I build a giant in the Premier League

Chapter 215 Big surprise! Double bloom! We need a Chinese team in Bayswater! [Subscribe]

In the private chat with Gasperini, Yang Cheng learned more about the environment of Italian football.

To put it simply, society’s beatings haven’t been enough!

The whole of Italy, from top to bottom, is still immersed in the glory of that year's Mini World Cup and cannot extricate themselves.

How outrageous is that?
Take Genoa for example.

How much is the annual revenue of this team?
He actually invested 4000 million euros in the transfer market.

The most outrageous thing is that they even want to see results in a short period of time.

Do you really think that all the top teams like Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus are dead?
So who gave Preziosi such courage?
The environment!
Cases like his are by no means isolated cases in Italy, but are very common.

Even someone like De Laurentiis of Napoli spent 1700 million euros to sign Cavani this summer, didn't he?
From Yang Cheng's perspective, of course he can say with confidence: Don't worry, just wait for two years and Paris Saint-Germain will come knocking on our door.

By that time, Cavani's 1700 million euros would become 6450 million euros.

It smells great!
But considering the current Serie A situation in 2010, this transfer price was indeed a bit high.

In Gasperini's view, if the 2006 Calciopoli scandal exposed the cancer of Italian football, then the subsequent subprime mortgage crisis and European debt crisis plunged Italian football into a quagmire of despair.

When the European debt crisis broke out, Italy's position within the European Union became comparable to that of Greece.

You know what, the two countries are really quite close.

Then the problem arises. The aftermath of the Calciopoli scandal has not yet subsided, and the subprime mortgage crisis and the European debt crisis are upon us. In the past few years, Italian football has really been struggling.

Everyone's attention is on Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan.

Little did people know that Inter Milan has Moratti to spend money, and Juventus also has the financial group behind it to back it up.

But how did the numerous small and medium-sized teams survive?

Selling training bases, selling players, selling youth training...

All kinds of sales!
Not selling?

Can't survive!

If this is the objective environment, then within football, the foreign aid system within the Football Association is very tight, making it impossible for Italy to absorb the high-quality and low-cost star resources from Africa and South America.

The league is becoming less and less vibrant, like a stagnant pool of water.

What should I do at this time?
Some people believe that someone should step forward to spend money, increase investment, introduce more stars, build one or several super teams, and lead Serie A out of its predicament.

Teams such as the two AC Milan clubs, Juventus, and Roma basically believe in this logic.

The top teams in Serie A have no external advantages, but they are wealthy and powerful internally, so they naturally have the confidence to do so.

Preziosi, and even De Laurentiis, share this idea.

The only difference is the degree.

Some people also believe that the current environment of Serie A is mostly not suitable for pursuing the star route, but rather to adopt pragmatic management strategies, focus on youth training, and break out of the vicious cycle.

"Many small and medium-sized teams have been sold, which has dealt a heavy blow to Italy's youth training."

"Without money, coupled with restrictions on foreign players, we can't bring in high-level players, and without youth training, we can't cultivate outstanding local players."

"Without good players, the quality of the game will naturally decline, and the game will naturally not be good to watch."

"If the game is not good to watch, it will not attract more fans and its commercial value will be low."

At this point, Gasperini also had a look of helplessness on his face, and was obviously very sad about the current situation in Serie A.

His career reached its peak in the early 90s, the era of Sacchi and the Milan dynasty.

"We don't own our stadiums, and every club has to pay high rent to the government."

"Like the two AC Milan clubs, their annual rent is around 400 million euros, and each team pays about million euros."

“It doesn’t look expensive, does it?”

Yang Cheng nodded, "We will ask the English Football Association to rent Wembley Stadium for 500 million pounds per season."

"Yes, if they add the 200 million or so in venue maintenance and operating costs, it would be about 600 million euros."

"But the biggest difference is that the venue facilities are aging and there is no authority to renovate them, so the income on match days is almost only from ticket sales, and Serie A tickets are relatively cheap. You can imagine how bleak the income on match days is."

"There is no matchday income, no commercial income, the broadcasting rights income is also very bad, and the income of all Serie A teams is not ideal."

"Previously, statistics showed that there are less than 130 players in Serie A with an annual salary of over one million, and half of them are concentrated in Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan."

