The Godfather of Football

Ye Qiu's speech was arranged in a wide trapezoidal hall at Harvard Business School.

The seats in the entire hall are arranged in a semicircle, with doors on both sides of the main podium. Except for the main podium and a rectangular channel in the middle, which provides students with access to the classroom, there are all densely packed seats. The farther back you are, the more densely packed the seats are. the higher.

At this moment, the seats were full of people, many, many people. Even in the distance, many people simply stood directly in the back row and on both sides. There were even many people sitting in the middle aisle. , and Ye Qiu noticed that many people were wearing Tottenham Hotspur jerseys to prove that they were Tottenham Hotspur supporters.

Ye Qiu's speech mainly focused on management and operations, which is also the topic of most interest to business school students.

He is talking about football clubs, but in fact it is not just football clubs, but some core elements that are affected in almost all industries in society, because the so-called management and operation are actually connected.

Ye Qiu likens Tottenham Hotspur to a company that sells services. He believes that the most attractive selling point of this company is not the football game, nor the superstars, nor the dreamy football, but a kind of Culture, but this culture needs to be reflected through football games, through superstars, and through the football style displayed on the court.

"I believe that many of you here, whether you like football, basketball, or rugby and baseball, you will all feel that the outcome is determined by the game, but I want to tell you that the outcome of most games is determined by the outcome. The outcome is basically decided before the game.”

"This is competitive sports. What we see on the court and on live TV is often just the final result of the entire contest. It is a result, not the entire process of the contest, but we all know that the decision What makes success or failure is not the result, but the process!”

"This is what I want to talk about today, how to determine the outcome in this process!"

After this opening statement, Ye Qiu gradually analyzed the details of managing the team in depth, but Ye Qiu divided it into three aspects, one is team formation and management, the other is training and competition, and the third is season planning.

When Ye Qiu explained the formation and management of the team, he mentioned a statement that won very hot applause from the audience, that is, football head coaches, like all managers, must learn to compromise and persevere at the same time.

"Once, I was sitting with Ferguson and Wenger, and they said to me, hey, you know what? Now the players are the bosses. I used to beat and scold them, and it was okay. They had to obey, but not now. Even those players who are not famous and have no strength are not willing to let you mess with them, let alone once they have strength, fame and big names, they will no longer be able to accept your temper. "

"Perhaps in the eyes of many fans, players are becoming more and more complex. They often look like more than just players. Like everyone else, they go to Twitter, use Facebook, and even occasionally take selfies and send them to There are so many advertisements on Youtube, newspapers, TV, magazines, and all kinds of awards. They are not just players, but seem to have become a popular symbol.”

"I think this is a change brought about by informatization. You can't ask those children who grew up in front of computer screens to be like the past, not just more than ten years ago, but five years ago. , can you make today’s young people not use smartphones, use Weibo and WeChat, and stop playing games?”

"As a manager, we must learn to compromise. We should see clearly that this is a major trend and is irreversible, so we must learn to compromise and change our management methods and management styles with the times to accommodate and Adapt to this big change or you will just be eliminated!”

"But there are some things that you have to learn to stick to. It's like you have to clearly understand that the team is a whole. After you have formulated appropriate rules for this whole that keep pace with the times, then you All players must adapt to and abide by your rules. Once someone wants to exceed or break such rules, you must stand up for it as soon as possible. "

"This is a bottom line that must be adhered to!"

"Also, as a manager, we should protect the people under us just like we protect the rules we have established, just like my players. I will never disclose the conflicts between me and the players in front of the media. Even I rarely criticize my players by name in front of outsiders, because it is a sign of respect, except when I feel that my players do not deserve my respect.”

"That kind of respect makes your players feel like, no matter what happens to them in the locker room, on the field, they can go out and face the reporters and the media and face the fans and they can hold their heads high and they feel a sense of you. Respect them and feel a sense of dignity!”

“I once had a guy in a coaching class ask me, why?”

"I answered him, if I criticize you by name in front of so many people, or even scold you, when you face reporters or interviews in the future, those reporters may laugh at you, or even sarcastically and sarcastically. If you have a fragile psychological quality, , maybe he will lose his self-confidence because of this, and if he has a strong psychological quality, he will feel that he is not respected enough!”

"I have always firmly believed that the relationship between the head coach and the players, and between the managers and the managed, should never be just that of superiors and subordinates. There should also be trust and respect."

