Chapter 826 Group Operation
"Master Huan!"
"Hello, Master Huan!
When Yang Huan knocked on the door and pushed it open, he walked into the conference room. Everyone who was in the meeting stood up immediately.
Yang Huan smiled and raised his right hand, "Everyone sit down, no need to stand up, no need to stand up, I'm just here to listen, you guys continue with the meeting, ignore me!"
Although that is what they said, how could everyone turn a blind eye to someone as old as Young Master Huan?
The person presiding over this meeting was Sun Yue, who was a well-known flatterer. So, when he saw Young Master Huan coming in, he immediately changed the agenda of the meeting and suggested, "Since Young Master Huan is here, I suggest that we let him say a few words to us!"
After saying that, this guy shamelessly clapped his hands hard to create momentum.
The others seemed to be eager to do the same and they all applauded.
Yang Huan had no choice but to signal everyone not to applaud, but he couldn't get away with it, so he could only nod and say, "Okay, I'll say a few words!"
Only then did everyone stop clapping with a smile and sit down again.
There were even a few who took out their notebooks to take notes. They looked so serious, just like the model students.
Originally, this meeting was proposed by Yang Huan.
His idea is very simple. Now that the core management of several of his teams are in China, everyone can get together to discuss how to develop collaboratively in the future instead of fighting alone.
"I believe everyone has received the news before. Mansour of Abu Dhabi has established the City Football Group. The Manchester City we are familiar with now will be a subsidiary of this City Football Group."
"But at the same time, they are also actively establishing and acquiring professional teams in New York and Melbourne, because in the past few years, the enthusiasm for football in the United States and Australia has been high. I believe that everyone should be able to understand after watching the hot competition in the Australian Division of this year's International Champions Cup!"
How could everyone present not understand?
Few people could have imagined that Australia’s passion for football would be so high.
We held two tournaments in Australia this year, and both were packed. It was not only the fans who were supportive, but also the sponsors and the city government. This is enough to prove that the football market in Australia is quite amazing.
"Not just professional teams, but also youth academies. They have set up the Right to Dream academy in Ghana and are actively working with other teams including Sporting Lisbon and Espanyol."
"We can fully imagine that Manchester City is vigorously expanding their football territory!"
The cooperation between the Premier League and the Portuguese Super League has a long history.
Sporting Lisbon first cooperated with Manchester United, and the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo was the catalyst for this cooperation, but around 2010, Sporting Lisbon turned to cooperate with Manchester City.
The cooperation projects between the two sides range from intra-team player transfers to scout intelligence sharing and young player training.
In addition to Sporting Lisbon, there are other teams such as Espanyol in La Liga and Aarhus in Denmark.
Not only that, in addition to forming New York City, Manchester City has successfully acquired shares in Melbourne Heart in Australia and established Melbourne City, and also invested in Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan.
Yang Huan has learned from Mubarak that they are indeed very interested in entering the Chinese football market, so they do not rule out the possibility of acquiring a Chinese Super League team in the future and fully entering the Chinese football market.
It is obvious that with the massive influx of capital, the way professional football is played will also undergo disruptive changes.
"In the past few years, professional football has undergone tremendous changes without anyone noticing. Many people think that only the Premier League, which has the most developed business, is favored by capital, but what is the reality?"
"In the past few years, from Ligue 1 to Serie A to La Liga and even the Bundesliga, there have been many cases of foreign investment in football teams, and the number has increased dramatically. What I can guarantee is that in the next few years, capital will flow into European football with an even more astonishing momentum!"
Many people don’t know that there is a saying that is widely circulated in European football.
The worse the economy gets, the more prosperous football becomes!
This may seem strange and completely illogical at first, but if you think about it carefully, it makes sense.
Just like in the UK, before the influx of foreign capital, the area around London, which had the best economy, had the most professional teams, but the worst results. Apart from Arsenal who could barely compete for the league championship, who else was there?
The entire Premier League teams in the southern region of England were completely suppressed by the northern teams.
But what cities are there in the north?
Manchester and Liverpool, where Manchester United and Liverpool are located, are already declining cities. Can their economies be compared with London?
In fact, Liverpool's most prosperous years were precisely when the city's economy was at its most depressed.
Today, the whole world is in the midst of a depression and economic crisis, but professional football is becoming more and more popular. Why?
On the one hand, because of the scarcity of football clubs, they can maintain their value to the greatest extent.
On the other hand, professional football is one of the few industries that is still developing and expanding rapidly in a depressed economy. As long as it is managed properly, the value of the club will also develop rapidly.
This can be seen from the rapid growth of the overall market value of Premier League teams in the past few years.
Let me ask you, in the midst of an economic crisis, how could capital let go of such an industry?
"In the past few years, capital has been pouring into European football, and player transfer fees have also risen accordingly. Especially in recent years, player transfer fees have skyrocketed like a rocket, which is astonishing."
