The Godfather of Football

In the Premier League, there is a tradition that is not well known. Every three months, the Premier League will organize a Premier League Chairman Summit. The owners, chairmen, or top managers of 20 Premier League teams will appear at the summit to discuss and negotiate some Premier League matters.

In the past ten years, the Premier League Chairman Summit has always been held in the Landmark Hotel in the northeast of London Hyde Park, because the name of this five-star luxury hotel is very interesting in English, called Milestone.

But this time, Richard Scudamore, the organizer of the Chairman Summit, notified everyone in the call that the venue of the summit had changed for the first time, from the original Landmark Hotel to the Zhenhua Hotel in the Olympic Park, which is the most famous top hotel in London in the past six months.

And unlike the eighth floor of the Landmark Hotel in the past, this meeting was held in the private conference room on the tenth floor, which also represents a good meaning, that is, one floor better than the other, and the Landmark Hotel has only eight floors in total, but the Zhenhua Building is obviously taller and more top-notch.

The data cloud of Leaf Technology is between Zhenhua Building and Tottenham Hotspur's Stratford Stadium. The view here is really charming, especially when you take the elevator of the skyscraper and climb to the top observation floor of Zhenhua Building, looking at the wind turbines under your feet and overlooking the whole of London, that feeling will make you feel unprecedentedly high-spirited.

Richard Scudamore came to the scene early to prepare. He is a frequent visitor of this hotel. Although he organized this meeting, which is called the Premier League Round Table, he rarely speaks unless he feels it is necessary to remind the owners or chairmen of these clubs.

It is customary to hold a chairman's summit at the beginning of the season, because every season, there will always be three relegated teams among the 20 Premier League teams. Therefore, at the beginning of each season, the owners and chairmen of the three newly promoted teams in the Premier League can use the summit to get to know others and have some exchanges.

The first chairman's summit of the new season is obviously different because Ye Qiu will attend in person.

In the past, the chairman's summit of Tottenham Hotspur was represented by the club's CEO Peter Kenyon, which has become a consensus in the industry. But this time Ye Qiu said that he would attend this meeting in person. Not only him, but Peter Kenyon will also accompany Ye Qiu to attend the meeting, which shows that Tottenham Hotspur attaches great importance to this meeting.

Not only them, in addition to arranging David Gill to attend the meeting, Manchester United also arranged a family member representative to attend the meeting, and Chelsea's Abramovich, West Ham United's Rebolovlev and others will also attend in person. Everyone clearly realizes that this meeting is unusual.

Scudmore can guess some, probably related to the salary cap proposed by Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal before.

Sometimes think about it, things in this world are really strange.

Scudmore has participated in the Premier League Chairman's Summit for more than ten years since he became the CEO of the Premier League in 1999. At the beginning of the century, the only ones who had the most say in the entire Chairman's Summit were Rick Barry, the chairman of Liverpool. He was the first chairman of the Premier League Committee. He was senior and his words were the most important.

Then there is Manchester United. Whether it is Edwards, Peter Kenyon or David Gill, they are the focus of the meeting, which also reflects the weight of Manchester United in the Premier League; Arsenal's former combination West David Dunn, he is also very important in the Premier League, but now Arsenal has gradually withdrawn from the ranks of Premier League champions.

There are two more, Chelsea's former owner Ken Bates and Leeds United's chairman Ridsdale. Both of them are ambitious local owners, especially Ken Bates, who is full of vulgarity and arrogant.

However, the situation in the Premier League has changed dramatically in the past few years.

Tottenham Hotspur has emerged as the most powerful and influential team in the Premier League, but Peter Kenyon is still as polite and gentlemanly as he was in Manchester United. He never takes the lead in things, but he is very shrewd in his calculations.

In the past two or three seasons, Manchester City has become one of the strongest teams in the Premier League. Mubarak has also represented the team in every Chairman's Summit, but he also believes in the same strategy as professional manager Peter Kenyon, not to show off, but as long as it concerns Manchester City's interests, they will definitely fight for their rights.

In addition, there are many representatives of teams like Newcastle, West Ham United and Liverpool, which has changed its owner, who are also professional managers. This makes the Premier League Chairman's Summit more rigorous and formal.

After all, there are fewer carefree and vulgar men like Ken Bates, and more rational and calm managers. Everyone sits together, discusses and studies each other. Although there are quarrels, there are rarely scenes of shrews scolding each other.

But it is precisely because of the restraint and self-preservation attitude of emerging teams such as Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City that the Chairman's Summit has lost a very important value, that is, decision-making, because the Premier League has begun to lack leaders.

Looking at the previous active club owners, the three giants represented by Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, plus Ken Bates, Ridsdale and Newcastle's Sheppard, who represent the middle and lower-level teams, although they quarreled endlessly, in fact, they were all leaders of their own interest groups.

In other words, any decision as long as they agreed and unified the opinions of these people, it was basically considered a success.

But now it is different. There are so many decision makers, so many bosses, and so many powerful teams, making the entire Premier League Chairman Summit almost without so-called leaders. Many times, this summit is more like a social gathering, where everyone gets together to drink and talk, and leaves when the time is up.

