The Godfather of Football

Sean Ingler, a young reporter in the Guardian's comprehensive sports section, has just completed his internship and has reported several news stories independently, but none of them caused much stir and the response was very general.

There are many reporters like him in the Guardian Group, which is known as the largest comprehensive newspaper in the UK. Therefore, this young man who always combs his short hair neatly and looks like a standard British gentleman has always been grabbing news everywhere, because he thinks that now is the time for him to fight for his career.

So there are many news that others are unwilling to follow, and the editor-in-chief chooses to let him go. Just like now, he is sitting on the subway to Canary Station, just like all young people, with a backpack slung across his body, which contains all his interview props, but they are not valuable things.

For a reporter like him who has just passed the internship, he does not have the treatment of those big-name reporters, and he even has no car.

There was a ding-bell, and a prompt sound came from the subway.

"Attention, passengers, the next stop is Canary Wharf. Passengers who are getting off please get ready. Thank you!"

Hearing this reminder, Sean Ingel tightened the backpack strap on his chest and quickly moved to the door.

Coming out of the subway station, you will see the most famous Bank Street in Canary Wharf. This is the most famous financial center in London. Almost all the most famous banks in the world have opened their branches and offices here, so there are many tall buildings here.

After leaving Bank Street, walk north and come to Groned Road. From here, walk east for a while and you will come to the Churchill Center with three buildings side by side. This is the office location of many world-class financial institutions such as HSBC and Barclays Bank.

But at the same time, it is also the office location of the London Olympic Organizing Committee, and the floor they are on is very interesting, the 23rd floor.

Someone once said that this is Beckham's jersey number, because this England's flagship star wore the No. 23 jersey in Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.

Arriving at the main entrance of the Churchill Center, several security guards were like vultures looking for food, their eyes wandering around all the people who walked into the lobby. Sean Ingel was a little unaccustomed to such eyes and a little panicked, so he simply took out his press card and hung it in the pocket of his suit on his chest.

Perhaps this would make him feel much more at ease, after all, almost every British person knows the Guardian.

The press conference of the Olympic Organizing Committee is not a good job. Now there are more than four years before the London Olympics, and in recent times, although there has been no news outside, everyone knows that the Olympic Organizing Committee is short of money and is raising money everywhere, but it is said that no company has publicly expressed its willingness to sponsor.

"Needless to say, it must be the same old thing again, boring!"

The colleagues in the editorial department probably have the same idea, so they are not very interested in coming to the Churchill Center to attend this press conference. After all, relatively speaking, they are more willing to follow other news, such as Chelsea, such as Tottenham Hotspur.

There is news that Chelsea is undergoing a power adjustment recently. It is said that CEO Peter Kenyon has been sidelined. However, this rumor has not been confirmed by any Chelsea insider, but it is enough to make reporters from all over the UK rush to Stamford Bridge and Cobham training base.

As a newcomer, Sean Ingle is rarely able to take charge of a situation on his own, so he can only hide in the elevator behind a group of colleagues who are obviously also attending the press conference, and smile bitterly with a little expectation, "I hope it will be good news, or I can get some exclusive inside information!"

The elevator is fast and stable, and the 23rd floor is reached unknowingly.

Although many people say that the Olympic Organizing Committee is short of money, the facade of this organization is still quite good. When they get out of the elevator, there are staff members who greet them to go to the conference room, and they look very enthusiastic. When they get out of the conference room, they see Jackie Brock Doyle, the press officer of the Olympic Organizing Committee office, arranging and greeting on the spot, and they look very enthusiastic.

"What important news do you want to announce today, Jackie?"

"Yes, what news is it? Is it really big news?"

It was obvious that several colleagues from other newspapers who had a close relationship with the female press officer were chasing the press officer to ask.

"Believe me, it is really big news, but I can't tell you now!" Jackie smiled and shook her head, and turned to greet others.

Sean Ingel felt a little comforted after hearing this, and found a place to sit down. Perhaps because of the inferiority of the newcomer, he didn't dare to sit too far forward, because he didn't know what the news was even now, so he had no way to prepare what questions he wanted to ask. If he was called, but couldn't ask, or asked a stupid question, then he would lose face.

Less than a few minutes after sitting down, everyone saw that several important members of the London Olympic Organizing Committee had arrived, including Chairman Lord Sebastian Coe, President of the Olympic Organizing Committee Keith Miller, Financial Director Neil Wood, and Neil Coleman, who represented the Greater London Municipal Government.

Sean Ingelson had done some preparation before coming and got to know the members of the Olympic Committee, so he immediately recognized these Olympic bigwigs who were well-known in the UK. However, he was still surprised when they walked into the conference hall.

If he had only seen these people from the Olympic Committee, he would not have been surprised, but the problem was that he saw two other people.

Ye Qiu, the chairman and head coach of Tottenham Hotspur, and Tottenham Hotspur's vice-captain, England's flag bearer Beckham.

