The Godfather of Football

Robert Milson was once a very experienced journalist. He graduated with a master's degree in journalism from Goldsmiths College, University of London. After graduation, he worked in many authoritative newspapers such as The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, and The Daily Mail, with the highest position being deputy editor-in-chief.

Friends often tease him for his rich work experience, saying that his biggest regret is that he did not personally select the girls for Page 3 of The Sun, which is a dream job for all British men. However, although Milson has no experience working in The Sun, The Times also belongs to the News Group behind The Sun.

A few years ago, Robert Milson, who had worked in the newspaper for more than ten years, decided to leave the newspaper industry. He began to work as a public relations consultant in some large companies, specializing in contact with the media. Because he has a very wide network of contacts in this regard and he is a very experienced journalist himself, he did a very good job in this job and gradually became famous.

And it is well known that he has always been a fan of Tottenham Hotspur.

In the first thirty-five years of his life, he watched almost every game of Tottenham Hotspur, every game, because his parents took him to White Hart Lane to watch the game when he was still a baby, and every Sunday was spent with Tottenham Hotspur's football games.

This contains a lot of bitterness and tears, but also brings a lot of happiness and joy, which he will never forget.

But after he decided to quit his job as a reporter and newspaper, he chose to go south, sold his house in Tottenham, spent all his savings, and bought a street-facing duplex in Shoreditch, which is close to London City University, the University of the Arts and Cass Business School, and the public security is much better than in the north.

He and his wife have children. For the sake of the children, he chose to leave Tottenham because he was worried about the worsening public security there, especially with more and more immigrants pouring into that area. Even if he is not a racist, everyone must admit that with more immigrants, the public security and environment have become worse.

Shoreditch is not far from the financial district, and quite a few large companies have chosen to set up offices here. Robert Milson's company office is nearby, which makes commuting very convenient and the public security is very good, so he doesn't have to worry at all.

Every morning, he walks to work, passes by a newsstand, and picks up two or three newspapers at random.

Although British football is very popular and the fans here are very enthusiastic, in fact, this country does not have a professional football newspaper. All newspapers, including the Times, the Guardian, and the Daily Telegraph, are comprehensive newspapers.

But don't think that the British don't read sports newspapers. On the contrary, there are no professional football newspapers, but all comprehensive newspapers regard football as a very important section, especially in recent years, the Premier League has become more and more popular, and the pages are also increasing.

Twenty-four of the forty pages of the Times are dedicated to football, while the Guardian has thirty-six pages. The Sun's official version has ten pages introducing sports and football, but they have specially opened up a twenty-eight-page football sub-page.

British newspapers are very targeted, including the serious and conservative Daily Telegraph, the hippie Guardian, the Daily Mail, the friend of middle-aged women, and the Sun, which is famous for its three-page girls. There are even free subway newspapers given away at subway stations, but no matter what newspaper it is, football occupies a very large space.

Because of this, Robert Milson has thought more than once that football has such a great influence, but in fact all clubs still seem to lack professionalism when dealing with newspapers. They often hire a press officer with enough connections to help the club deal with some things, such as scandals such as players visiting nightclubs.

He once submitted a written proposal to the management of Tottenham Hotspur. He felt that if the football club could form a sufficiently positive interaction and communication with these newspapers, not only in the UK, but even in the world, the influence of the football club would be raised to a higher level than it is now.

In the final analysis, the value of football clubs is still too low, which is far from being consistent with football as the world's number one sport. There is still considerable potential to be explored, and in the modern business field, influence and attention are everything.

The sponsorship fees of Manchester United and Arsenal are so high not only because of their good performance, but also because of their influence and attention. Without these two things, no matter how good their performance is, the sponsorship fees will not be so high.

In fact, many teams do not pay attention to these things at all.

Just like Everton, who made it into the top four of the league last season, this should have been a godsend opportunity to break the monopoly of the top four in the Premier League and enter the top four. This is a breakthrough in itself, a very gimmicky opportunity that could greatly enhance Everton's influence if it is operated, but they just let it go.

In the end, it's still a word, too unprofessional!

Every time he sees football news in the newspaper, Robert Milson will sigh about the extravagance and waste of these football clubs, because there are countless companies out there who are eager to wait for such an opportunity, because they know very well that just one time can make the company reborn, but these football clubs have wasted it again and again.

While reading the newspaper and walking on the way to work, Robert Milson found that there were more and more news about Tottenham Hotspur in the newspaper pages recently, especially after the new chairman Ye Qiu held a grand press conference, which brought a huge response to all the fans.

That was definitely a very smart hype. Taking advantage of the interval between the World Cup games, Tottenham Hotspur became the focus of the world's attention in one breath. Robert Milson felt that there must be a group of people behind Ye Qiu who were giving him advice.

