Chapter 435 Swallowing Manchester United
In Highbury Stadium, the Arsenal team song "HotStuff" rang through the sky.
The red background and the Arsenal team emblem and flag embroidered with artillery filled the entire venue. The Manchester United fans on the opposite side were not to be outdone, waving Manchester United flags to show their presence.
Today is Manchester United's away game against Arsenal. The feud between the two giants has always been one of the most exciting things to watch in the Premier League.
In addition to these, this game is also related to the ownership of the championship in the 2002~03 season.
Therefore, the entire Highbury Stadium was almost filled with fans from both sides, and the broadcasting media also sat in a large row around the stadium. In addition to the British media, almost all European media, and even the world's media, broadcast this Premier League focus game.
Xu Liang, who was in London, was also attracted by this heated showdown.
But he was not in the stands, but in the VIP box at Highbury.
Beside him is Manchester United CEO Peter Kenyon.
Looking at the tall young man standing in front, overlooking the court, Peter Kenyon had a complicated expression.
Hanhua has announced through the media that they have successfully reached an acquisition agreement with Magnier and McManus, and will acquire 28.7% of Manchester United's shares from the two for 129 million pounds.
Coupled with the previous acquisition of Scot Dobson 6.45%.
Hanhua's shareholding in Manchester United has reached 76.85%, and he has obtained complete control of Manchester United.
Has the power of life and death over every aspect of Manchester United.
So even if Peter Kenyon dislikes him, he must bow before Xu Liang.
Looking at the Manchester United players on the court, Xu Liang's eyes became wandering.
After thoroughly understanding Manchester United, he also obtained detailed information about Manchester United.
It must be said that as the richest man in the Premier League, Manchester United has unrivaled profitability.
Throughout 2002, Manchester United's net revenue was 153 million pounds and its operating profit reached 35.78 million pounds, the highest among all clubs in the Premier League.
And the net profit was also 15.89 million pounds.
While other clubs were struggling and struggling, Manchester United was not only able to spend a lot of money on stars, it was also profitable. Peter Kenyon and Ferguson made huge contributions.
The former ensures Manchester United's commercial operation capabilities.
The latter guaranteed Manchester United's results.
The two complement each other and make Manchester United stronger and stronger.
Among them, advertising sponsorship is particularly generous.
It’s just a chest advertisement, and the telecom giant Vodafone paid 30 million pounds for six years of sponsorship.
There are 17 other advertising sponsors, large and small.
In just advertising sponsorship, Manchester United can get nearly 25 million pounds a year.
In comparison, the advertising sponsorship fees of Liverpool and Arsenal, which are also giants, are only half of Manchester United.
Moreover, Manchester United’s advertising sponsorship is still increasing.
Next is the broadcast share.
In the Premier League, each club receives £13.7 million from domestic television broadcasts and £18.7 million from overseas rights. There are also "ranking awards" and "broadcast awards".
The "Ranking Award" is an additional 756,000 for every one position you move up in the Premier League standings.
The "Broadcast Award" means that if a game is broadcast live by the copyright owner, the team will receive 582,000 yuan in income. Even if the team is broadcast less than 10 games in a single season, it will still receive a guaranteed 5.82 million yuan. pound.
Manchester United’s income from broadcasting is close to 40 million pounds.
In addition to broadcasting shares, there is also a global tour.
Manchester United is the football club with the most fans in the world, with approximately 354 million people around the world being fans of Manchester United.
The appearance fee for each game of Manchester United's commercial tour is around 500,000 euros. After 6 games, Manchester United's appearance fee alone is 3 million euros.
And that's not all.
There are also ticket sales and sponsorship fees from sponsors.
In 1999, when the Triple Crown champions Manchester United came to China to play against Shenhua, the appearance fee was only US$350,000, but the 80,000-person stadium in Shanghai was packed and the ticket revenue reached 20 million yuan.
It’s a total profit.
Other income includes distribution and licensing of sports equipment, such as jerseys.
Manchester United can sell 1.4 million jerseys a year, and the share of this alone exceeds 10 million pounds.
Another major source of revenue for Manchester United is new media and mobile business. Manchester United through its official website
Fans can apply for credit cards, apply for bank mortgages, apply for insurance for their cars and travel and even buy real estate through Manchester United's website.
In addition, the club also has its own television station - "Manchester United Television" (MUTV).
Fans can buy almost everything in the fan shop, from baby clothes to wallpaper, all products without exception bear the Manchester United logo.
Coupled with ticket revenue on match days, it forms the main body of Manchester United's revenue.
The revenue is high and the expenses are not inferior.
Not to mention anything else, the player salary alone is as high as 85 million pounds, and plus miscellaneous expenses, it is close to 130 million pounds.
"We need to put some burden on Manchester United. How can we make a profit in the financial report? Isn't all the money earned taxed?" Xu Liangzhong thought to himself.
Wow….
The cheers like a tsunami interrupted Xu Liang’s thoughts.
Look at it.
Arsenal fans were cheering, while Manchester United fans were in despair.
Obviously, we are lagging behind.
Xu Liang couldn't help but frowned.