"If you add Lazio, Roma and Napoli, the total is almost 110."

"The rest are spread among the remaining nine teams, and the maximum salary of five teams does not exceed one million euros."

"There are only about 200 people with an annual salary of more than 40 million euros, almost all of whom are in Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan. The other one is Luca Toni of Genoa, who earns 450 million euros."

After a pause, Gasperini looked at Yang Cheng with a wry smile.

"Do you know why De Rossi left Roma for Manchester United and Buffon left Juventus for Liverpool?"

"If they stay in Serie A, they can only get a maximum annual salary of 600 million euros. This is the tacit understanding among the top teams, and they are not even willing to pay it."

For the current Serie A, superstars like them have long been a heavy pressure that they cannot afford.

In Serie A, the minimum annual salary is only 2 euros.

Please note that it is an annual salary, and it is a professional contract in Serie A.

Yang Cheng sighed.

He now finally understood why match-fixing and gambling in Serie A would continue despite repeated bans in the coming years.

As Gasperini said, it's a vicious cycle.

When a team has so little income and is under so much pressure, not to mention that many owners are desperately trying to bring in superstars to stimulate the market, they can only cut salaries or even withhold salaries.

In the same team, some stars have ridiculously high salaries, while some players can only get a fraction of their salaries. How can they feel balanced?
Not to mention the debts that were owed.

Wage arrears are not unique to Serie A, and it happens in La Liga almost every year.

Yang Cheng is not trying to whitewash those who fix matches in Serie A. No matter what, match-fixing is wrong.

But on the other hand, we must also see that behind match-fixing and gambling are actually ordinary people.

A living family.

Yang Cheng feels it is hard to say which of the two approaches mentioned by Gasperini is right and which is wrong.

He did not refute Gasperini to his face because he felt that Gasperini's idea was also correct.

But it is not suitable for those big teams.

What the top teams think is not wrong.

For example, the two AC Milan clubs have to attract 70,000 to 80,000 fans for every game, and charge high ticket prices. Is it justifiable if there are few outstanding stars in the team?

From the outbreak of the Calciopoli scandal in 06 to the subprime mortgage crisis and the European debt crisis, Serie A's attendance rate has been on an avalanche trend.

Fans who watch the live broadcast carefully will definitely find that the broadcasting technology is relatively poor. When the camera scans, there is often a large empty area in the stands.

They can’t retain their star players, their football is not pleasing, and the fans don’t seem to be satisfied. Who would be willing to come to the stadium?
If broadcasters are not enthusiastic, the broadcasting rights cannot be sold at a high price.

"We in Serie A are in urgent need of a team like you Bayswater Chinese, which not only attaches importance to youth training and can continuously cultivate talents, but also has a good and pleasing style of play and strong commercial management capabilities!"

Gasperini sighed to Yang Cheng on a whim.

It can be seen that he is very disappointed with the current situation of Italian football, but he also loves it very deeply.

Yang Cheng felt amused when he heard this.

Serie A will not produce Chinese people like Bayswater.

Not to mention anything else, just the fact that the home court is not theirs is enough to eliminate all possibilities.

There is no suitable team in Serie A to attract Yang Cheng now.

Not to mention Juventus, the two Milan clubs, the two Roma clubs, and Naples, these teams can't afford it at all.

The rest of the teams are not worth investing in at the moment.

Besides, Yang Cheng also has a French Ligue 1 team called Nice under his command.

No matter what, we have to bring Nice out first, accumulate more experience, train some people, and then get it on the right track.

……

Yang Cheng treated the Italian coach exchange group with great courtesy.

Not only did he communicate with Gasperini many times, but the relationship between the two immediately became warmer.

Yang Cheng also takes special care of other people.

They were even arranged to participate in the club's training and preparations, so that they could fully understand the operating methods and processes of Bayswater Chinese.

Italian media have also been reporting on the exchange group’s experience in London, plus there have been announcements on the official websites of the Italian Football Association and Coverciano, which can be considered as helping to promote Bayswater Chinese.

As the news and information continued to come out, it immediately attracted the attention of fans all over the world.

What is the authority of the wealthy?

Bayswater Chinese that is!
Even Italians come to learn and communicate!

The layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway.

This group of Italian coaches experienced it themselves and finally understood why other teams couldn't learn it.

Because the Chinese in Bayswater rely on the entire process system!
For example, in the 17th round we played away against Wolves.

From the various details of pre-match preparations, to the team's departure, to the reception upon landing...

Everything has a process.

The staff of each department performs their duties and follows the procedures. Each link is closely linked to another, which leaves enough room for error.

How can other teams learn from this?
For example, the scouting report before the game is very, very detailed.

In addition to the entire team, it also includes every player, including the status and psychological condition of the opponents he may face.

With two games in a week, there is no time for targeted training at all, but the Chinese in Bayswater are able to include some training programs targeted at opponents in their daily training for recovery and adjustment.

The players are also very professional.

According to the observations of the coaches of the exchange group, the players never come late or leave early for training, and everyone is very self-disciplined.

Even in the most ordinary warm-up, the Chinese in Bayswater can make it come alive.

As Brian Kidd introduced, many injuries during training are often caused by insufficient warm-up.

Therefore, when designing the warm-up training program, the sports science department of Bayswater Chinese specifically studied some details to prevent players from cheating and forcing them to do their best.

Coupled with the support of a strong medical team, this is the secret to the few injuries among the Chinese in Bayswater!

After watching these few days, these coaches from Italy were really amazed.

Yang Cheng originally invited them to watch the game away from home on the weekend.

The West Midlands where Wolves are located is not far away, just in central England, and the club can arrange bus pick-up.

Unfortunately, although the Italian coaches all wanted to go, the weather forecast said that the temperature in the UK would drop sharply and blizzards were about to come, so they could not delay and had to return to Italy quickly.

Before leaving, Yang Cheng privately invited Gasperini to visit London again if he had the chance.

This is the next head coach of Inter Milan!

I only led 5 games in my previous life, what if that changes now?

In the end, Bayswater Chinese beat Wolves 1-0 away from home.

The goal scorer was Di Maria.

Manchester City beat West Ham United 3-1 away from home.

Liverpool also beat Newcastle 3-1 away from home.

Arsenal beat Manchester United 1-0 away from home.

Chelsea drew 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur away from home.

Among them, Drogba equalized the score for Chelsea in the 70th minute, but missed the penalty kick in the last minute of stoppage time.

……

After the 17th round of the Premier League, Britain was hit by a strong cold wave overnight.

The UK Meteorological Service reported that this was another coldest December on record in the UK.

How cold is it?
The temperature dropped below zero, 5 degrees Celsius lower than the average temperature in previous years.

Under such circumstances, all teams are preparing for the game while worrying that the terrible extreme weather in January this year may occur again.

Yang Cheng also pays special attention to the players' injuries.

In this case, the indoor training ground of the Chinese in Bayswater comes in handy.

While other teams were forced to stop training, the Chinese players at Bayswater were leisurely training in the indoor training ground without having to brave the cold weather.

As soon as the media reporters reported the news, the players from other teams were extremely envious.

In the entire Premier League, only the Chinese in Bayswater have an indoor training ground, which is unique!
If it rains on normal days, the players can still endure it and continue training.

But can you bear this kind of weather?

The Premier League also held an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures.

It was finally unanimously decided that the 18th round of the Premier League would be played on December 12 and 18.

The purpose of this is to avoid rare blizzards like the one in early January.

Especially after Christmas, there are four consecutive rounds of games. If there happens to be a blizzard, those four rounds of leagues will be postponed and the subsequent schedules will be disrupted.

Therefore, the 18th round cannot be postponed any further.

So, in this busy atmosphere of racing against time, except for the focus match between Manchester United and Chelsea, the remaining 9 games were played on the 18th and 19th.

As a result, a severe snowstorm really hit on the 20th.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Now, after Christmas, the weather will probably get better.

In the 18th round of the game, Manchester City defeated Everton 2-1 at home.

Liverpool beat Fulham 1-0 at home.

Bayswater Chinese beat Newcastle 2-0.

Arsenal beat Stoke City 1-0 at home.

Apart from Bayswater Chinese, all other teams played badly.

Manchester United was forced to postpone their away game against Chelsea due to their participation in the Club World Cup.

