Chapter 337 Troika
While Eddy Cue was explaining the importance of WeChat to Apple to its new CEO Tim Cook at Apple's headquarters in Silicon Valley, Yang Huan was leisurely drinking afternoon tea at Tingyuxuan in Southampton.
Sitting opposite him were two middle-aged men who had obviously gained weight.
The one on the left has a big bald head. If any media reporters see him, they will definitely recognize him at a glance.
Peter Kenyon, former chief executive of Manchester United and Chelsea.
After being fired from Chelsea, Peter Kenyon entered the American entertainment industry and tried other things, but none of them were very successful.
Today, he is the CEO of Middlesbrough.
But for a talent like him, everyone knows that Middlesbrough is just a transit station.
Even though Peter Kenyon stepped down in disgrace at Chelsea, in fact, in the business circle of professional football, he still sits in the top position.
The other is the obese Ron Gourlay, who was also sacked by Chelsea not long ago.
This professional manager is known as Peter Kenyon's disciple. He is best at handling relations with the media. He also has his own unique ideas in commercial sponsorship negotiations and the construction of product sales systems.
It has long been rumored in professional football circles that Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourlay are a golden duo.
The former is the most outstanding football marketing expert, good at developing new business models, creating the club's image and enhancing the club's market value, while the latter is better at specific business operations.
The collaboration between the two helped Manchester United establish its leading position in the football world's commercial empire.
Afterwards, the two of them jumped to Chelsea at the same time and helped Chelsea sign a series of commercial sponsorships including Samsung and Adidas, which greatly improved Chelsea's image and popularity and ranked among the top ten in the European giants' income list.
Sitting on both sides of Yang Huan were the team's two top executives, executive chairman Nicola Cortes and Sun Yue.
Before Yang Huan decided to invite Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourlay to negotiate, he discussed it with Nicola Cortes and Sun Yue, and both of them agreed, especially Sun Yue.
But Peter Kenyon and the other man obviously decided to go south after careful consideration for a period of time.
“I have a question!”
Yang Huan smiled and looked at the two middle-aged men in front of him, especially the bald-headed Peter Kenyon.
"Please speak!" Both of them raised their heads and looked at Yang Huan.
Young, too young!
This was their first impression of Yang Huan.
But while marveling at Yang Huan's youth, they had to admit that Southampton had done a very good job in the past year or so, demonstrating an exciting blueprint and prospects.
"Why do you think Chelsea is in its current predicament?" Yang Huan said very directly.
In the eyes of ordinary fans, Chelsea seems to just have poor results.
But in the small professional football circle, everyone knows that Chelsea's influence is no longer as great as before.
This can be easily seen from the fact that Adidas dared to sponsor Southampton with 30 million pounds, but refused to increase the sponsorship fee for Chelsea.
Even from the player's perspective, Chelsea's introduction of Torres was paid with money, and he was a big fake.
No top player with real ability is willing to go to Chelsea!
Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourlay looked at each other, and the former nodded in response.
"I think this problem needs to be looked at separately. In the years when Chelsea rose, traditional giants were at a low point or in trouble. For example, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League, Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga were all at a low point and in a period of adjustment. Serie A was relatively better, but Juventus and AC Milan also had their own problems."
During those years, the Bundesliga had little competitiveness at all, and was even in danger of being overtaken by Ligue 1.
"In this situation, Chelsea's sudden rise and its recruitment strategy of not caring about the players' prices but only caring about improving the team's strength has undoubtedly greatly stimulated the entire football world and catered to the tastes of countless fans."
Peter Kenyon paused here and thought about it seriously.
“Although it may be controversial to say this, it must be said that in those years, Chelsea led the transfer market in European football. At that time, Chelsea was a weather vane and a leader, so the media and fans paid great attention to it.”
Yang Huan also kept nodding. At least he felt that what Peter Kenyon said was absolutely right.
"This is an opportunity for Chelsea, especially with the accumulation during the Ranieri era and the explosion during the Mourinho era. Chelsea has ushered in an unprecedented development prospect. As long as we take the last step, we will be able to establish our position among the giants of European football!"
“That’s the Champions League!”
When many fans mention the Champions League title, they only notice its importance, such as the financial benefits it brings.
Little do people know that the Champions League is of vital importance to a team, especially a team like the invincible Chelsea in the early years. It is an important opportunity to transform from a newcomer to a powerhouse.
If you don’t believe it, take a look at the Champions League since its reform. All the championship teams are traditional powerhouses!
Porto is considered a declining powerhouse, but it has also helped head coaches and main stars including Mourinho, Carvalho and Deco to complete their transformation and evolve into the world's top team.
Chelsea has been dealt a heavy blow in the Champions League year after year and has gradually lost its edge.
As the saying goes, the first push is strong, the second is weaker, and the third is exhausted, this is the truth!
"Losing the Champions League is undoubtedly a painful blow, but the more painful blow comes from two levels!"
"One is the owner, Roman Abramovich, who was blinded by personal feelings time and time again and interfered too much in the internal affairs of the team. Starting with Mourinho, the head coaches were replaced one after another. In particular, he pursued Guardiola desperately, but Guardiola did not consider Chelsea at all. This shows how much influence the team owner's excessive interference in the team has."
"There is another level, that is, the subprime mortgage crisis and the European debt crisis hit, and Abramovich's assets shrank significantly. At the same time, the huge investment in the past few years did not result in a championship trophy, so he began to doubt whether the team's strategy was correct and whether he should continue to stick to it."
"This suspicion is transferred to the transfer market, which means that the investment is not firm enough. For example, Kaka, Chelsea targeted him for three years, but he almost went to Manchester City and finally went to Real Madrid. The most ironic thing is Ribery, Gerrard, Villa, Tevez, Robinho and Ronaldinho."
