The Young Lion

In this country where even the prime minister and the queen will ask about football, whether you are a high-ranking dignitary or a peddler, football is an indispensable topic for various occasions.

Bishop knows that Aldridge is the owner and head coach of Millwall, and there is no contempt in his eyes. In the past decades or even hundreds of years in English football, football has always been closely related to the entire nation. This sport is integrated into the nation. Therefore, Charlton led his teammates to shed blood and tears in the Champions Cup and shouted that every teammate who died in the Munich air disaster can move the world, and tragedies such as the Heysel tragedy can also shake the entire country. Even Gascoigne's tears in Italy will touch every Englishman.

Bishop and Aldridge chatted about football, especially some of his doubts about the future development of the Premier League.

In fact, long before the establishment of the Premier League, the Premier League had the right to name the league. Barclays Bank had the intention of naming the league, but in the end it was won by Carling Beer. Competition is not an issue at all.

It’s just that it can be said that it was a period of social transformation in Britain. The iron lady Margaret Thatcher had just stepped down. English football had not yet escaped the shadow of the Hillsborough tragedy. The best players would go to Italy. Even the fans had a saying : After death, the soul will fly to Italy, so that you can see the best players in the world and the most exciting games.

The Barclays Bank consortium was only concerned about the future trend of the Premier League, whether it would continue to slump or be able to recover, hesitated, and withdrew from the competition to name the Premier League.

In the past few years, England, which has just returned to the European arena, obviously has a huge gap with the top European teams. English football is paying the price for its isolation from the European arena in the late 1980s.

Liverpool, which was eliminated in the qualifiers, was no match for the Portuguese giants Benfica's Arsenal, Leeds United, which was blocked from the group stage by Glasgow Rangers, and Manchester United, which was eliminated by Galatasaray last season. The Nordic team Gothenburg took the top spot in the group, and then was squeezed out by Barcelona, ​​and once again failed to advance to the defending Premier League champions Manchester United in the second half of the competition.

It has been five years since England returned to the Champions League, but they have not been able to appear in the quarter-finals once.

When talking about the future development of the Premier League, Aldridge talked eloquently, and chatted with Bishop about the development model of the Premier League, especially the fact that English football is becoming more European, the number of foreign aid has increased significantly, the club’s market-oriented management, especially the establishment of the Premier League Later, he became financially rich through huge income from broadcasting.

On the contrary, even though the Italian league is now the well-deserved first league, the disadvantages of the Italian league will also hinder the development of the league. The transfer restrictions on non-European places bear the brunt of the brunt, and the club's family management mode closes foreign investment. These are potential risk factors. In order to win by all means, there are many stars in the Italian league, but there is also a brutal and rough development trend. People often see wonderful and smooth offenses ending in rough fouls. Let alone ten years later, in the mid-to-late 1990s, On the injury list of the Serie A league, there is a long list of well-known stars, but fans obviously want to see them speeding around the stadium rather than recuperating in Italy.

If the teams representing the Premier League cannot achieve good results in the European arena, then the eyes of the world, or the eyes of Europe, will not focus on England. In this case, the value of the Premier League is only at home. The risk of sponsoring this event It is not directly proportional to the income.

Bishop’s words made Aldridge nod, and he replied: “Yes, England, as a big football country, has a huge influence, like some small European countries, even if their teams have achieved great success in the Champions League,

But it is also difficult to achieve great development, because the soil of local football determines the limit of achievement. On the contrary, once traditional European powers such as Britain, Italy, West Germany and France can achieve sustained success in the European arena, it will have a huge effect, especially in football. In the modern era where the speed of media communication is increasing rapidly, the attention of Italian football proves this point. If the Premier League team can also create such an effect, the effect that the Premier League can create will be greater than that of Italy. The reason we have just talked about .

Aldridge talked eloquently, and at the end of the chat, Bishop said solemnly: I have talked about a cooperation with Barnett. Barclays Bank intends to sponsor a Premier League team. I heard that Millwall is playing in League One this season. The momentum is good, if Millwall can qualify for the Premier League next season, we are willing to be the team's chest advertising sponsor, what do you think?