……

A snowstorm added a lot of atmosphere to the approaching Christmas.

Although various accidents caused by sudden snowstorms have been reported in various parts of the UK, fortunately no casualties were reported.

After 18 rounds, the Chinese in Bayswater immediately got busy.

First, Yang Cheng led the players to Bayswater in London to attend the topping-out ceremony of a new stadium.

Although the stadium is dug down one level, if the trussed roof with a closable structure is added, the total height will exceed 50 meters.

To this end, the Chinese at Bayswater specially added a sky bar in the circular area on the top floor of the stadium.

The bar not only offers a beautiful view of London's city skyline, but also provides the best location to watch the game.

Moreover, the bar’s decoration is very luxurious and is known as super VIP!

In addition to match days, the bar is also open to the public on weekdays.

This sky bar is the masterpiece of nightclub playboy Adam Crozier!

According to him, the bar will be very expensive, with each admission ticket, including the game ticket, costing at least 2 pounds.

Too expensive? We don't offer discounts!
What if you want to go bar-hopping but can’t afford a sky bar?
It's okay. There is a bar street on the ground floor of our stadium specially for fans. It has all kinds of alcohol and drinks, and you can choose according to your budget.

But the sky bar on the rooftop is so expensive!
Yang Cheng and his team even went up to the top floor to take a look at the unfinished house. The overall framework has now been completed.

The next step is to erect the suspension trusses for the court, then the ceiling, and then start decorating the bottom.

Don’t underestimate this step. It’s only about a year and a half, so the time is quite tight.

As for the folding turf that Yang Cheng is most concerned about, the main structure has been completed and has passed the expert verification. What remains is some follow-up work. As for how to lay and maintain the turf, this has nothing to do with the project.

At the same time as the topping-out ceremony, Yang Cheng, Xia Qing, Adam Crozier, Gareth Bale, Walcott, Modric, Lewandowski and others attended a signing ceremony together.

Bayswater Chinese officially announced that it has signed an agreement with Prudential, the largest insurance company in the UK.

Prudential has renewed its contract with Bayswater Chinese for five years to sponsor the chest advertising, with an annual sponsorship fee of up to £5 million!
This will create the highest chest advertising sponsorship fee in the history of European football!
In addition, Prudential Insurance will sponsor the new stadium of Bayswater Chinese Football Club for 3000 years at a cost of £10 million per year.

In other words, in the next 10 years, this stadium will be called Prudential Stadium!
The jersey chest advertising sponsorship will take effect from the summer of 11.

But the stadium naming started from the opening of the stadium in 12.

Several core executives of Prudential Insurance attended the signing ceremony. They hope that through such a major signing, they can leverage the influence of Bayswater Chinese in North America and Asia to further promote Prudential's business.

"We have every reason to believe that this will be a powerful cross-border collaboration!"

On the contrary, Adam Crozier, who was sitting next to Yang Cheng in the audience, still felt that the sponsorship fee of 3000 million pounds was a bit low.

"Just wait and see. Ten years from now, if you want to sign this naming contract at this price, forget it!"

Don't think that the sponsorship fee of £3000 million is expensive.

There are many clauses involved here.

For example, the sign on Queen's Road says Prudential Field.

There will be huge Prudential Arena logos hung around the stadium and the lights will be on at night.

What is this concept?
Adam Crozier said exaggeratedly: At night, Prudential’s logo can be seen all over West London!

"I will talk to AXA or other sponsors later. If they can't name our new stadium, they can name our training base. I plan to bundle the naming of all 10 satellite training centers together."

When Yang Cheng heard this, he immediately clapped his thigh and exclaimed.

This is a great idea!
There are 10 satellite training centers throughout London, and most of them are located on densely populated traffic arteries.

When choosing the site, Chris Hunter was very selective and the location was quite good.

With this bundling, sponsors will definitely be interested.

In fact, the effect may not be worse than the new stadium sponsored by Prudential.

"You are so capable, I guess I have to give you a raise!" Yang Cheng said half-jokingly.

Adam Crozier was even happier after hearing this.

Yang Cheng is a really good boss.

Not only does he delegate power fully, but he also trusts the people below him.

