The Godfather of Football

As the players began to take a vacation, the internationals began to gather their strength and prepare for the upcoming World Cup in South Africa in the summer, but the management of Tottenham Hotspur could not relax at all.

The day after the 38th round of the Premier League, the team was disbanded. That afternoon, Ye Qiu summoned some core employees of the Theobald training base and gathered at the White Hart Lane Stadium to meet with a group of executives including Peter Kenyon, Ron Gourley and Robert Milson, the head of the press and public relations department.

This was a meeting that Ye Qiu, Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourley had been planning for a long time, and it would focus on a major change in Tottenham Hotspur.

"Everyone knows that since 2010, the UK has comprehensively increased the tax rate for high-income groups from the original 40% to the current 50%. This has made it necessary to adjust the salary structure of our team. On the other hand, including Manchester City, Newcastle, West Ham United, and even Liverpool, they have all launched a strong impact on us."

The impact that Ye Qiu mentioned did not come from the court, but from outside the court.

It is no longer a secret about the tax rate adjustment. In fact, in the past few years, the salary of the Premier League has been increasing. In the past, a weekly salary of 100,000 pounds was the top salary. But now, looking at the entire Premier League, among the top six teams, only Arsenal still sticks to the top salary structure of 100,000 pounds, and all other teams have broken.

Now England has become the league with the highest tax rate among the five major European leagues. Coupled with factors such as the exchange rate between the pound, the US dollar and the euro, the Premier League has not only lost its previous advantages in attracting players, but has instead become a disadvantage.

Let's take the simplest example, Kaka, the Brazilian superstar went to Real Madrid, and Florentino offered him an annual salary of 12 million euros after tax. According to Spain's current tax rate, Kaka belongs to the Beckham Act, and Real Madrid only needs to pay Kaka a salary of about 16 million euros to ensure that he gets an annual salary of 12 million euros after tax.

But if it is in the Premier League, in order to ensure that Kaka can get the same 12 million euros after tax, the club has to pay him a salary of up to 24 million euros, which is 8 million euros higher than Spain.

It is no secret that stars like to go to La Liga, especially high-paid stars, because La Liga has the lowest tax rate, only 25%, while France is 40%, Italy is 43%, and Germany is 45%. The Premier League used to be 40%, but it became 50% in 2010.

Some people may think that taxes are generally used to offset the players' bills, so the club is not a big problem. However, those who say this have obviously not thought about one question: Will the players be willing to miss such a large income? If the club does not make certain adjustments, will they continue to stay in the team with peace of mind?

Don't be silly?

In Ye Qiu's previous life around 2013, why couldn't Arsenal retain players?

Performance is one thing, and another part of the reason is that Arsenal is the only team that sticks to the top salary of 100,000 pounds. This stubbornness almost makes Arsenal unable to retain any player, which is unimaginable for the Premier League, where weekly wages have exceeded 200,000 pounds anytime and anywhere.

In the face of such an impact, Tottenham Hotspur has been prepared and has been changing, including using various means to guarantee the income of players, making salary income a part of the income of players, but ensuring the high income of players in other aspects.

Reasonable tax avoidance and business operation are the two most powerful means of Tottenham Hotspur. The former guarantees the income of players by reducing taxes through reasonable avoidance, while the latter has become a powerful measure for Tottenham Hotspur to retain players.

Just like Messi and Ribery, the current salary income of Messi and Ribery cannot enter the top ten in the European football rankings, because to enter the top ten of the current rankings, the annual salary must be at least 9 million euros, and the annual salary of these two players is about 8 million euros, so they can't be on the list at all.

At first glance, it seems that the players' salaries are very bad. After all, including Eto'o of West Ham United, Adebayor of Manchester City, Rooney of Manchester United, Ibrahimovic of Inter Milan, etc., all exceed 9 million euros, and even exceed 10 million euros. But as the world's top two ace superstars, their salaries are so low?

This is also one of the reasons why the media has been spreading rumors that the two ace stars will leave the team. There are often some newspapers that fabricate rumors that some players are dissatisfied with their salaries, but those who really know the inside story will not think so, because those reporters familiar with Tottenham Hotspur know that for the two superstars, salary is not the bulk of their income.

In the past season, Tottenham Hotspur has won Messi various advertising contracts, commercial cooperation and other incomes, up to 25 million euros, more than three times his annual salary, and Ribery's commercial income has reached 22.5 million euros, nearly three times his annual salary.

Moreover, their commercial income has a great advantage in paying taxes because they have registered their own company, which can ensure that most of the income will fall into their hands. Even if they divide it 50-50 with the club, Messi's total income still exceeds that of Cristiano Ronaldo, who is promoted by Real Madrid.