In the past few days after the press conference, Tottenham Hotspur has also continued to recruit players and announced them on the official website one after another.

One million and five hundred thousand euros brought in Peruvian left-back Juan Manuel Vargas from Argentina's Santa Fe Colon.

Two million and five hundred thousand euros brought in Norwegian central defender Brede Hangeland from Denmark's Copenhagen.

Seven million euros brought in midfielder Andrei Arshavin from Zenit of the Russian Super League.

What Robert Milson saw was the news of the introduction of Andre Arshavin announced yesterday. In connection with the introduction of Alves, the best player of the UEFA Cup, from Sevilla, he felt that the overall structure of Tottenham Hotspur has been formed. However, after the goalkeeper let Paul Robinson go, he did not recruit any more players. Could it be that he wanted to reuse Joe Hart?

"Too young?" Robert Milson shook his head and muttered to himself.

Another hidden danger is the central defender. Previously, the media in Turin, Italy broke the news that Ye Qiu participated in the transfer competition of Thuram and Zambrotta, but in the end both players transferred to Barcelona, ​​because Tottenham Hotspur was obviously not in their eyes, and they only wanted to go to the best giants.

Because of this, Robert Milson had a hunch that Hangeland and Vargas were both the last resort choices for Ye Qiu after he missed Thuram and Zambrotta. But whether these two players can show their strength in the new season of Tottenham Hotspur and guarantee the team's defense is the biggest suspense of Tottenham Hotspur this season.

If we look at it simply from the surface, although Tottenham Hotspur is turbulent this season, the average age of the team has dropped, with more young players including Fabregas and Messi, plus powerful stars such as Van Nistelrooy, Ribery, Mascherano and Thiago Silva, Tottenham Hotspur's strength will at least not be weaker than last season.

Robert Milson's feeling also represents the impression of quite a few professional reporters and fans. After all, they are not Ye Qiu, and it is impossible for them to know what is behind these names and what their future will be like. Now they are just a group of players who have not fully proved themselves and have not yet fully matured.

Milson also did some calculations. Tottenham Hotspur has spent more than 80 million euros on signings this season, not including the six exchange players, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Carroll, Van Persie, Messi, Fabregas and Ribery. If they are included, Tottenham Hotspur's expenses exceed 100 million euros.

Thiago Silva, Mascherano, Yaya Toure and Marcelo alone cost 40 million euros.

But Tottenham Hotspur's transfer income is not small. There was news that Tottenham Hotspur's income from selling players was nearly 100 million. Now Lennon is very close to Chelsea. Mourinho's agent Mendes said that he would take Lennon as soon as possible, and Manchester United is also very interested in this young player who performed well in the World Cup. The transfer fee will not be too low.

In addition, local players in the Premier League have always been expensive, so Aaron Lennon's transfer fee is at least more than 20 million.

"It's really smart to say it's smart!" Robert Milson thought about it and found that Ye Qiu's transfer was really smart.

If he knew that the transfer fee of the four Ajax players was only 10 million euros in total, I believe he would be so scared that his mouth would drop, because this almost means that Tottenham Hotspur has made a net profit of nearly 60 million euros in the transfer market.

Ye Qiu plans to invest this money in the construction of the training base.

Just as Robert Milson closed the newspaper, he was in a good mood because of the transfer news of Tottenham Hotspur, and he walked forward with a smile, and at this time, the Zeus mobile phone in his suit pocket rang.

Seeing that it was an unfamiliar caller ID number, Robert Milson was a little surprised, but he still answered, "Hello, hello."

"Hello, Mr. Robert Milson?" The man on the other end of the phone asked.

"Yes, who are you?"

"I am Ye Qiu, the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur!" The person on the other end of the phone introduced himself, "I don't know if you have time. I hope to talk to you as soon as possible, because I have read the proposal you submitted to Tottenham Hotspur before, and I am very interested in it. I wonder if you are interested in coming to Tottenham Hotspur to serve as the head of the press department?"

Robert Milson on the other end of the phone was stunned!

He never thought that Ye Qiu would come to him!

More than an hour after Robert Milson in Shoreditch, London, was stunned, Pini Zahavi, who was also in London but in Kensington, was also stunned, because he never thought that the transfer that he thought was ironclad and sure to win would turn out to be unexpected.

And the reason for this change was the same as Robert Milson in London, Ye Qiu came to him!

"I'm sorry, Mr. Pini Zahavi, I'm very grateful for Chelsea's invitation to me, but you know, Tottenham Hotspur also made an offer to Rennes, and the club also agreed to this offer. Mr. Ye Qiu took the time out of his busy schedule to fly from London to the Czech Republic yesterday. I was convinced by him and I have agreed to accept Tottenham Hotspur's invitation!"

"I feel very sorry for not being able to join Chelsea, because you are a very good and strong team, but I'm really sorry, I can't refuse the invitation from Mr. Ye Qiu, I hope to play under him!"