"Why are they here?" There was an uproar at the scene, and almost everyone's heart was full of doubts like Sean Ingler, and many people's first reaction was the news that came out not long ago.

Could it be that the negotiations on the main venue of the Olympic Games have finally been settled?

This group of celebrities who are the target of media attention whenever they walk out, now sit in a row facing the reporters, and the interesting thing is that Ye Qiu and the chairman of the Olympic Committee sit in the middle, which has clearly given a signal.

"Welcome everyone to the Churchill Center to attend this press conference!" The white-haired Lord Sebastian Coe welcomed the reporters present in his old voice.

"The reason why I invited you all here today is mainly because I have something to announce to the public!" As Lord Sebastian Coe spoke, everyone present almost held their breath, because if they were not mistaken, this would be a deal worth more than 300 million yuan, and it would also be a cooperation that caused a sensation.

Previously, extremists were very dissatisfied with Ye Qiu's move to get the main stadium of the London Olympics as a Chinese, and even protested, but from the current situation, the protest was invalid.

"We are very happy to have reached an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur. We all unanimously agree with the cooperation proposal submitted by Tottenham Hotspur Club, because we believe that only the most professional, best-run and best-performing football clubs are qualified to enter this magnificent stadium."

Sean Inger listened silently below, but he knew very well that these were official words. In fact, why did they hand over the stadium to Tottenham Hotspur? Everyone knew that it was because of money. Tottenham Hotspur and Ye Qiu had money.

Of course, it must be said that West Ham United is really disappointing. The Hammers are really a bit of a rogue.

Originally, everyone thought that the London Olympics was to support East London, and West Ham United was the flagship team of East London. Although the results were a little worse, it was at least a Premier League team. But he was different. Not only did he not want to pay for the stadium rental, he was not even prepared to pay for the stadium renovation, but hoped that the London City Government would support him.

Hearing about this, Lord Sebastian Coe and others from the Olympic Committee were so angry that they cursed. Moreover, Tottenham Hotspur is a foreign-funded company, and West Ham United is also a foreign-funded company. At least Tottenham Hotspur has enough sincerity and funds to support the work of the Olympic Committee, but West Ham United looks like they want to get something for nothing.

It can be said that from the beginning, everyone had only one suspense about this plan, that is, the Olympic Committee would not consider transforming the main stadium into a football field and transferring it to other institutions. If not, Tottenham Hotspur would have no chance, and this also means that the Olympic Committee is not short of money at all.

But if there is, Tottenham Hotspur is the only team that is qualified to compete for this stadium. Other teams like West Ham United, Leyton Orient, and even some college football teams in London and those organizations that want to transform it into an F1 racing track have never shown enough ambition or funds.

Sean Inger listened silently, but his attention was focused on Ye Qiu, because he found that in the agreement between Tottenham Hotspur, the Olympic Committee and the London City Government, starting from the construction of the stadium in 2008, Tottenham Hotspur will pay 100 million euros every year for the construction of the stadium in the next three years.

After the Paralympic Games in September 2012, the ownership of the new stadium will be automatically transferred to Tottenham Hotspur. In addition, a piece of vacant land in the Olympic Park, which is separated from the new stadium by a small river in the southeast, will also be automatically transferred to Tottenham Hotspur, and they will be allowed to build a five-star hotel on it.

However, because the Olympic Committee had already signed a cooperation agreement with Westfield Retail Group, selling a large piece of land in the north of the Olympic Village to this Australian retail company to build a shopping mall with a total area of ​​nearly 200,000 square meters, right at the exit of the subway station, Tottenham Hotspur's land will not be allowed to build a shopping mall.

Speaking of which, the Olympic Committee really racked its brains for money. They bundled the sale of land with Olympic sponsorship and received 700 million pounds from Westfield Retail Group, and construction has already begun.

Through negotiations, Ye Qiu promised not to violate the sponsorship regulations of the Olympic Committee, but he wanted to immediately start a five-star hotel, because in his previous conversation with Chen Zhong, Huangtian Group, which has been developing in the commercial real estate field in recent years and wants to enter the hotel industry, is also very interested in this project.

So the final result of the negotiations was that the stadium could be taken over after the Paralympic Games in September 2012, but the land could be put into construction now. However, the design must be integrated into the planning of the entire Olympic theme park. Ye Qiu said that this five-star hotel will be built into a landmark building in London, and the total investment is expected to be nearly 1 billion euros.

Huangtian Group has its own plan, and Tottenham Hotspur also has its own idea. The club will use the land as a stake. This will be the most famous tourist attraction in London in the future. The surrounding transportation is so convenient and it is close to There is absolutely no harm in building a five-star hotel in the most prosperous financial district. Huangtian Group will not lose money.

Of course, for the time being, Tottenham Hotspur only revealed that they would be looking for partners, but did not disclose specific matters.

After Lord Sebastian Coe finished speaking and the two parties signed the cooperation agreement in the presence of all reporters, the press conference was considered over. Then Ye Qiu and the senior officials of the Olympic Organizing Committee also chose to leave. to the venue.