"Peter, are there any flaws in the Manchester United lineup?"
Peter Kenyon also noticed the situation on the field. He was scored in the first 5 minutes, which obviously angered the new team. BOOS is not satisfied.
After thinking for a moment and organizing his words, he said cautiously.
“Mainly the two positions of defensive midfielder and goalkeeper. Roy Keane is 32 years old and it is difficult for him to last 90 minutes of the game; Butters, who is the goalkeeper, often makes some low-level mistakes.
We are currently actively looking for replacements for two positions
We have some targets and are still in contact. ”
Xu Liang nodded. Before Carrick matured, 'waist weakness' was a problem that could not be solved.
Before Edwin van der Sar joined, goalkeeping was an old problem that Manchester United had not been able to solve.
Trying to recall the players corresponding to these two positions in my mind.
But as a person who pays little attention to the World Cup and only watches the World Cup, he really doesn’t have much in his head.
But what he can remember are the top players at this position.
But top players may not necessarily be suitable for Manchester United.
The best example is Veron. When he was at Lazio, he was an omnipotent white wizard with an outstanding outlook on the overall situation. But when he arrived at Manchester United, he became a marginal figure.
However, the goalkeeper is obviously an exception. A good goalkeeper is good everywhere and there is no problem of not adapting.
But the goalkeeper Xu Liang likes is not Van der Sar.
Although it is excellent, I am already 32 after all. Although it can still be used for a few years, but there are more suitable choices, of course young people are more suitable.
"Peter, my friend recommended to me a Czech goalkeeper named 'Petr Cech'. You buy him." Xu Liang said directly.
He doesn’t watch much football, but he only knows the four goalkeepers.
Van der Sar, De Gea, Cech, and Buffon, who is known as the first goalkeeper.
De Gea is too early, Van der Sar is too old, Buffon has become famous, and only Cech is left.
Peter Kenyon hesitated, "BOSS, should we discuss this matter with Coach Ferguson?"
Xu Liang nodded, "Then you can discuss it with him.
If coach Ferguson is not willing, forget it."
Although Cech is good, Ferguson is a big thigh. I don’t want to offend the latter yet.
Peter Kenyon breathed a sigh of relief.
If the new owner wants to intervene in the team forcefully, Ferguson will definitely be dissatisfied with his character.
Once the two sides conflict, the latter will leave.
This is something he doesn't want to see.
The game continues, and when the ninety minutes are over, the score on the field is still 1:0, with the home team in front, which means Manchester United has lost.
"BOSS, the game is over, do you want to go over and meet the players and coaching staff?"
"I won't go. Let's wait until the end of the season. ...By the way, send me Tell Coach Ferguson about your proposal.”
"Okay."
After Xu Liang glanced at the cheering Arsenal fans and the Manchester United players slowly exiting the field, he turned and left the box.
Ferguson was in a bad mood after losing the game. After getting angry in front of the players, there was a trace of sadness on his eyebrows.
The aging of the team's lineup and the reinforcement of individual positions are problems that he must solve now.
But it is not easy to find players suitable for Manchester United.
Especially Veron's incident made him more cautious when buying and selling players.
Sometimes throwing money doesn't solve the problem.
In the 2001-2002 season, he spent 19 million pounds to buy Ruud van Nistelrooy, 28.1 million pounds to buy Veron, and Diego Forlan also cost Manchester United 7.5 million pounds.
50 million pounds a season is a big deal no matter which league it is in.
But Manchester United, which spends a lot of money, was unexpectedly defeated by Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen in both the Premier League and Champions League. This also sounded the alarm for him: the championship is not something you want to buy, you can buy it if you want. Buy it.
From then on, he became cautious about spending money.
This season, he only spent a sky-high price of 30 million pounds to buy Rio Ferdinand to strengthen the backcourt defense.
In addition to the team lineup, what gave him an even bigger headache was the young and excessive new boss of China.
Young people are arrogant, proud, and easily emotional.
Although judging from the last contact, the new boss does not seem to have these problems, but it is difficult to really see a person clearly after only one contact.
Dong Dong…….
There was a knock on the door.
Ferguson was shocked and said quickly: "Come in."
With the sound of opening the door, Peter Kenyon opened the door and walked in.
Ferguson stood up and looked behind him, but there was no familiar figure from last time.
"Alex, don't look anymore, the BOSS is not coming."
Ferguson frowned quickly after heaving a sigh of relief.
"He is dissatisfied with losing?"
"A little bit. But don't worry, I can see that BOSS still respects you."
Waving Ferguson asked after gesturing for the other party to sit down.
"What did he say?"
"He asked me about the shortcomings of the team's lineup and recommended a goalkeeper to me."
"He wanted to intervene in player transactions?"
< br>Ferguson said urgently.
"Alex, don't worry. As a team owner, it is impossible to let go of the team's player transactions 100%. The key is whether he can respect you as the head coach. Judging from previous contacts, he is very interested in You are still very respectful and do not force us to buy it, and you also agree that if you don’t want it, you can refuse it, and he has no objection.”
(End of this chapter)