the income from broadcasting and bonuses made their financial situation much better than last summer. Tamm and Phillips earned £18 million, directly bringing their season income to more than £50 million.

But compared to the same period last season, Manchester United's operating income last season was the highest in the world, with an operating income of nearly 60 million pounds.

And this does not count the income and expenditure of the transfer market.

In terms of management alone, even if Millwall won the Triple Crown and Manchester United had no income, their income was less than half of Manchester United's!

In the new season, Millwall's income will be more, because they have ensured the Champions League qualification, and the Premier League will have a new broadcast contract to take effect.

The last broadcast contract was £191 million over five years.

The new contract that started in the summer of 1997 is 670 million pounds for 4 years.

On average, each club has an income of more than 8 million pounds per season, while Millwall can obtain a broadcast share second only to Manchester United due to its record, team influence and live broadcast sessions. The reason why Manchester United earns more than Millwall, That is, Manchester United has more fans and is superior in influence. In the other two items, record and live broadcasts, Millwall is not behind at all.

In Aldrich's view, the team's most difficult financial moment has passed, and then he will have no problem living a stable life except that he can't bring in big stars in the transfer market.

There are many reasons why he cannot introduce stars. The transfer fee is only one aspect, and wages are also one of the costs. For example, to buy a first-class star, the transfer fee may be between 5 million and 10 million pounds. This is a one-time payment. , but what about wages? According to the highest weekly salary in the Millwall team of 25,000 pounds, only three players can get this salary, then the imported stars are ranked second, with a weekly salary of 20,000 pounds. If they sign for five years, during these five years, Just the salary needs to be paid more than 5 million, and if the bonus is included, it may exceed 6.5 million.

Aldridge believes that instead of spending more than 10 million pounds on first-class stars, and there is no guarantee that the stars will be able to play their worth when they come to the team, he would rather invest this money in youth training and spend it on the cost of training stars.

This summer, the club's transfer budget is 15 million pounds, and Aldridge intends to spend all of it on youth training, and his European network talent journey kicked off. (To be continued..) (m)