Everyone knows that Xia Qing is here to supervise them, but isn't this normal?
With the current size of the Chinese in Bayswater, Adam Crozier himself wouldn't feel at ease if there wasn't Xia Qing watching over them!

But more importantly, as long as the job is done, Yang Cheng is willing to pay.

He now earns an annual salary of 300 million pounds, which is already the highest in the Premier League.

The last time Premier League CEO Richard Scudmore, Manchester United general manager David Gill and Arsenal general manager David Dunn had dinner with him, they joked that his salary was almost as much as theirs combined.

At that time, Adam Crozier modestly said that it was not that much.

The next time they meet, he will dare to hold his head high and say: Among the three of you, pick any two of them, they are not as tall as me!
Adam Crozier got a raise, and so did Omar Berrada and the others. Everyone was very happy, except Xia Qing, who felt a little uncomfortable.

This was something she and Yang Cheng had already agreed on, but she still felt it was too much.

Annual salary of 400 million pounds!

But Yang Cheng was right, these guys were really capable.

Now, this group of Chinese in Bayswater is one team with two brands.

It is both a club and a football group.

Now, Chris Hunt has put Nice's training base on his agenda.

……

Before Christmas, the new sponsorship of Bayswater Chinese caused a sensation on Fleet Street in the UK!

Who would have thought that there would be such a Christmas gift.

A full 6000 million pounds!

If we add jersey sponsorship, the annual revenue would be almost 100 million.

The Times published an article commenting: "At that time, everyone thought that it was crazy for the Chinese in Bayswater to spend 1 billion pounds to build a new stadium."

"But now, even before the new stadium is completed, we have already seen the huge benefits it will bring."

The Times analyzed that there are only three stadiums in the Premier League that can sell naming rights.

In order to build a new stadium, Arsenal sold the naming rights of the Emirates Stadium for a naming fee of 15 million pounds over 1 years, which is only 675 million pounds per year, which is really cheap!
Not long ago, Manchester City announced that it had sold the naming rights of the stadium for the next 1.5 years for 15 million pounds. The stadium will be called the Etihad Stadium in the future, which is equivalent to 1000 million pounds per year.

But in fact, everyone knows that Manchester City’s stadium naming contract is somewhat watery.

Today, the Chinese in Bayswater have once again refreshed everyone's perception and told the world what a prime location is, what every inch of land is worth, and who is the richest of the rich!

The stadium naming rights were sold for 3000 million pounds!
Looking around the world, this is the only one!
The entire British media circle was also proud of it and rushed to report it!
Especially when interviewing CEO Adam Crozier and hearing that a sponsor was interested in naming the training base, the media started to hype it up again.

It has to be said that Adam Crozier is becoming more and more adept at utilizing the media.

It was at this time that FIFA and French Football Magazine also released the news.

In the 2010 merged FIFA Ballon d'Or top 10 list, two Bayswater Chinese were included.

One is Lewandowski and the other is Gareth Bale.

In the previously announced list of the top 20, four were from Bayswater and the other two were Walcott and Modric.

Since this year is the World Cup, it is a big year.

The Chinese in Bayswater have a big disadvantage, as Gareth Bale, Lewandowski and Modric all come from countries with weak football teams.

Although Walcott is from England, everyone knows what the current situation of the England national team is.

Under such circumstances, it is basically impossible for Bayswater Chinese players to get to the front in the new year.

In addition, Rooney also made it into the top ten, so it is estimated that the overall ranking structure will not change much from the previous life.

To put it bluntly, Sneijder in his previous life couldn't compete with Messi, Iniesta and Xavi, and Rooney is even worse now.

Don't count out Lewandowski and Gareth Bale either.

In Yang Cheng's opinion, it is already quite good if the players of his team can break into the top ten or top twenty.

This is worthy of the hard work of the club’s public relations department over the years, especially the new media working group.

At first, many players had opinions about the new media working group, but gradually, they began to reap the benefits.

Especially when you start to generate income, you can't help but mention how exciting it is.

……

Amid heated media discussions, the Chinese in Bayswater arranged a pre-Christmas dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel.

The club even booked the entire banquet hall to entertain the players, coaching staff, employees, and their families.

As the club's owner and head coach, Yang Cheng was the first to announce the team's achievements in the past season.

