The Young Lion

Knowing Roman was an accident. About a year ago, I had two friends in the United States who were trapped in Russia. I searched for ways to rescue them and learned that there was a figure like Roman in the Kremlin. As expected, he extended a helping hand without asking for anything in return. Later, when I learned about his wealth, I realized that a person like him should not care about material rewards. Through that incident, we became friends. Although we have no business relationship, we really do. became private partners, and our two families spent Christmas together, in Dubai.

On the rooftop of the old castle, the two brothers smoked and chatted against the edge of the fence, and Barnett broke the idea of ​​letting Aldridge quit the football industry.

After listening to his words, Aldrich thought about it carefully.

A little over a year ago, Russia was at the beginning of a period of change.

When Putin first came to power, there will definitely be chaos, but what follows is the revival of Russia, which is the beginning of the ten-year Putin ZTE.

It is expected that Barnett's two friends should be Americans and businessmen. Given Putin's thunderous economic measures after he came to power, maybe these two Americans have some shady deals in Russia.

Although the United States and Russia were the leaders of the Cold War camp back then, the exchanges between the two sides, especially the United States' attitude towards Russia, are by no means indifferent.

We must know that the failure of Russia's privatization before Putin came to power led to the oligarchs' control of the country's economic lifeline. International companies like the United States, where the public holds shares, turned out to allow oligarchs to take advantage of loopholes. In turn, the people became miserable and complained. Great chaos needs great governance. The rise of the strongman Putin is the prelude to a new era for Russia.

Those two American businessmen must have had bad luck, and they encountered Putin's rectification stage, which was about to scare the chickens and monkeys. Unexpectedly, by chance, Barnett and Abramovich formed a friendship.

Do you understand the political situation over there in Russia?.

Barnett gasped, and asked leisurely.

Aldrich nodded, then shook his head again.

He should understand the general situation. But I am not interested in paying attention to the specific content, even though a lot of information can be known by watching TV, because Western media is highly free and open, although it is not without secrets.

At this stage, Putin focuses on suppressing oligarchs and caters to the people’s mentality of killing the rich and helping the poor. The Russian people’s hatred of the rich is very serious. Even though Putin has been described by the international media as a tyrant, the Russian people still feel that Putin is soft-hearted to the oligarchs.

Berezovsky is the nobleman that Roman hits. Without him, there would be no Roman today, but last year Berezovsky came to the UK for asylum, which made Roman feel a deep sense of crisis.

Barnett's words made Aldrich couldn't help curling his lips and said: Retribution!

What is an oligarch?

To put it bluntly, it means embezzling the property of the people of the country and taking the wealth belonging to the people into their own pockets.

Berezovsky is like this, and so is Abramovich.

If he was a Chelsea fan in his previous life, he must like Abramovich, and there is no reason to hate him, because without Abramovich, Chelsea would be finished. As for the negative impact of Abramovich's involvement in the team, as a fan, he must understand and accept it, because compared to the club Bankruptcy and liquidation, falling into the abyss like Leeds United, Chelsea's fortunes could not be better.

But as an ordinary person, Aldrich couldn't like Abramovich, because you wouldn't want to have such an oligarch who robbed the interests of the public and got rich by your side.

Berezovsky came to the UK for asylum last year. The news reported it for a while. Aldridge knew that this kind of asylum was miserable. To put it bluntly, he spent his old age in a comfortable cell. Berezovsky lived in seclusion in England. What are you afraid of? Of course, it is because Putin is afraid that Putin will send agents abroad to catch wanted criminals around the world. Is it like a movie plot? No, this is what happens in reality.

Abramovich is now a celebrity in the Kremlin, but it doesn’t mean he will always be in the future. He has a sense of crisis, which is normal. Oligarchs with similar backgrounds have fallen one by one. He is really a companion to Putin. Companion Tiger.

One day, Roman asked me, what can create the most influence and attention in the UK? I took it for granted: football. This made him very interested. In fact, I know that he is not a fan himself. The key point is influence and attention. Spend.

Aldrich nodded in agreement.

For example, Abramovich fell in love with football after watching a game, flew over the Thames and landed at Stamford Bridge, such a good story, you can listen to it, but don't take it seriously.

Not to mention how big his investment is, just because of his sensitive identity and his love of football, he came to the UK to spend a lot of money?

He has started to buy football clubs in Russia, but he found that he invested in football clubs in Eastern Europe, and he has no influence at all, so he wanted to come to the UK to have a look. It happened that my brother had a team called Millwall, It is the most watched team in the world. Although it is a bit expensive, as long as you are willing to sell it, he will definitely buy it. The sensational nature of this deal alone may bring him unparalleled attention and influence.