When Yang Huan heard this, his brows furrowed.
This is indeed a very interesting question.
In terms of influence and status, Chelsea is indeed qualified to be among the top clubs.
But why does the recruitment of players fail again and again?
"Abramovich and Chelsea were very interested in signing these players, and many of these players were also interested in joining Chelsea, especially Robinho, but he ended up going to Manchester City, which was not even as good as Chelsea."
"As I said just now, we led the transfer market and invested heavily, but we couldn't win the championship. But this is not a problem, because everyone believes that if we continue to invest like this, the team's strength will steadily improve, and the championship will be a matter of time!"
Yang Huan kept nodding his head, this direction was correct.
Many people doubt that money cannot buy a championship. This is because there are other reasons behind the championship that lead to the loss of the championship.
Let me ask you, in the entire world of professional football, which championship team is not built up with money?
Even in Barcelona, it is like this!
"What really caused Chelsea to face the current predicament is a fatal flaw!"
Peter Kenyon's analysis is very insightful, because no one knows Chelsea better than him.
Therefore, everyone present immediately looked at him.
“Insecurity!”
After he said this, everyone seemed to understand something.
"Everyone in the football world has doubts about Chelsea and Abramovich!"
"On what basis is Chelsea's status as a top club built?"
"How long can you, Abramovich, continue to be passionate about football?"
"You are not a traditional giant, you lack foundation, and the so-called foundation is standing among the giants for a long time, giving players, fans, and everyone in the football world a sense of security."
"Losing the championship is not terrible, but Abramovich's continuous changes of coaches have caused chaos in the team, and the subsequent tightening of credit has greatly deepened the outside world's insecurity about Chelsea."
"This is the biggest and most serious dilemma Chelsea is facing right now!"
Yang Huan, Sun Yue and Nicola Cortes kept nodding.
They had to admit that Peter Kenyon's words had greatly touched and stimulated them.
It is also a highly competitive team that was established after a strong influx of capital.
The problems Chelsea encountered are likely to become the problems Southampton will encounter next.
Why does the outside world now suspect that Southampton is about to fall apart?
Why do fans react so strongly when Southampton decide to sell players?
Why do the outside media always like to hype up pessimistic remarks about Southampton?
The same dilemma, the same problem, happened to Southampton, and what they saw was the precursor to disintegration.
But if it happens to Manchester United, what they see is a low point and what they expect is Manchester United to regroup.
Arsenal has not won a championship for so many years, but why does no one say that the Gunners are doomed?
Ultimately, it's not because the media is biased against you.
It's because you haven't shown any signs of convincing them!
Even if Yang Huan stood up now and said, I will invest 100 million yuan every year, who would believe it?
You can say that today, but you can also say tomorrow that I'm not committed.
Is there anyone holding a gun and forcing you to continue investing?
Yang Huan sighed deeply and laughed.
He had to admit that Peter Kenyon was indeed the professional manager who was most familiar with football in today's football world, and he was also an outstanding football marketing expert.
Apart from anything else, his vision and in-depth and easy-to-understand analysis are enough to prove his strength.
Nicola Cortes may be a very good club manager, but he will never become an outstanding talent like Peter Kenyon because he lacks this keen vision.
Of course, this does not mean that with Peter Kenyon, there is no need for Nicholas Cortez.
The latter has a good temper and personality, and is someone Yang Huan trusts, so he plays a very important role.
"Tell me more, how can we at Southampton avoid repeating Chelsea's mistakes? How can we overtake them and catch up?"
Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourlay also laughed.
They knew very well that Yang Huan would ask this question to prove that they had passed the first round of the interview.
Now it’s time to test their true abilities.
Being able to see the problem proves their vision, but whether they can solve the problem is the real test for them.
"Mr. Yang Huan, the key to the problem lies in the sense of security. The sense of security is the most solid foundation of a team!"
"We need to establish a complete set of club management and operation systems and implement them unswervingly, so that players, fans, media and club employees can clearly see our ambition to run the team for a long time."
"As long as they see this, they will naturally become dependent on the team and feel safe!"
After that, Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourlay talked about many specific matters.
For example, how can the team better provide services to cities, communities and fan organizations to the best of its ability?
How can the team protect the interests and treatment of players and employees so that they can feel more at ease playing and working for the team?
It is not difficult to see that Ron Gourlay is better at specific details.
For example, he proposed a minimum living wage system.
In the UK, there is a so-called minimum wage of £6.50 an hour.
However, this compensation standard does not take into account the cost of living, prices, and inflation in the area.
For example, such a salary is obviously not enough to guarantee the most basic living in areas such as London and Southampton.
The so-called minimum living wage system is based on a comprehensive consideration of Southampton's living costs such as renting and traveling, and based on factors such as price fluctuations and inflation, a minimum wage system is calculated every year to ensure employees' basic living needs.
This applies not only to employees and staff, but also to players.
Yang Huan feels that this system is meaningful and necessary, and can also improve the club image of Southampton.
Outside of professional football, many large companies have adopted a minimum living wage system to protect the livelihoods of their employees.
However, in professional football, especially in mainstream European professional football, no one has adopted it yet.
Southampton will be the first team to implement it!
This also further strengthened Yang Huan's view. Nicola Cortes continued to serve as executive chairman, Peter Kenyon as chief executive officer, and Ron Gourlay as chief operating officer. The three together formed the troika of Southampton's management.
After making a judgment in his mind, Yang Huan began to discuss some issues with them in more depth.
It was at this time that Yang Huan's cell phone rang.
It turned out to be a call from the clingy Hamad!