Including a breakthrough at the Golden Globes!

The response from everyone at the scene was extremely enthusiastic.

This is the first time in the history of Bayswater Chinese that a player on the team has made the top ten of the Ballon d'Or.

Maybe it’s still a bit far from winning the award, but Yang Cheng believes that there must be a chance!

He then announced that the team was leading the Premier League standings with an impressive record of 18 wins and 17 draw in 1 rounds.

This tied the best first half of a Premier League campaign ever for the Bayswater Chinese.

Why is it a tie?

Because in the 08/09 season, which was the club's most glorious season, the team achieved the same results.

"But now, I can tell you very proudly that our goal tally this season is better than that of the 08/09 season. The football we play is more attacking and is also the most popular among the fans!"

There was once again extremely warm applause at the scene.

The number of goals scored far exceeded that of the 08/09 season because the front trident was in full swing.

Toni Kroos in the midfield was almost seamless, and the midfield formed with Modric continuously created opportunities for the frontcourt, which made the Bayswater Chinese play offensively and unstoppable.

But the defense is not good.

This season, Bayswater Chinese have conceded 18 goals in 11 league games.

But only 08 were lost in the 09/6 season.

This actually confirms what Yang Cheng said before, that the Grand Slam season that year relied on excellent defense.

And now, the Chinese in Bayswater are playing a hearty offensive football.

Especially the 9-1 victory over Chelsea, which almost kicked the West London rivals out of depression!

After Yang Cheng, Adam Crozier also came on stage and reported on the team's operations and various situations in the past season. He also gave out an unprecedented four-crown award!
Adam Crozier hopes that everyone can cheer up and keep working hard in the next few months to strive for better performance and condition.

The club will definitely not be stingy and will give everyone an unprecedented heavy reward.

Attention, everyone!

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became extremely warm.

The Chinese in Bayswater are indeed well-known in this regard.

Although the players' salaries are not high compared to other teams, they are still within a reasonable range.

When it comes to bonuses, especially the championship bonus, Yang Cheng is never stingy.

As for coaches and employees, both their salaries and bonuses are basically at the leading level among their peers in the Premier League.

Yang Cheng’s plan for this season can also be seen from the rewards.

He is determined to win the league.

As for the cup competition, he also wants to fight for it.

Because the Premier League is now able to widen the gap a little, he can also devote some energy to playing in the cup competitions.

We have reached the semi-finals of the League Cup, so we must give it a try.

The FA Cup has not yet started, so it’s hard to say how the game will go.

It’s the Champions League.

In the draw for the Champions League round of 16 held at UEFA headquarters a few days ago, the Chinese from Bayswater unexpectedly drew Real Madrid. What a narrow road for enemies!

It’s also interesting to talk about Real Madrid.

Because they were either eliminated in the group stage or in the round of 16 in the past few years, their European points dropped and they were forced into the second tier.

The result was AC Milan and Manchester City.

Now they were taught a lesson by Ancelotti's Manchester City and only finished second in the group.

There were seven teams that finished second in each group, including Valencia, Roma, Lyon, Inter Milan, Marseille and Real Madrid, but the Chinese from Bayswater happened to draw Real Madrid.

Yang Cheng had no idea whether there was any shady dealings involved.

Anyway, I heard from the media that Mourinho was very dissatisfied with the draw and even got angry after knowing the result.

Real Madrid hired him to break the curse of the round of 16.

Now, the first thing I encountered was the Chinese from Bayswater.

How is this still playing?
……

After attending the Christmas dinner held by the Chinese in Bayswater, Yang Cheng, Xia Qing, Adam Crozier and others rushed to Nice, France to attend the Christmas dinner in Nice.

The French Ligue 12 will not enter its winter break until the end of the 22th round of matches on December 19.

The next battle will not start until January 1th.

There was more than half a month in between.

Nice had already started planning to go to the Middle East for winter training half a year ago, and had also arranged warm-up matches, including a friendly match with Bayern Munich.

The location chosen is Abu Dhabi.

Yang Cheng regards the Middle East and Africa as the starting point for Nice's business breakthrough and will definitely include this region in his key plans.

What Yang Cheng is considering is that the Qatari consortium will acquire Paris Saint-Germain next summer.