Aldrich was very surprised.

Barclays wants to sponsor Premier League teams?

Sponsor whoever you want, but never subjectively pick Millwall.

Millwall is a notorious hooligan team!

Even though the team has undergone earth-shaking changes this season, the past impressions will not change qualitatively overnight.

Reflecting on Bisharp's words, Aldrich suddenly realized that this was probably just a friendly cooperation between Barclays Bank and the Hall family. Allies are indispensable in the consortium's Europeanization and even globalization strategies, and the Hall family's rise to London , but it is a well-known international capital. Barnett's entry into North America and investment in Southeast Asia have received good returns. It is not unreasonable for the Hall family, which has a local account in the UK, to be favored by Barclays Bank.

Aldrich smiled and asked, Sponsorship fee?

Three years, one million pounds a year.

No, one signing per year. You can sign one million pounds this summer, or 800,000 pounds. By next summer, if you want to continue to sponsor, the sponsorship fee will be discussed separately.

As far as Millwall's reputation and chest advertising sponsors are concerned, it is not too little to give Aldrich £500,000 a year. Now there are only a handful of teams in the Premier League that can sponsor millions of pounds.

Bishop smiled slightly and said, Okay, if Millwall plays in the Premier League next season and we sponsor £1 million in the summer, can I ask why? Why don't they sign for three years?

It's very simple. I have confidence in my team. Our commercial value will grow rapidly in the future. If we sign for three years at a time, Millwall will suffer. As you said, the Premier League team that can set foot on the European stage, The economic benefits are enormous.

Hehehe, you are always so confident like your brother, which is admirable.

Aldridge and Bishop formally shook hands and ended the conversation happily.

Just as he watched Bishop leave, Barnett brought another person to Aldridge.

Aldrich, this is Mr. Worm-Heisenberg, he is the marketing director of Puma Germany, Andrew introduced him to come here to discuss with you the jersey sponsorship contract for next season, you guys talk about this, I don't bother.

Barnett smiled and introduced Heisenberg to Aldridge and then left.

Aldrich shook hands with the handsome German man, nodded and smiled, and said, Nice to meet you.

Worm-Heisenberg chatted with Aldrich calmly. After some polite words, Heisenberg went straight to the point and proposed an annual sponsorship fee of 800,000 pounds to become Millwall's exclusive jersey sponsor. for five years.

Aldridge rebuffed: Impossible! I know that no sponsor would be willing to invest a large amount of money in Millwall now, but I refuse to sell Millwall's future interests, Mr. Heisenberg, my proposal is This way: the contract is signed once a year, and we can sign a contract of 800,000 in the summer. Next summer, we will discuss it separately. Loss, isn't it?

Heisenberg seemed a little displeased. He felt that a small shop in a small village like Millwall should be happy to welcome them when they are sponsored by a big company like them.

Aldridge said nonchalantly: Mr. Heisenberg, do you know how many times Millwall's jersey sales this season were last year's? I can tell you frankly: 13 times! Why? Because there are many fans in my team Stars in their eyes, they quickly became the biggest stars in the game, I think, if you didn't have your eyes on Schneider, you wouldn't pay attention to Millwall, right?

Heisenberg nodded helplessly.

Schneider from Germany has grown rapidly and has a good star quality. After contacting his agent Andrew, Andrew recommended him to discuss the team's jersey sponsorship contract with Aldridge, claiming that this would be a win-win cooperation. .

There are many players from different countries in my team. They have great potential. They will become the main members of the national teams of various countries in the future, and they will even shine in the most dazzling World Cup. Dreaming, it doesn't matter, even if we can't talk today, I don't care, but I am a person who pays attention to human relations. Today we can lay a good foundation for cooperation. In the future, even if your company has competitors, I will choose friends first under the same conditions.

Worm-Heisenberg was still a little hesitant, he could only say and think about it.

Aldrich saw off the guest with a smile.