Chapter 873 Manchester United 2005
After the subprime mortgage crisis, real estate in Europe and the United States fell across the board.
Even prime locations such as Manhattan in New York and Canary Wharf in London will fall by 20 to 30%. That is a good time to buy the bottom.
“Okay.”
“David, the task of Manchester United Hotel this year is to accumulate experience and train staff. Next season, there will be four new Manchester United Hotels. You must investigate in advance. Prepare in advance.”
David Gill nodded quickly.
"BOSS, don't worry, I will arrange everything in advance."
"How is the Xiangjiang Football School project going?"
Xu Liang has not forgotten, football Training is also where you can make money.
“We have obtained the business license and will be able to officially start classes in September this year. It is going very smoothly in Singapore, and we are still negotiating with Shanghai.”
David Gill said quickly.
"In addition to making money, if you come across a good talent, send it to Carrington."
"Okay, BOSS."
"The registration of Manchester United TV has changed "?" Xu Liang asked next.
"It has been changed. According to your request, Manchester United TV has been changed to Manchester United Media, which is divided into four departments: TV station, portal website, shopping website and advertising..."
"Strip off the shopping website and make a B2C shopping website. I will bring some experienced employees from Hongmeng No. 1 store to support you."
David Gill asked: "BOSS, Manchester United's Should B2C business be like Amazon and No. 1 Store? "
"The business is similar, but the business branch hatched by Manchester United Shopping Network naturally has certain limitations, so we don't do that. A large and comprehensive website.
A refined shopping website only for Manchester United members, similar to the online version of the Manchester United membership store. ”
David Gill suddenly realized.
Xu Liang wants to make Manchester United Shopping Network into a lifestyle shopping platform similar to NetEase Yanxuan and Xiaomi Youpin.
Waved his hand.
Lu Hui handed over the information prepared in advance.
"This is a development plan for the 'Manchester United Shopping Network' that I wrote. Take it back and study it carefully. If you don't understand anything, call me."
David· Jill breathed a sigh of relief, it would be nice to have the information.
He really doesn't know much about this new thing called the Internet.
"Has Manchester United Financial Company been registered?" Xu Liang asked again.
Manchester United has had financial services before. Fans can apply for credit cards, apply for bank mortgage loans, apply for insurance for their cars and travel, and even buy real estate through Manchester United's website.
But these are not enough.
The 21st century is the era of the Internet.
Moreover, the European financial system has developed for hundreds of years and its structure has been stable.
It is difficult for Manchester United’s financial business to break through Manchester and develop to the world.
The Internet is the only breakthrough.
“It has been registered. According to your requirements, Hongmeng Pay will provide underlying technical support for Manchester United Financial. A mature website will be available in up to half a year.”
Hongmeng Pay does not have English website, so if Manchester United Finance wants to adopt the underlying structure of Hongmeng Pay, it must be revised. Although it is not complicated, it will take time.
"After the success of the website, the business of Manchester United Financial was transplanted online. Except for Manchester, only one branch office was set up in each city.
All business was moved online, whether it was applying for credit cards or mortgage loans. Through the Internet.
If you still don’t understand, you can look at PayPal in the United States and copy their business.”
Xu Liang did not say that Hongmeng Payment is limited by China’s finance. Due to legal issues, many Hongmeng Pay businesses have not yet been launched.
Moreover, China’s financial environment is different from that of Europe and the United States. It has reference value, but it is not suitable for copying.
PayPal is different.
After agreeing, David Gill continued.
"BOSS, advancing your plan requires a lot of funds. I'm afraid it will be difficult to advance it in all aspects with Manchester United's income alone."
Although Manchester United earns more, it also has a lot of debt.
Especially when Xu Liang acquired Manchester United, he only spent 150 million pounds in cash out of a total purchase price of 420 million pounds.
That leaves £270m of debt unpaid.
This situation is obviously much better than that of the Glazer family.
The latter's successful acquisition of Manchester United in 2005 left the Red Devils with a debt of 660 million pounds and an interest rate of up to 16%.
Tottenham borrowed 800 million pounds to build a new stadium and repay the principal and interest of 40 million pounds every year. In the 18 years after Glazer acquired Manchester United, Manchester United's interest expenses alone were as high as 900 million pounds, with an average annual interest expense of 50 million.
Note that this is only interest and does not include principal.
Over the past 18 years, the Glazer family has not only invested no money, but also taken away 155 million pounds from Manchester United.
Under such a huge debt, the Red Devils not only did not collapse, but also won three consecutive Champions League and league titles.
It can only be said that the old Sir Alex has a real thigh.
In comparison, Xu Liang’s 270 million debt is really nothing.
And the interest on his debts is only 6%.