In fact, news has already begun to spread.

But it wasn't Paris Saint-Germain, it was Manchester United.

According to reliable intelligence obtained by Yang Cheng, the Qatari consortium has contacted Manchester United's owner, the Glazer family, and offered a 15 billion pounds offer to acquire Manchester United.

But the Glazer family was not satisfied with the price, so they rejected the Qatari consortium.

If Yang Cheng's estimation was correct, the French must have also heard the news, so they wanted to bring this big money sponsor to France.

This is very different from when Yang Cheng first arrived in France.

People from the Qatari consortium have direct contact with the French President, and the level difference is very huge.

Many fans only paid attention to the Qatari consortium's acquisition of Paris Saint-Germain, but ignored a series of other investments.

The most eye-catching of these is Al Jazeera.

This Qatari TV station not only bought the broadcasting rights of the Champions League in France at a high price, but also officially entered the French pay TV industry, breaking the monopoly of France TV 1 and Canal+.

At the same time, the price has doubled.

That is to say, the bonus pool for French teams participating in the Champions League will be expanded.

In addition, Al Jazeera also bought part of the domestic broadcasting rights of Ligue 1 and all of Ligue 1's overseas broadcasting rights with a record broadcasting fee.

Among them, the regions where Al Jazeera has the greatest influence are undoubtedly the Middle East and Africa.

That's why Yang Cheng asked Nice to start making arrangements in advance.

The Middle East and Africa are actually both extremely rich.

More importantly, the Premier League simply has no time to intervene in this market.

Because other countries are in the winter break, the Premier League games are more frequent.

In this case, the Middle East and Africa are undoubtedly the low points.

For example, the shrewd Bayern has arranged their recent winter training in the Middle East.

It would be a good choice for Nice to break in at this time and get a piece of the pie.

If Nice is still planning on the commercial level and has not yet made any moves, let alone achieved any results, then on the field, Ronald Koeman's Nice surprised Yang Cheng.

Yang Cheng and others arrived in Nice on the 23rd.

The night before, Nice beat second-to-last Arles 2-0 away from home.

Since Lille drew 1-1 with Saint-Etienne at home, Nice and Lille have the same points.

Nice has 10 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses, and has 35 points.

Lille has 9 wins, 8 draws and 2 losses, and also got 35 points.

But because Nice has a better goal difference, Ronald Koeman's team is at the top of the Ligue 1 table.

This was completely beyond Yang Cheng's expectations.

Over the past period of time, he has been busy with the three-line battle of the Chinese in Bayswater and has not had much time to pay attention to Nice. Unexpectedly, Ronald Koeman gave him such a big surprise!
Judging from the schedule, Nice is playing really well.

There was a 2-1 home win over Saint-Etienne and a 0-1 away loss to Lyon.

There was also a 1-1 draw with Montpellier at home.

They even beat Monaco 2-1 away from home.

The 1-0 home win over Marseille attracted the most news media coverage.

After all, Marseille is a traditional strong team in Ligue 1.

Overall, Nice's real rise came after the 13-0 away loss to Lyon in the 1th round.

Ronald Koeman's team has been unbeaten for six consecutive games.

It can be said that the performance is also remarkable.

Ronald Koeman's team is getting better and better.

But during the conversation between Yang Cheng and Ronald Koeman, the Dutchman was obviously not satisfied with the team's performance and believed that the team was not stable enough.

"This is related to the fact that the players have not yet fully mastered the tactics and are unable to implement them properly," Ronald Koeman explained.

Born in Ajax, a famous Dutch coach and a Barcelona legend, Ronald Koeman's tactics are not simple.

Especially for players like this who come from all over the world, it is obviously unrealistic to expect them to fully master Ronald Koeman's requirements all at once, so Ronald Koeman is still not satisfied.

In the coming winter training, he will further sculpt and improve the team based on the problems exposed by the team.

"I am confident that the team will perform even better in the second half!"

Yang Cheng is of course full of confidence in Ronald Koeman.

But ask yourself, if Yang Cheng were to coach these rookies in Ligue 1 himself, his results would definitely far surpass Ronald Koeman's.

This is not Yang Cheng bragging, nor is Ronald Koeman being modest.

