My 1999

"Based on the company's revenue this season, in the 2005-06 season, at least 100 million pounds can be spent on business development. Isn't this money enough?"

"BOSS, you have been studying the renovation, expansion and construction plans of the Old Trafford Stadium. After two years of research, you have now made a mature plan."

Xu Liang suddenly realized that after acquiring Manchester United, he also inherited Manchester United's problems.

Putting aside the problems of the Manchester United team for the moment, the problems on the stadium are very big.

This stadium, which was started in 1908, has a history of more than 100 years.

In 2000, Manchester United expanded the Old Trafford Stadium, with a capacity of 68,217, making it the largest stadium in England at the time.

But no matter how much renovation and expansion is done, it cannot change the outdated structure of Old Trafford.

Due to aging pipeline problems, ceiling leakage problems, etc., maintenance costs are getting higher and higher.

Second, Manchester United's influence has expanded dramatically in the past two years, with stadium attendance reaching over 95%.

This means that the Manchester United Stadium still has great potential to be tapped.

There is an urgent need to expand the stadium to increase revenue.

Xu Liang is a businessman and has never had trouble with money.

Therefore, the issue of stadium reconstruction and new construction has been put on the agenda.

“This is the new construction plan and renovation plan we have prepared.”

David Gill handed over two thick stacks of documents.

Xu Liang flipped through it briefly.

There is so much content that I can’t finish it in a while.

"Please tell me briefly."

David Gill nodded.

“Old Trafford is sandwiched between the river and the railway, and the long side stands are close to the river and the railway and cannot be altered.

The Charlton Stand is the only single-tiered stand at Old Trafford, so the expansion plan will see the Charlton Stand demolished and renovated.

After the renovation, the stadium's capacity will increase to 76,000.

Additionally, we plan to install a third tier above the Stretford Stand.

When completed, the capacity of Old Trafford will exceed 80,000.

There are then plans to build a new official hotel in the northwest corner of the ground behind the Ferguson Stand and hopefully a fan park behind the Main Stand.

The overall renovation plan will take approximately 5 to 10 years.

The overall expenditure is controlled at around 150-200 million pounds.

However, there are also big problems with the renovation plan. The experience of watching games in the third-floor stands is too poor. Unless there are major events, it may be difficult to sell them.

In addition, the Old Trafford reconstruction plan only changes the original structure and cannot completely solve the problems of the aging stadium and imperfect structure.

Finally, there is no underground parking lot at Old Trafford, which will cause traffic congestion every time there is a match day, seriously affecting the attendance of the stadium.

Although improvements can be made to the remodeling plan, it is difficult to completely solve it. "

Xu Liang said, "Tell me about the reconstruction plan."

"OK."

After agreeing, David Gill first took out a map and handed it to Xu Liang.

Different areas are marked on the map in four colors.

Overall, the circled area on the map looks like a piece of durian.

“The entire land covers an area of ​​approximately 39.4 acres (176.4 acres), of which we own 12.4 acres, and the remaining parts are in the hands of Freightliner Group, DB International Freight Company and H Company2.

We have spoken to HCompany2 and they are willing to sell us the 9.8 acres they hold for £24 million.

But Freightliner Group and DB International Freight Company rejected our acquisition. "

Xu Liang's eyes flashed.

He is no stranger to Freightliner Group and DB International Freight Company.

The former is a world-famous heavy-duty vehicle brand founded in 1929 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, USA. It is a leading manufacturer of trucks, special vehicles and special chassis in North America, with a 32% share of the U.S. heavy truck market.

It owns Freightliner (heavy and medium-duty trucks, military vehicles); American Rampans (fire trucks and ambulance equipment); Thomas Bilt (school buses, passenger buses); Western Star (heavy-duty long-distance trucks and military vehicles); Terin (special purpose vehicles and military vehicles); Unimog (commercial vehicles) and other famous brands.

The latter is a world-class logistics giant.

Ranked among the top three and top five in sea and air transport, with annual revenue of nearly 15 billion euros.

It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, Germany's state-owned railway operator.

"I remember this is a railway terminal, right?" Xu Liang asked.

David Gill nodded.

“It is located just behind the Stretford Stand and connects the Liverpool and Manchester railway lines and consists of containers, cargo handling areas and tracks, the railway hub of the North West of England.

Our plan is to move this logistics node to Port Salford or Parkside. This will not only avoid crossing Piccadilly and Oxford Road, causing traffic congestion and noise pollution, but also shorten the mileage and save time.