"This is the result of an influx of capital, abundant funds in the transfer market, but a shortage of talent resources!"
Everyone had just analyzed this situation with Sun Yue, and they all believed that this was indeed caused by the massive influx of capital.
The most obvious thing is that the competition for top stars in the transfer market has become more fierce.
"But I don't think this is a reasonable, long-term, sustainable way to do business. It's not healthy at all!"
"Because this over-reliance on capital is like drinking poison to quench thirst, just like Chelsea. Once Abramovich tightened the money supply, Chelsea's past achievements and glory immediately began to waver, or even collapsed."
"Even Real Madrid has to maintain the growth of the team's financial revenue with trepidation. Once their financial revenue encounters problems, their superstar policy will be difficult to maintain, and even the operation of the team may be affected!"
"When it comes to the speed of burning money, running a professional sports team is no slower than any other industry!"
"Therefore, in the past few years, the importance of youth training has become particularly important. Youth training is divided into two parts: player discovery and training. The former relies on the scouting system, and the latter relies on the youth training coaching team and a suitable training environment."
"In this case, the advantages of group operation are reflected!"
"No football team in the world can have a scouting network spread all over the world, because the cost of maintaining such a scouting network is already an astronomical amount."
"But if one team doesn't work, what about five? Ten?"
"Also, in a stable football club, it is very difficult for youth players to enter the first team, because the first team will not allow youth players to make mistakes, but which young player does not make mistakes?"
"However, no matter how talented or outstanding a young player is, he needs more game training to improve his strength, so the usual approach is very simple, renting, or like Real Madrid, selling, signing a buy-back clause, or the co-ownership model that is popular in Italy but has now been decided to be cancelled."
"But these are all problematic, because we have to consider the team's tactical characteristics, the players' adaptability, the quality of training and the chances of playing, and these cannot be guaranteed, so every year there are many talented players who are lost in this kind of loan."
"But group operation can ensure the flow of players within the group, ensure that everything about the players is under control, and maximize the use of resources."
Everyone present were core senior executives of various clubs, and they had already understood some of Yang Huan's ideas.
So, after listening to his words at this time, I felt that they made a lot of sense, and I became clearer about what I should do and how to do it.
"I think we now have the qualifications to operate as a group, and the only problem before us is how to optimize the allocation of internal resources within the group and ensure the group's operation. I hope everyone can take this opportunity to discuss and study this."
There is no precedent in the past for a single group to command multiple professional teams.
Therefore, Yang Huan can only cross the river by feeling the stones and take one step at a time.
The goals ahead are very clear, visible and tangible. The key question is how to achieve them.
"I personally have a few immature opinions, which I would like to put forward here for your discussion."
Everyone listened attentively.
"First of all, of course, it is the supporting services. I think that the scouting systems, data analysis centers, research and development centers, medical centers and other departments of each club should be integrated and independent departments should be established within the group to provide complete and comprehensive supporting services for each club."
"Secondly, I think we should set up a strategic department, not only at the commercial and capital level, but also at the tactical level. We must always understand and grasp the latest professional league dynamics and the most advanced tactical concepts, and analyze and apply them."
"Third, I think an efficient personnel turnover mechanism that can take care of the interests of all parties is also crucial, because once the group operation is implemented, the internal personnel turnover will inevitably increase significantly. At that time, how to ensure the interests of all parties and ensure the maximum utilization of talent resources will be very critical."
"Finally, there is the management system. The benefits of group management are obvious, but there are also disadvantages. How to establish an efficient management mechanism, make overall plans, coordinate all parties, and optimize resource allocation is also a very important part."
Having said this, Yang Huan smiled.
"Everyone present here is a core member of the clubs, with many years of experience in running professional clubs and even top teams. I believe that everyone is more familiar with and understands these aspects than I am."
"So, as I just said, today, I am sitting here just listening. I hope everyone present can speak freely. No matter what ideas you have in your mind, you can put them forward and discuss and negotiate with everyone."
"Because I believe that when we integrate all our resources and operate them efficiently, we will become the most competitive team in European professional football. Each of our teams has the opportunity to become Southampton and stand at the top of Europe!"
Although judging from the background and scale of professional leagues, the teams with the best chance of winning the European Championship must be those from the top five leagues.
But after the group operation, it is entirely possible for teams in lower-level leagues to do so.
Why were teams like Ajax and Porto able to win the Champions League back then?
Isn't it because they have accumulated a group of young but very outstanding players?
In the past, once these small teams developed a player, he would easily be poached. It was difficult for them to gather such a group of outstanding stars at the same time like Ajax and Porto.
But after group operations, this possibility exists.
And it’s not small!
Just think about it, if we take all the young rookies around 20 years old in Yang Huan's team, not to mention all of them, and just pick out a part of them to form a team, and add a capable head coach, who dares to say that this team will not be competitive in the Champions League?