While other colleagues had left the Churchill Center with satisfaction, Sean Inger chose to stay at the gate downstairs because he felt that this should be an opportunity and he wanted to seize this opportunity, so he He waited downstairs for a full hour. When Ye Qiu and Beckham finished talking with the people from the Olympic Organizing Committee and went downstairs, he blocked him in the parking lot.

"Mr. Ye Qiu, Mr. Ye Qiu!" Sean Yingger rushed up immediately and handed over the recorder, "Can you spare a little time to answer a few questions?"

At noon, everyone went to eat, but he was waiting in the parking lot. After Ye Qiu was stopped, he looked at the young reporter and the press card on his chest with interest, "The Guardian" ?”

"Yes, I'm a reporter from the Guardian, Sean Ingall!"

Ye Qiu and Beckham looked at each other and smiled, "We have a very good relationship with your newspaper. We have several regular interviews every week."

"I know!" Sean Yngle nodded, but he felt a little ashamed, "I'm not at the level of interviewing you alone."

After hearing this, Ye Qiu looked at Sean Yngle again, "Okay, Sean, you have five minutes."

"Thank you!" Sean Inger immediately opened his notepad after thanking him. He was obviously afraid of forgetting, so he prepared all the questions in advance and wrote them down. This move won the favor of Ye Qiu and Beckham. There are not many journalists who are so dedicated and focused these days. Others are more focused on how to hype things up and how to gain attention.

"I would like to ask Mr. Ye Qiu, many local citizens previously expressed opposition to your acquisition of the Olympic stadium through Tottenham Hotspur, which even triggered demonstrations. Are you worried that after this matter is announced, it will happen again? Cause dissatisfaction among citizens?" Sean Ingel was more careful with his words, because he himself knew very well that those who opposed it were ultra-nationalists.

"We will handle this aspect in a very appropriate way, and we will launch more measures in the future. For example, we will further strengthen the relationship between the club and Tottenham area, as well as several communities around the new stadium in London. Interact, strengthen connections, and we will use facts to prove our sincerity! ”

"I hope everyone understands one thing. This is not the Chinese acquiring the London Olympics. This is Tottenham Hotspur's investment in a new stadium, and that's it!" Ye Qiu was already prepared for such a question.

Sean Ingle was quite satisfied with Ye Qiu's answer and asked: "Then I believe all Tottenham Hotspur fans will have some worries, just like Arsenal was planning to build a new stadium not long ago. Tottenham Hotspur is competing for the main stadium of the London Olympics. It will have to pay 300 million euros in the next three years, and the renovation cost is nearly 100 million. It also plans to participate in a five-star hotel project. Will this cause Tottenham Hotspur's financial problems? problem appear?"

Ye Qiu smiled again after hearing this, "I hope you can convey this to all Tottenham Hotspur fans. I am confident that in the next few years, we can complete this project while ensuring that Tottenham Hotspur operates well." A flurry of initiatives and developments.”

"Of course, I want to reiterate that it is impossible for Tottenham to do this without losing money, but I personally think that the team needs to take this step because according to the We initially estimate that as long as the team is guaranteed to participate in the Champions League every year in the future, when we get this new stadium, the annual revenue will increase by at least 80 million pounds, not including the revenue from the five-star hotel.”

"That is to say, from a temporary perspective, the losses will be certain, but from the next five years, or even ten years, this new stadium will allow Tottenham Hotspur to always be at the top of the Premier League."

Sean Ingle also felt Ye Qiu's ambition. In fact, as an Englishman, he was also a fan, but he didn't have a favorite team, but he knew very well that almost all Premier League teams now Everyone wants to build a new stadium. Tottenham Hotspur can exchange 300 million euros plus the existing White Hart Lane stadium and surrounding land for the main Olympic stadium. This is definitely a very, very cost-effective deal.

And whoever has a new stadium in the future will always be invincible, because having a new stadium means having a larger income than the opponent. If it is developed properly, this will be very amazing, especially in London. core area.

Perhaps because he saw that Sean Yingger didn't have any more problems, Ye Qiu also thought that this young Englishman was quite interesting. He looked at him and smiled, "Well, I still have something to do and I need to leave urgently. This is the end of the interview." , But, Sean Ingel, I remember you!”

After hearing this, Sean Yingger was stunned for a moment, and then thought that Ye Qiu was going to sue him. He immediately became anxious, blushed, and wanted to explain and ask for Ye Qiu's forgiveness.

"I will inform the news department to pass on the fixed interview for next week to your editor-in-chief. You are one more!" Ye Qiu pointed at Sean Ingel and said with a smile, "Remember, Mr. Sean Ingel, don't block me in the parking lot again!"

Seeing Ye Qiu and Beckham get into the car with smiles on their faces, Sean Ingel was a little bit unbelieving. He still doubted whether what Ye Qiu said was true.