Just now, Rennes goalkeeper Peter Cech, who was still on vacation in the Czech Republic, called Pini Zahavi. On the phone, Peter Cech regretfully told Pini Zahavi this news, because he will fly to London today to sign a contract with Tottenham Hotspur, and then participate in the team's training tomorrow.

In fact, Ye Qiu didn't say anything to Petr Cech in the Czech Republic yesterday. He just talked about the chance encounter in Portugal two years ago. Ye Qiu said at that time that Petr Cech could become the best goalkeeper in Europe and the world, and he had the opportunity to play in the top leagues and teams in Europe.

Speaking of the encouragement given to him by Ye Qiu two years ago, Petr Cech always felt warm in his heart. Even though he performed very well in the past two years, he never had the opportunity to join the top European leagues, but he was not discouraged at all, because Ye Qiu's vision has always been very sharp, and if he says it's okay, it will definitely work.

And what Ye Qiu really invited this time was one sentence, "Come to Tottenham Hotspur, make progress with our young team, and become the best team and goalkeeper in the world together!"

With this sentence, Petr Cech nodded without hesitation and agreed to go to White Hart Lane.

Pini Zahavi naturally didn't know what happened in the Czech Republic yesterday, nor did he know that Tottenham Hotspur had secretly made an offer to Cech, and he didn't know that Ye Qiu had such an intersection with Petr Cech in the past.

When he thought he had brought the Czech goalkeeper under his command, reality played a big joke on him.

But just when he was thinking about how to explain this matter with a lost heart, he suddenly realized another big problem.

"Hello, Jorge, it's Pini!" He immediately called Jorge Mendes, "I want to ask, how is Van der Sar's transfer to Manchester United going?"

"Almost done!" Mendes on the other end of the phone said with a smile, "What? Did Ye Qiu look for you?"

Pini Zahavi got angry when he heard the name, "Looking for shit, he poached Peter Cech!"

"What?" Mendes felt that he didn't hear clearly, "Speak slower!"

"I said, his target is not Van der Sar, but Rennes' goalkeeper Peter Cech!"

Mendes on the other end of the phone was also stunned, "Then Peter Cech agreed?"

"What do you think?" Pini Zahavi's tone was also bad, "We should keep Van der Sar now!"

"It's too late, the player has decided to leave!" Mendes shook his head. This move really surprised them a little, because Peter Cech didn't come, but Van der Sar was leaving. Isn't this a own goal?

"Then we should find another goalkeeper as soon as possible!" Pini Zahavi has even started searching in his mind.

Because Tottenham Hotspur caught evidence of his private contact with Arnesen and Ledley King, Pini Zahavi's influence in Abramovich's heart has declined a lot, especially after Ye Qiu left. His influence on Chelsea has become greater than before, and he can even affect the transfer operation. All of this makes Abramovich feel apprehensive.

If the news of Peter Cech's failed transfer reaches Abramovich's ears again, it will be even more difficult for his good friend to intervene in Chelsea's affairs in the future.

"It's not easy to find a top goalkeeper. Not to mention that many goalkeepers of top teams have problems, even those goalkeepers who have proven themselves are unwilling to move easily. Even Liverpool's Reina and other goalkeepers with unstable performances, if they really want to poach, the price will not be low, and it may even be ridiculously high!"

The most feared thing in transfer operations is this kind of forced poaching, because forced poaching has a very good bargaining advantage if the other party does not sell, and the party that forced poaching has no choice but to adopt money tactics and spend money crazily.

So, in the transfer market, many times it is the buyer who bids, and even if the seller is willing to sell in his heart, they will still pretend that they are not for sale. The purpose is also very simple, that is, to raise the price, buy if you want, and forget if you don't want to.

"I think Hilario deserves to be reused. He performed well in Portugal, and thirty years old is undoubtedly the golden age for a goalkeeper!" Mendes smiled and recommended his players.

Without waiting for Pini Zahavi to say anything, he smiled and said, "I'd better talk to Jose!" Then he hung up the phone.

Pini Zahavi stared at the phone blankly. He felt that he seemed to have been making mistakes recently.

Since the negotiation with Ye Qiu, he felt that his position in Abramovich's heart was getting lower and lower, and he was getting less and less confident. However, the more anxious he was to make achievements, the more likely he was to make mistakes, and the more opportunities his competitors had to take advantage of him.

Now he felt that he was in a state of confusion. He felt that it was necessary to think carefully and sort out the situation and environment he was facing. He even felt that perhaps his most threatening opponent was not Ye Qiu, but the Portuguese group.

At the very least, Mourinho's thirst for power was no less than Ye Qiu's, and Mendes was even more greedy than Eliza Moon. This pair was his biggest threat in the future.