The reason why the interest rate is so low is not because he is handsome, although that is a fact; it is because he has encountered a good environment.
In 2002, the Federal Reserve released a lot of money, and the federal funds rate was as low as an unprecedented 1%, or even lower.
At this time, banks all over the world are begging you for loans.
Interest rates are being pushed down again and again.
It was different in 2005. In order to curb the increasingly crazy real estate market, the Federal Reserve continued to raise the federal funds rate.
Interest rates were raised five times in just one year, bringing the original interest rate from less than 2% to 5.56%.
Such a violent interest rate hike has caused financing costs around the world to skyrocket.
The Glazer family, who participated in the acquisition of Manchester United in 2003, got up early and rushed to the evening market.
The most important point is. Although Xu Liang's debt acquisition was to improve capital utilization, it was not because he had no money.
The Glazer family really has no money.
Financial institutions are a bunch of vampires, and of course they will add insult to injury.
Although Manchester United's debt is not high, it still needs to repay nearly 30 million pounds of principal and interest every year.
After two years of repayment, there is currently a debt of £224 million remaining.
But the stars of the Manchester United team are all big money spenders.
Roy Keane, who has left, earns as much as 94,000 pounds a week.
Over the whole year, Manchester United's stars swallowed up a huge sum of 50 million pounds.
Plus the coaching staff, administrative staff and more.
Manchester United’s wage bill is nearly £65 million.
This is not counting transfers.
Transfers from wealthy clubs rarely break even, and most of them involve buying more than selling.
The current transfer price of top European players is generally over 15 million euros. If they are superstars, it will definitely exceed 20 million euros.
For top superstars, it is not uncommon for them to earn 40 to 50 million euros.
Including transfers, it is highly likely that the personnel expenditure will exceed 100 million pounds.
Fortunately, after selling Beckham in the 2003-04 season, Ferguson did not spend too much money on signings.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the highest player, only spent 12 million pounds.
Saha spent 12.82 million pounds.
Except for them, the rest are just fractions.
The total expenditure on signings is about 35 million pounds, excluding the 25 million pounds earned after selling Beckham.
The expenses are not high.
In the 2004-05 season, there was only one signing worth over 10 million pounds, and that was Rooney.
£24 million.
Diego Forlan and Wilfred Zaha, the former 11 million euros and the latter 11.75 million euros.
Note, it’s Euros, not British Pounds.
This season is considered a season with higher expenses for Manchester United. Salary expenses plus signings cost nearly 90 million pounds.
Xu Liang turned his head and said, "Alex, does the club have any big signings this year?"
To be called big, they must be signings worth tens of millions of pounds.
The old gentleman thought about it and shook his head.
“Not yet.”
The goalkeeper has.
He has suitable candidates for center back and left back, and the transfer fee is not high.
He also has a suitable candidate for the defensive midfielder position, but this year the other party rejected his recruitment.
Modric, who the boss is trying to bring in, is not well-known, and he is from a rural place in Croatia, so the price will definitely not be too high.
When he introduced players, he never looked at whether they were famous or not, but whether they fit into Manchester United's lineup.
And Sir Alex Ferguson has a big characteristic in introducing players.
Most of the big-money signings come from Premier League teams.
The only exceptions are Veron and Ruud van Nistelrooy, who were introduced in 2001, and De Gea in 2011.
And there are very few parallel imports.
Of course, it is also possible that he was injured by Veron.
28 million pounds was almost the top level in football in 2001. The one who could surpass this transfer was the famous Zidane + Pavin, with a total price of 75 million euros.
This price remained dusty for eight years before being broken by Ronaldo in 2009.
The transfer fee of 96 million euros shocked the entire football world.
After spending so much money to introduce Veron, it turned out to be a waste.
You can imagine how troubled Sir Alex was.
After Veron, Sir Alex rarely spent big money to buy people from outside the Premier League.
Once he doesn't adapt to the rhythm of the Premier League, he will be second to Veron.
Another more important reason is the lack of money.
With the huge debt incurred by the Glazer family, the transfer fee is already low, so playing it safe is the most reasonable choice.
Players who can succeed in the Premier League will most likely succeed at Manchester United.
This is safety.
But it's different now.
The debt Xu Liang brought to Manchester United was not heavy.
It’s okay if Sir Alex really wants to spend money.
The key is that it is not suitable.
Xu Liang was stunned and then turned around and asked.
"David, how much money is left in the company's account?"
"There is still 30 million pounds in cash left for Alex to sign up." David Gill said.
Xu Liang nodded slightly. Even if Sir Alex Ferguson falls in love with another player later, this money, plus the funds recovered after selling the players, will be enough for this year's transfer expenses.
(End of this chapter)