In addition, the space will be saved after the dock is relocated.

We will build a new stadium, a large fan hotel, a sports park, a railway station and a large community.

The new stadium will be moved from its current location to the center of the site.

After the plan is completed, the stadium capacity will also increase from the current 68,217 to 90,000 people.

The new stadium will be built with an arch structure similar to Wembley Stadium.

Dozens of steel cables are used to secure the roof of Wembley Stadium.

The advantage of this is that there is no need to use support columns to support the roof like the old stadium, ensuring that the 90,000 seats in the new and old Trafford Stadium have a very good view of the game from every angle.

With good visibility, we can heighten the stands and divide them into three levels: upper and lower.

The lower deck has 34,303 seats, the middle deck has 16,532 seats, and the upper deck has 39,165 seats.

The roof of the new stadium is 52 meters high from the turf. The roof covers a total area of ​​11 acres, 4 of which are removable and closed. The roof weighs 70,000 tons.

The new stadium is expected to use 90,000 cubic meters and 23,000 tons of reinforced concrete.

Excluding the four walls and roof, the volume of the new stadium is 4 million cubic meters.

The new stadium has 2,500 toilets, 380 boxes, 36 elevators, 20 escalators, and includes multiple functional areas such as player lounges and honor rooms.

And we will build a three-story underground garage with a total of 12,000 parking spaces to completely solve the problem of traffic congestion at the stadium. "

David Gill looked at the big boss's face and then said slowly.

"The entire new stadium is expected to take five years to complete, with an investment of 500 to 700 million pounds."

Xu Liang raised his eyebrows.

"The investment is so high?"

"This is based on our estimate of the total investment in Wembley Stadium."

David Gill said quickly.

Construction of the new Wembley Stadium started in 2003. It was designed and planned by HOK Sports and Foster + Partners, and Mott MacDonald Consultants and Australian construction company Multiplex were responsible for the construction.

The Football Association, the British Ministry of Culture, Media and Sports and the London Development Agency will provide funding. The project is scheduled to be completed in May 2006, with a total investment of 326.5 million pounds.

As a result, bad things happened as soon as the project started.

First, the project management was poor, and an accident occurred, killing someone, causing the project to be shut down, and requiring high compensation.

Then came the increase in material costs and labor costs.

Not only did the construction period of three and a half years be extended to four and a half years, but the original total investment of 326.5 million pounds was turned into 780 million pounds.

In contrast, Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, which started construction almost at the same time, was not only completed within three years, but also cost only 470 million pounds.

Although the Emirates Stadium has a capacity of more than 60,000 people and Wembley Stadium has a capacity of 90,000 people, the construction cost exceeding 66% is still outrageous.

Sure enough, it is better to make money from public projects.

Xu Liang made a continue gesture.

David Gill felt a little uneasy, took a slight breath and continued.

“On the west side of the new stadium, we are planning to build a three-star fan hotel with 3,981 rooms and suites, a variety of restaurants including Western, Chinese and French food, a large indoor shopping mall, a fitness center and a spa area.

It can receive 6,000 tourists at the same time.

Construction of the hotel and the new stadium started at the same time, with a construction period of 4 years and an estimated investment of 300 million pounds.

Between the hotel and the stadium, we will start construction of a 4.9-acre sports park and a railway station.

The railway connects to Manchester Piccadilly Station in the city centre. On match days, spectators in the city center can travel to Old Trafford by train, further reducing road traffic pressure.

Finally, after the construction of the new stadium is completed, we will demolish the old stadium and transform it into a fully furnished apartment with 3,000 residences.

The entire construction period is expected to be ten years, and the total investment is expected to be about 1.5 billion pounds.

When the project is completed, Manchester United will not only have the best football stadium in Europe, but will also become the most profitable club in Europe. "

David Gill was full of passion and aroused the enthusiasm of everyone attending the meeting.

Even Xu Liang couldn't help but be attracted by the future he described.

However, he soon regained his composure.

A bright future requires strong capital to support it.

"It's a very grand plan. What are your financial plans?"

"We are prepared to follow the example of the Emirates Stadium and sell the naming rights of the new stadium for 20 years, so that we can raise 150 million pounds.

In addition, the sports park and railway station are both public utility investments. We will negotiate with the Greater Manchester City Government to use part of the government's public welfare funds to cover part of the construction expenditure.

That leaves about £1.3 billion, which we need to raise ourselves. "David Gill said.

Everyone looked over subconsciously.