Just like Tottenham Hotspur, Scudamore has mentioned to Ye Qiu more than once that he and his Tottenham Hotspur should play a more important leading role in the Premier League, because they are now the real Premier League's top team, and can even be said to be a giant that is not inferior to Manchester United at all. More importantly, almost everyone obeys Ye Qiu.

But Tottenham Hotspur has always maintained a restraint. To put it nicely, this is called a lack of desire for power. To put it bluntly, they do not intend to take responsibility and are unwilling to be the bad guy, especially when encountering some controversial decisions, Tottenham Hotspur wants to be the good guy.

For example, salary cap, is this a good thing? I believe that even among fans, it is probably mixed. Among all Premier League teams, it is also mixed, because everything has two sides, a good side and a bad side. Therefore, every time the salary cap is mentioned, Manchester United, Chelsea and other teams are the most excited, but Manchester City, Newcastle, West Ham United and other teams are the most unhappy, and the two sides must quarrel.

Tottenham Hotspur plays a neutral role, not quarreling, not making a fuss, not supporting, but not opposing, because they insist on salary caps themselves, and it is the same for them whether there is a salary cap clause or not, so they don’t care.

Every time, Scudmore was furious. He had a good relationship with Peter Kenyon and was also a good friend of Ye Qiu, but he could not do anything to Tottenham every time.

But this time, Ye Qiu took the initiative to propose to attend the Chairman's Summit, and Scudmore had a good premonition.

Perhaps this would be a turning point, because as the CEO of the Premier League, he knew very well that the current Premier League was undoubtedly in a prosperous era, and it would still be a prosperous era with rapid development in the next few years, but under the prosperous era, there was an extremely fatal potential crisis. If it was not handled well, the Premier League would follow the footsteps of the Bundesliga in 2001.

This was what he, as the CEO of the Premier League, did not want to see, and I believe that all the Premier League club owners did not want to see.

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As the agreed meeting time approached, the owners of various clubs arrived at the venue one after another.

Some bosses came alone, while others came with the actual managers of the clubs. But all of them were dressed in suits and ties, and dressed like gentlemen. After entering the venue, they found their teams on the round conference table in alphabetical order according to the clubs. The bosses sat next to the round table, and the assistants sat in the back row.

Scudmore greeted every club owner who came to the venue. He had dealt with these people a lot on weekdays, so as the CEO of the Premier League, he would not have been able to do it for so long if he did not have some skills.

But the most important person has not appeared yet.

Ye Qiu actually came to Zhenhua Hotel a long time ago, but David Gill called him in advance, and the two sides agreed to meet beforehand, so he and Peter Kenyon went directly to the private room after arriving at the hotel.

Manchester United and Chelsea are the most active supporters of the salary cap clause. Another one is Arsenal, but to be honest, this team has not much weight in the Premier League now, and many people are even unwilling to deal with them because Hillwood, who is already 76 years old, is still relying on his age.

If Arsenal is still as strong as the top giants in the past, perhaps many people will tolerate it, but now Arsenal has missed the Champions League for many consecutive years, and the team is also seriously lacking in competitiveness, which has caused Arsenal's position in the Premier League to decline day by day, and its voice in the chairman's summit has also been severely weakened, and no one buys it.

David Gill and the representatives of the Glazer family want to talk to Ye Qiu about the issue of salary cap. They believe that the salary cannot be allowed to expand unrestrainedly. They propose to limit the maximum salary, learn from the NBA's salary cap system, and set a ceiling for all players' salaries. No team can exceed this ceiling.

Or adopt a fixed model to limit the extent of salary increase, such as not exceeding a few percent per year.

Their comments are also very reasonable, because if the current situation continues, the next season, after the new broadcasting contract is implemented, the player's salary will usher in another wave of increases. If the Premier League's top salary reaches 350,000 pounds per week, or even 400,000 pounds, it will be a disaster for all Premier League teams.

"The current top salary in the Premier League is 250,000 pounds per week, which forces you, Tottenham Hotspur, to raise the salary to 150,000 pounds. If it really rises to 350,000 and 400,000 pounds, then you will at least double it."

David Gill's words are very reasonable, and Ye Qiu can't refute it because it is a fact.

If the maximum salary outside reaches 400,000 pounds, then Tottenham Hotspur must at least increase the weekly salary of Messi and Ribery to 300,000 pounds, which means that the team's current salary expenditure will double than it is now, which is absolutely a disaster for Tottenham Hotspur.

Perhaps someone will say that if Tottenham Hotspur is like this, then other teams will be even worse, so why do some people still not want salary limits?

The reason is very simple. When the salary is limited, the giants are more attractive in the same salary structure. Once the salary is limited, Manchester City, Newcastle, West Ham United, and even if one day in the future, other big local tyrants acquire some Premier League teams and want to spend money to introduce superstars and improve the team's strength in a short period of time, it will be difficult to do so.

Because your maximum salary is limited, with the same high salary, top stars will definitely choose giants instead of your second-rate team, so once the salary structure is capped, it will mean that the class between the giants and the middle and lower teams in the entire Premier League will be solidified, and it will be difficult to make changes in a short period of time.