Aldrich recalled it carefully. If I remember correctly, Abramovich should also be the owner of CSKA Moscow. After the acquisition of Chelsea, he changed from the open to the dark. Otherwise, UEFA will not not intervene, but it will become a sponsor instead of a clear face later. on the owner.

Abramovich needs attention and influence. Investing in football can bring these things, but investing in football in Moscow basically has no effect. The first is the football market environment, the second is news dissemination, and the third is the attraction of the team itself Even if he spends 1 billion in Moscow, it is useless. The competitiveness of the Russian football league itself is there. The overall does not improve. The development of a super giant has limitations. Even a mainstream league like the Bundesliga, Bayern When the Munich family dominated, the media only joked that it was just a rooster that ate the bugs one by one.

First of all, the United Kingdom is not as tit-for-tat as the United States and Russia in terms of political environment. Secondly, the United Kingdom is the European news center. Finally, the influence of British football is far ahead of football in other countries on the basis of dissemination. This is not equal to football strength. .

As for Aldridge, if the base price is 800 million pounds and asks for 1 billion pounds, will Abramovich buy it?

Aldrich felt that there was a 70% probability that the other party would buy.

Think how much he paid for Chelsea? 150 million acquisition, plus 80 million debt repayment, this is 230 million pounds. At that time, Chelsea's commercial value was negligible, and the strength of the team lineup was also very limited. In addition, the stadium value, business chain, and team hardware construction, including In all aspects of youth training and training base, Millwall has everything ready-made, and it is at the best level. More importantly, Millwall has a basket of champions, Chelsea? It was almost half a century ago to win the league championship. The invisible influence, one is the sky, the other is the earth. Selling for 1 billion pounds, Aldridge thinks it is cheap.

But the outside world estimates that Millwall is not worth 600 million pounds.

This valuation is not a good value unless it is offered by the club owner, because the reality is simple: give you £600m, can you build a Millwall like it is now? Not to mention the team's honors over the years, just the new stadium and the lineup, it is estimated that the 600 million pounds will not be able to do it!

Hehe, he wants to be a free and easy rich man. Indeed, here, anything related to football can become news, and it will last for a long time.

Aldridge flicked the ashes, casually said that he was like the old pervert Edwards, the owner of Manchester United. He went to the women's bathroom in disguise to peep and was caught. This will become news for a long time. Talented people can create extraordinary topics and influence.

Barnett just smiled and said nothing more.

Putin's sanction of oligarchs, in addition to raising power and appeasing the people, has another fatal factor. The oligarchs are trying to unite to influence the political situation in Russia. This is a dead end.

Abramovich broke with the oligarchy and stood on Putin's side, but he also had to be prepared for danger in times of peace. He came to the UK to make himself a celebrity, and at the same time sent a signal to Russia: I am not interested in politics, I am more interested in football , I am no threat to anyone!

No matter what Abramovich thinks, Aldridge has no idea to sell the club anyway.

He even thought that one day he would be old and have nothing to do, just like Arthur, appearing in the stands of Millwall games every week as usual, as a regular activity of daily life.

Although he can sell the club, he can do the same, but he always feels that he will lose a very important feeling, which should be an emotional connection deep in his heart.

Aldridge, Roman just needs influence and attention. He has no intention of being hostile to anyone. If, if one day he still comes to the UK, for example, he bought Manchester United, then please don't regard him as an enemy. , help him as much as possible, he helped me after all.”

Before leaving, Barnett said to Aldridge earnestly.

Aldridge said: He just needs influence? Then, I can help him. In front of the media, if he is a person in the football circle, I will list him as an enemy, which will bring him influence. I scold him. Just a few words from him, and he'll be on the headlines for a week.

Barnett was stunned when he heard the words, and then smiled wryly: Whatever you want, you have more experience than me in this area, you deal with the media every day, anyway, I don't think the football circle can form much hatred, verbal confrontation is not worth it Mention.

In his eyes, only money and interests can form a deadly hatred. In the football circle, where the sun rises in the east and rains in the west, how can there be any endless hatred?

So what if it was a blood feud like West Ham United and Millwall?

Can West Ham hinder Millwall's run? Could Millwall in turn kill West Ham?

No, there is only competition in the football circle, and there is no real life-and-death struggle.

Aldridge drove home and quickly forgot about the meeting with Abramovich. (to be continued...) ()