"So, even when I announce the team's starting lineup and game roster, in addition to telling the players who are participating face to face, I will also tell the players who are not selected, and I will give them a reason and explanation. , even if this explanation and reason seems very redundant, I believe it will be easier for them to accept it.”

As for training and competition, as well as season planning, Ye Qiu also adopts the same approach. On the surface, he talks about football, but in fact, he talks about company management and operations. For example, he believes that every game is like launching a new product. For products, you must clearly understand your opponents, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of your opponents, and then combine your own advantages and disadvantages to make targeted arrangements.

In terms of season planning, Ye Qiu believes that as a manager, he must clearly understand the abilities and strengths and weaknesses of everyone under his management, just as he, as a head coach, needs to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the players. The player's status is based on one principle, and then all aspects are taken into consideration.

Ye Qiu's entire speech lasted for thirty minutes, and the last ten minutes entered the free question period. All the audience who came to the scene could ask questions to Ye Qiu, but all the questions only included football and Tottenham fever. Thorns, and what we are talking about today, excluding leaf technology and others.

"Mr. Ye Qiu!" The host selected an American female college student wearing thick black-rimmed glasses from the majestic forest-like forest of arms held high by almost everyone in the audience. "First of all, I think the speech you just gave was wonderful. , but perhaps due to time, it is not comprehensive enough. As a woman, I am more concerned about psychological issues, that is, how do you and your players overcome fear? Because I know that every game needs to be decided. Negative, it’s all important, are you afraid?”

"Yes!" Ye Qiu nodded without thinking much, but paused for a few seconds and thought for a moment, "Everyone will be afraid, right? When we bear too many expectations and bear too many hopes, , we always put some pressure on ourselves involuntarily, and then these pressures will create some fear in you, making you afraid of living up to those expectations and hopes.”

"But I must say that at this time, as a good manager, we must stand up bravely. We need to help all the people under our management to resolve their fears and worries and let them Play with as much pressure and fear as possible.”

"I know it's hard, and there are times when you have to make huge sacrifices as a manager, like when your management team messes up something, or when my team loses some important games. I will apologize to them every time, and I will apologize to the fans through all reporters and media. I will say that this is my responsibility, and then I will take action to take the responsibility for this failure.”

"As for myself, I think all coaches and managers, if you can't overcome this fear, this pressure, then it will be difficult for you to succeed, or even you will never succeed!"

Ye Qiu's words once again received warm applause from the audience.

"Mr. Ye Qiu!" Another student stood up, this time a man.

"I apologize in advance, but my question is, I have studied Ye Ye Technology before, and I have also listened to Sheryl Sandberg's speech. She said that Ye Ye Technology's management model was created by you, but according to mine "Understand that the management you have at Tottenham is completely different from the management you have at Leafs."

After hearing this, Ye Qiu smiled and nodded, "I understand what you mean. One is very open and free, but the other is relatively closed and very harsh at the same time. But in fact, I think management is a science, and it treats different people. For different things, different companies and different industries should adopt different management models. "

"There are two types of companies in this world, one is small and sophisticated, and the other is large and comprehensive. In my understanding, small but sophisticated companies are like Microsoft. They make a living by operating systems, so their All management systems must serve this purpose, which has resulted in Microsoft’s current management model.”

“Big and comprehensive, we emphasize creativity, development and innovation, so we cannot use a lot of rules and regulations to limit employees’ creativity, and add a lot of thresholds and restrictions to development and innovation, so this is another kind of management. model."

"Tottenham Hotspur are small but sophisticated. The core selling point of the football club is football culture, and this culture is reflected through games, through players, and through a lot of details, but in the final analysis, there is only one selling point, and it is The core selling point that will never fade away is football culture!”

“So, everything we do needs to serve it!”

"I can make a hypothesis. If I copy some open management at Tottenham Hotspur, for example, I allow my players to freely choose their positions on the pitch, what do you think the result will be?"

"Then everyone must run to be a forward, and no one wants to be a defender or goalkeeper. So how are we going to play this game?"

“The characteristic of football is that a game requires the hard work and cooperation of eleven players, so as managers, we need to use a more authoritarian way to forcibly integrate them and let them contribute to the team as a whole. Services, if they adopt an open and free management model, they will be in disarray.”

“So, management is about adapting measures to local conditions and seeking truth from facts!”

After Ye Qiu finished his answer, he received another burst of applause, but he quickly signaled to the next questioner.