It was almost impossible for a player to earn more than 30 million euros in a single season in the past, but in 2008, Tottenham Hotspur helped Beckham reach 32.4 million euros through effective cooperative promotion, setting a record for the annual income of players. Now, this record has been broken by Messi, and Ribery has also entered the ranks of players with an annual income of more than 30 million euros. Of course, this calculation includes the income divided by the club.

There are three players in Tottenham Hotspur who have reached this number, while Real Madrid has only one Cristiano Ronaldo, and other teams have no one at all. This is the advantage of Tottenham Hotspur.

To put it bluntly, the commercial income benefits the players and the team also increases its income. This is a win-win situation. More importantly, through the development and operation of this aspect, the players can give appropriate compression on their salaries and reduce the operating pressure of the team. This is why Tottenham Hotspur's salary ranks outside the top three in the Premier League.

Now, with the implementation of the new tax rate in the Premier League, Tottenham's internal reforms are also on the agenda, especially after the team has gained a lot of experience from Ribery, Messi and Beckham, and has tasted the sweetness.

"Next, we will further expand the two major departments of the business department and the press and public relations department. In our reform plan, the players' salary income will be directly linked to the players' playing time, the team's achievements, and the players' contribution, rather than the fixed model in the past."

As the club's CEO, Peter Kenyon introduced the management's plan to everyone present.

Further deepening commercial operations is a necessary means to adjust the team's financial pressure. Without money, you can't do anything, but Ye Qiu must also be alert to one thing, that is, to avoid turning Tottenham into a commercial machine and ignoring the competitive field, that is, to follow the mistakes of the Galactic Battleship era.

From the previous fixed annual salary to the current floating system, it is an initiative that combines business and competition. Tottenham Hotspur has organized many professional accounting personnel to calculate and consider, hoping to come up with the most reasonable and effective salary structure plan. At the same time, it is also learning from the salary structure models of some large companies and other clubs.

Not only the players' salaries need to be reformed, but also the employees' salaries.

As early as last season, Tottenham Hotspur had held a meeting to solicit opinions from all players and employees in this regard. Therefore, all participants in the meeting were mentally prepared for these issues. Moreover, the plans drawn up by Ye Qiu and the management basically ensure that as long as the players and employees maintain their enthusiasm, their salaries will basically increase, but the extent will be evaluated based on your daily work ability, performance and status.

The salary increase plan is often easy to pass, and Ye Qiu hopes to mobilize the enthusiasm of players and employees through this floating salary structure to ensure the team's enthusiasm in the business and competitive fields.

If the team can win the Champions League every year and rank first in revenue every year, then you are not afraid of giving everyone a high salary, right?

At this meeting, Ron Gourlay also summarized and reported on the team's situation last season, including revenue. Because the team stopped in the semi-finals of the Champions League, the revenue from the Champions League was much less than last season, but the revenue from the Premier League has increased significantly.

"Last season, we received a league bonus of 61.7 million pounds in the Premier League, of which the largest income came from TV broadcast fees. In addition to the basic broadcast share of 14.6 million pounds for each team, and 10.1 million pounds for overseas copyright fees, plus 2 million pounds for sponsorship and license agreement fees, our share of live broadcasts also reached 19 million pounds."

The Premier League's broadcast share is very complicated, including basic fixed shares, overseas copyrights and some fees, which are the same for all 20 Premier League teams, but there is also a share of the number of broadcasts. Live broadcasts are 500,000 pounds per game, and teams including Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester United basically broadcast live every game.

Another part is the bonus for the final ranking of the league, one ranking is 800,000 pounds. Tottenham Hotspur won the league championship and can get a total of 16 million pounds in bonus income.

In other words, the bonus and income that Tottenham Hotspur received from the Premier League alone reached 61.7 million pounds, which is nearly 80 million euros. This is definitely a huge income that makes all other league teams salivate. I am afraid that only the two teams in the Western Super League can surpass Tottenham Hotspur.

But this is just the income from broadcasting. If the ticket income, match day operating income, merchandise sales, sponsorship income and other income are included, Tottenham Hotspur's operating income will reach a historical high, and it is expected to further narrow the gap between itself and Manchester United and Real Madrid.

You know, Tottenham Hotspur achieved this result, and this is still under the condition that the White Hart Lane Stadium is not strong. If it is changed to a new stadium, the current Tottenham Hotspur is no longer inferior to any team in terms of operation.

With the significant increase in fiscal revenue, the team not only gave players and employees a proper increase in salary and benefits, but also decided to continue to increase some other income, such as the 2010 Christmas Carnival investment budget, as well as the budget for Tottenham Hotspur's youth training coach training class, the budget for the Talent Day selection event, etc.

Among them, because of the Talent Day selection event, Tottenham Hotspur can form a complete youth training team, so Ye Qiu announced that starting from the next season, Tottenham Hotspur's youth training camp will fully follow the Ajax youth training model, introduce a survival of the fittest assessment system, conduct assessments once a year, and allow all unqualified players to resign.