Therefore, don't think that Manchester United and Chelsea advocate salary caps just to consider finances. In fact, they are also using salary caps to set up some obstacles to ensure the long-term status and consolidation of Manchester United and Chelsea.

Of course, according to the news obtained by Ye Qiu, Manchester United is indeed miserable, because in the past few years, the team's income has increased significantly on the surface, but the key to the problem is that the part they have increased has basically been transferred to the pockets of players and agents, so the debt interest paid by the team to the Glazer family every year has caused the team to lose money.

In this case, Manchester United's value is undoubtedly being weakened step by step. Once it cannot get rid of the current predicament, the team will pay interest on debt, resulting in a gradual increase in debt and interest. If the player's salary is raised again, Manchester United will undoubtedly face a debt crisis or even bankruptcy.

Many people admire the NBA's salary cap, but few people have heard that the NBA has always had two battlefields, one is the open battle between teams on the field, and the other is the labor-capital battle between players and bosses.

In 2011, a very important reason for the NBA lockout was labor-capital disputes, which is an extreme situation created by the salary cap.

After Ye Qiu sent away David Gill and the representatives of the Glazer family, he sighed deeply, leaned on the soft sofa, looked up at the ceiling, and said, "It's because of these things that I don't like to get involved!"

When speaking, Ye Qiu could hardly hide his depression. This kind of thing is too complicated, especially when it comes to interests.

It can be foreseen that if you support the salary cap proposal of David Gill and others, it will be good for the Premier League on the surface, but in fact it is a kind of chronic suicide, because under the restriction of the salary cap, the strength of the team is severely restricted, and the mid- and lower-level teams lose their vitality. It will be difficult for Manchester City, Newcastle, West Ham United and other teams to appear again, and it will be difficult for Swansea, Southampton and other amazing dark horses to appear.

If you don't limit the salary, the Premier League is also committing chronic suicide, because you must know clearly that Sky TV has given such a high broadcasting fee, and they did not pay this huge sum of money out of their own pockets. They just passed this money on to consumers, which will eventually lead to another result, forcing more people to stay away from the Premier League.

Of course, you can say that the Premier League is the only one in the UK and everyone is used to watching the Premier League, but you must know that habits will change, especially when you have no money in your pocket, you have to change it even if you don’t want to.

It’s like many Premier League teams have accused fans of lacking enthusiasm and no longer liking to go to the scene to watch the game, but they have never considered why you want fans to watch the game, why the ticket price is so high, and fans are unwilling to watch, which means that your ticket price is so high that the originally loyal fans are forced to leave you.

Going to the scene to watch the game is like this, then with the further improvement of the broadcasting rights, will there be a day when fans will not only not go to the scene to watch the game, but will not even watch the game broadcast at all, and just watch the BBC highlights directly.

On the other hand, assuming that Sky TV does not raise prices significantly considering the pressure on fans, but the broadcasting fees paid to the Premier League will rise sharply, what will be the result?

The result is that Sky TV swallows the difference in the middle, and once the difference is high enough, Sky TV will declare bankruptcy, just like the Kirsch Group, which obtained the broadcasting rights of the Bundesliga and the World Cup in Korea and Japan at the beginning of the century, declared bankruptcy.

Kirsch's bankruptcy caused the Bundesliga, which was invincible in European football in the late 1990s and early 21st century, to fall into an extremely embarrassing situation, and finally forced the Bundesliga to take a healthy management route.

These are all forced out. Don't think that the Germans are so calm and rational, and have such a brilliant vision!

The past of the Bundesliga may be the future of the Premier League.

Therefore, salary caps are necessary, but the question is, how to limit them?

It is very difficult to limit salaries, prevent the Premier League from becoming a stagnant and lacking competitiveness, and give mid- and lower-level teams or some new investors enough motivation and prospects.

This is also the reason why salary caps have been called for for so many years, but no result and consensus has been reached.

"Scudmore can't handle it either, so he hopes we can stand up!" Peter Kenyon has not spoken, but he has listened to all the conversations between Ye Qiu and David Gill, and he is very clear that the Premier League has reached the point where it must make changes.

If it delays and hesitates again, the Premier League will inevitably follow the old path of the Bundesliga.

Sometimes history is like this. If unfortunately, the Premier League really repeats the mistakes of the Bundesliga, there will definitely be countless people in the next few years who will laugh at the current decision makers of the Premier League for being so stupid and short-sighted, but they are not in it, and they don't know how difficult and difficult it is for all the current decision makers to make this decision.

This is the world. Reform, even if it is just a very subtle reform, is enough to implicate everything.

"This is also our chance, isn't it?" Ye Qiu smiled and looked at Peter Kenyon.

The bald man from Manchester smiled, "Didn't you plan to not participate?"

Ye Qiu stood up from the sofa, "I know you have always wanted to be the vice chairman of the English Football Association, and I also think that we should not remain silent any longer. We want to make Tottenham Hotspur the strongest team in the Premier League, right?"

The so-called strongest is not only the strongest in terms of performance, but also the most influential and the most important.

Undoubtedly, the Premier League Chairman's Summit is the stage that can best reflect this strongest.