"Mr. Ye Qiu, I know that in the past many years, many people will question you almost every season. For example, they will say that you are always selling stars, and they will even worry that Tottenham Hotspur Will it become another Arsenal after selling and selling, but we noticed that Tottenham Hotspur is not like this. What is your personal opinion on this? "

Ye Qiu thought for nearly ten seconds this time, because he found that the problem was getting more and more tricky.

"Personally, I think this is actually a misunderstanding. Selling people may not necessarily result in selling to Arsenal!"

Ye Qiu's words caused a burst of laughter.

"Arsenal is our mortal enemy, but Wenger is my friend. I can't say too much about them, but I know that Arsenal's problem is not just a matter of selling people, it is a very complicated one. A systematic project construction and planning issue cannot be explained clearly in a few words. "

"Going back to Tottenham Hotspur, I don't know if you have paid careful attention to it. Every Premier League team's first team lineup will undergo some changes every season, and there will always be players leaving the team. There will also be players joining, this is a very normal transfer phenomenon.”

"Whether a team can win the championship, what is the main decisive factor? The overall strength of the team, please note, is the overall strength. This is a key factor that determines whether a team has the strength to win the championship, and the thickness of the bench determines How long does this team have?"

"We can often see that some teams start off very well, but halfway through the season, they start to have a lot of problems. They seem to be unlucky and have quite bad luck, such as too many injuries and poor players' condition. Wait, but everyone in the industry will be thinking about another question, where are their substitutes?"

"This is what I just said, season planning, what is your goal? If you want to have the strength to win the championship, then you must form a championship-winning lineup and the corresponding bench thickness, otherwise you will If you can’t win the championship, even if you have 11 superstars in your main lineup, they will be injured and need to be rotated. What will you do then?

"This is the difference between the league and the cup. The league must take a long-term view, focus on one season, and think about the problem from the overall perspective, while the cup's vision is always focused on the opponent in front of you. As long as you defeat him, you will be able to win. I will consider the next one, which requires the head coach to plan well and switch."

When Ye Qiu said this, he smiled proudly, "I know that many people outside the world doubt our Tottenham Hotspur, but I dare to say this, looking at today's football, there is no team whose main lineup can compete with us. There may be quite a few, but if you want to keep pace with us in terms of the overall strength of the team and the thickness of the bench, there are very few!”

In Ye Qiu's view, the biggest opponent for the Premier League title in the new season is Manchester City. The thickness of this team's bench and overall strength are too strong, especially the thickness of the bench, which is not inferior to Tottenham Hotspur. But this The biggest problem for this team is head coach Mancini.

After two or three seasons of development, Mancini has become Manchester City's biggest obstacle. If it were Mourinho, it is estimated that this Manchester City team will hopefully become Tottenham Hotspur's most troublesome competitor.

As for the Champions League, it’s hard to say, no one knows.

Ye Qiu's confidence in the team is not only because the team's bench is thick enough, but also because the team's characteristics are very diverse and its methods are rich.

The student just mentioned Arsenal. A very important reason for Arsenal's poor performance is that their players have similar characteristics and they all blindly pursue technical skills. The reason why Arsenal has not won the championship every year is another A very important issue is injuries, but as Ye Qiu said just now, what about the substitutes?

You have a team that aims to win the championship, but you don’t have a suitable substitute, is that okay?

Some people will say that when Barcelona won the championship, the lineup only had 19 players, but you have to look at the level of Barcelona's 19 players, and even a few selected from Barcelona's youth team can rely on the system to survive for a while. Can you Arsenal?

Many Arsenal fans will say that the Gunners have no money, but look at the revenue rankings of each season. Since moving to the new stadium, Arsenal has steadily entered the top five every year, even the top three at one time, and has made profits almost every year. It is said to be the most profitable club in the Premier League after Tottenham Hotspur.

But at the same time, the salary of Arsenal's lineup is not much different from that of Tottenham Hotspur, and they are still sticking to the maximum salary structure of 100,000 pounds. This is a problem. La, how is your salary structure organized? Where did all the money you earned go?

Forget about paying off the mortgage, you have paid off the mortgage, don’t you still have money to buy someone?

Besides, Bayern Munich is also paying off their mortgages, but how can they be rich? Their income is not much more than Arsenal's, right?

If we analyze this issue, it will take a long time, and many inside stories are only known by the parties involved. Ye Qiu only has a partial understanding of this, so he will not comment or analyze Arsenal.

He only said one thing, that is, Tottenham Hotspur is not Arsenal, and will never become Arsenal!

The reason is very simple, as long as Ye Qiu is there, Tottenham Hotspur will never become Arsenal!