Nice really hasn't fully integrated yet and its strength has not yet been fully demonstrated.

Do you know how the French media evaluated this half-time champion?

The weakest half-time champion since the new century!

The media has data.

They counted the French Ligue 1 half-time champions since the new century, and the team with the fewest points was Nice.

Just 35 points.

Not to mention the peak period when Lyon scored 50 points in the first half, let’s just talk about the past two seasons.

09/10赛季，波尔多拿下了半程冠军，14胜1平4负，拿到了43分。

08/09赛季的半程冠军是里昂，拿到了11胜5平3负，38分。

All are higher than Nice.

In this context, Ronald Koeman's team really has nothing to be proud of.

Besides, the French team newspaper also said that winning the half-time championship does not necessarily mean you will have the last laugh.

For example, last season Bordeaux won the half-time championship, but the final championship went to Marseille.

The season before last, Lyon won the half-time championship, but the final championship went to Bordeaux.

Therefore, even if Nice wins the half-time championship, it does not necessarily mean they will win the final Ligue 1 championship!

As a new foreign investor with the huge Chinese team in Bayswater as their backer, Nice’s win at the half-time championship was certainly an honor, but it also made them the target of public criticism.

Yang Cheng agrees with Ronald Koeman's idea. Nice still has many problems that need to be solved urgently, and winter training is the key to solving the problems.

Winter training will play a decisive role in whether we can continue to exert our strength in the second half.

Therefore, when Yang Cheng met with CEO Martin Harrison and Football Director Emmanuel Perrin, he repeatedly reminded them to ensure good logistical support.

Nice's entire management system was transplanted from the Chinese in Bayswater, but the vast majority of the staff are locals or were originally in the club.

It always takes some time to adjust and execute.

Especially the French, who are notoriously lazy.

But both Martin Harrison and Emmanuel Perin assured Yang Cheng that they would do their best to protect Ronald Koeman and his team.

If Yang Cheng remembered correctly, in his previous life, Lille's points when it won the 10/11 season championship should have been the lowest in the past years.

Moreover, Lille also had a Hazard that season, and now the Belgian is playing for the Chinese at Bayswater.

There is also next season's French Ligue 1 champion Montpellier, and the key player is the number one center forward Giroud.

But now, Giroud is also in Bayswater Chinese.

When Yang Cheng thought about this, he found it a little funny.

Although the French Ligue 1 is quite weak, Nice, which was personally formed by Yang Cheng, is indeed quite strong.

If Ronald Koeman can really integrate and coach the team, it is not impossible for it to win the Ligue 1 championship this season.

There may even be a chance to compete with Paris Saint-Germain next season.

At least, in Yang Cheng’s previous life, didn’t Paris Saint-Germain lose to Montpellier?

Thinking of this, Yang Cheng discussed with Martin Harrison and Emmanuel Perrin and decided to give out a hefty championship reward to encourage the players to keep up the good work and strive to maintain their performance in the first half of Ligue 1 in the second half.

Founded in 1904, when was the last time Nice won the French Ligue title?
The 58/59 season has been going on for 51 years!

What about the last time you got runner-up?

The 75/76 season has been 35 years ago.

The last time you won a championship?

French Cup champion in the 96/97 season!

During the subsequent Christmas dinner, Yang Cheng loudly told all the Nice players that as long as they could win the championship, whether it was the French Cup or the Ligue 1, the club would give them generous rewards!

This will be a huge opportunity to boost the Nice football market!

You know, so far this season, Nice's average attendance is only more than 8 people, far below the average level of Ligue .

This is not a matter of insufficient stadium capacity.

The main reason is that the facilities are too old, which makes fans reluctant to attend.

According to the market research, the actual results are that citizens of Nice and surrounding areas are very supportive of the Nice Club, but they all sit at home and watch the live broadcast of the game.

Therefore, Yang Cheng decided to offer generous rewards to encourage players to win the championship and stimulate the football market.

At the very least, we need to heat up the football market first.

This is all income.

Although the tickets for Ligue 1 are cheap, every little bit counts.

With Nice's current income, if they can fill their home stadium, they can earn an extra 4 million euros per season.

That's it!
(End of this chapter)