Not only players, but all employees and coaches working at Tottenham Hotspur also adopt the same assessment system, and employees and coaches who perform poorly or are unqualified will also be allowed to resign.

In Ye Qiu's opinion, the Tottenham Hotspur Youth Training Camp in the past was a stagnant pool of water, with only people coming in but no people leaving. But at that time, it was because Tottenham Hotspur did not have a complete youth training team. But now it is different. Tottenham Hotspur has enough fame and attraction, attracting more and more youth training players to join every year. In this case, competition must be strengthened.

The long-awaited summer talent day selection event will be held in July. Unlike last year's talent day selection, last year it was only aimed at England, but this time it has been expanded to Europe. However, in areas outside the UK, scouts are basically recommended. After all, Tottenham Hotspur has to provide food and accommodation for players participating in the talent day selection event, and it has to consider the cost and investment issues.

But even so, the scout department will recommend 20 players outside the UK to participate in the talent day selection, basically in Europe, and in the UK, it has attracted more than 10,000 players under the age of 14 to sign up, some of whom are players who participated in the previous Christmas talent day selection event.

From now on, the Talent Day selection event will be held twice a year, around Christmas and in July in the summer. This event will provide an endless supply for Tottenham Hotspur's youth training camp.

As Ye Qiu, Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourley, the three Tottenham Hotspur giants, took the stage one after another to introduce the development of Tottenham Hotspur in the past year, everyone present could feel the changes in Tottenham Hotspur, especially the rapid development speed of this team in the past few years.

Now Tottenham Hotspur has become an emerging force that cannot be ignored in the Premier League and European football. Even many media and fans have classified Tottenham Hotspur as a giant, but Ye Qiu himself knows very well that Tottenham Hotspur has not yet established an effective, reasonable and lasting operating mechanism.

Moreover, the competition in the Premier League will become more and more fierce in the next few years, especially as more and more capital tycoons pour into the Premier League, which will bring greater competitive pressure to Tottenham Hotspur, and all this requires Tottenham Hotspur to continue to develop.

At this meeting, Ye Qiu also arranged some things for the team in the next season, and the focus was on the team lineup. He hoped to recall the Danish teenagers Eriksen, Neymar, Coutinho and Lucas Moura who were on loan to London and let them participate in the Premier League and cup games in the next season.

Ye Qiu hoped that the team would start preparing from now on, because the three Brazilian players Neymar, Coutinho and Lucas Moura all needed to apply for work permits.

Because Manchester United and other Premier League teams had missed many future superstars including Kaka before, the Premier League teams all made a strong appeal to the English Football Association, and finally passed the special talent clause. After that, the restrictions on work permits for some well-known young rookies began to be appropriately relaxed, especially the talented rookies from some football powers.

So Ye Qiu felt that for Neymar and Coutinho, two young players who performed very well in the Brazilian domestic league and the Brazilian national youth team, it would not be a big problem to get a work permit. After all, Tottenham Hotspur's public relations ability is no longer the same as it was back then.

But Lucas Moura is more difficult to deal with, especially considering that he has not yet appeared in the Brazilian national team and the youth team, so it is the most difficult for him to get a work permit. Ye Qiu and the coaching staff of Tottenham Hotspur have also made full preparations. If he really cannot get a work permit, he will be sent to Ajax for a period of time.

With the new season, players such as Pogba, Eriksson, Nastasic, Varane, Neymar, Coutinho and others have entered the first team, plus Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Ramsey, Hazard and other players who were already in the first team, Tottenham Hotspur will have ten players born in the 1990s in the new season, and the list of Tottenham Hotspur's first team will also reach 26 people, becoming the team with the youngest average age in the Premier League.

After arranging the relevant tasks of each department of the team, some heads of various departments of Tottenham Hotspur also gave some ideas and opinions on the plan for the next season. Many of them were directly discussed and passed at the meeting, while some had to wait until the new season to make a choice based on the actual situation.

This internal management meeting of Tottenham Hotspur after the end of the season ended in the evening after more than four hours. After the meeting, Ye Qiu invited all the employees and coaches who attended the meeting to go to London for dinner, and the meeting lasted until the evening.

The next day, except for the employees of the White Hart Lane administrative department, Theobald officially went on vacation.

As in previous years, Ye Qiu will spend his summer vacation with his family, and this time they will return to China to go to Shanghai and Xiamen, but Huang Chu's vacation will not be until June, and Huang Rong's kindergarten has not yet closed, so Ye Qiu took time out after the team's vacation to go to the United States alone.

But in Europe, although all the media are warming up for the upcoming World Cup on the surface, secretly, the Premier League's local tycoons have already begun to prepare for the next season's signings, and there are many teams that have reached out to Tottenham Hotspur.