The Godfather of Football

"Ye Qiu!"

"Mr. Ye Qiu!"

"Hello, Mr. Ye Qiu!"

When Ye Qiu led Peter Kenyon into the venue, everyone along the way stood up to shake their hands and say hello. Some people even left their seats. From this scene, it can be seen that Ye Qiu and Totna Tottenham's position in the Premier League.

According to the rules of the President's Summit, everyone's seats are sorted by the name of the club. Tottenham Hotspur is right near the bottom, only behind West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United and Wigan Athletic. A little higher, and Ye Qiu's seat happened to be closer to the corner.

It is just a round table meeting, so there is no so-called distinction between seats.

After everyone sat down, Scudmore, as the initiator and moderator, stood up and gave an opening speech. First of all, he must thank everyone for taking the time to participate in this Chairman's Summit, and then he made an introduction. Some things the Premier League has done and achieved in the past three months.

It mainly introduces the financial expenditures of the Premier League. For example, through previous resolutions, the Premier League officially allocated funds to support youth training in England. At the same time, according to past tradition, the Premier League also paid one of the funds to repair some community football in England. Venues, etc., a lot, but none of that matters.

Scudmore’s introduction in these aspects is very simple and is covered in one sentence. After all, the Premier League will fax these details to all teams, and if there are any questions, the team can also call the Premier League for consultation.

After all, all Premier League teams are shareholders of the Premier League, and these expenses of the Premier League are deducted from the income from broadcast rights and sponsors, and the rest is distributed to the Premier League teams. Therefore, as a shareholder, naturally Have the right to audit.

Scudmore's time was very short. He mainly introduced the newly signed broadcast rights contract and several newly signed sponsorship contracts. However, there was nothing new in this. Outside newspapers had already introduced it, so After a hasty start, Scudmore left the meeting in the hands of the twenty clubs present, while he listened.

After Scudmore sat down, David Gill was the first to ask to speak.

From this point, Ye Qiu could feel the anxiety of Manchester United, especially the Glazer family, because the longer the delay, the more detrimental it would be to Manchester United, especially considering the team's debt burden, so Manchester United's desire to change is the most pressing issue. urgent.

Following closely behind is Chelsea. Abramovich is suffering from salary torture, which also makes the Russian regret it very much, because Ye Qiu told him more than once that the salary structure cannot be easily abolished and cannot be completely broken just to introduce superstars. The team's salary structure, because that will bring heavy long-term salary pressure to Chelsea.

But the Russians refused to listen. They would rather let Ye Qiu resign than bring in Shevchenko and Ballack. As a result, Chelsea completely embarked on this path of no return. Currently, the Blues are in debt of nearly one billion pounds and almost killed Chelsea's old boss. Life.

"According to our statistics, by the 2010/2011 season, the total salary of the 20 Premier League teams exceeded 1.5 billion pounds, accounting for 70% of the club's income, and the total liabilities of the teams were close to 3 billion pounds, which has exceeded ours. Total turnover, while last season the Premier League's losses exceeded £450 million."

David Gill presented the data he carefully prepared, "We all know very well that the revenue of a football club mainly comes from three aspects, but the most important expenditure is the labor cost, which is player salary. In the past few seasons, our revenue has been Increase, but what is faster than revenue growth is the increase in labor costs, which is already very amazing!”

"Based on the experience of the past few decades, labor costs are the most important expenditure of a football club, and the ratio between it and the team's income should most reasonably be controlled within 50%. If it exceeds half, it is considered unhealthy, and if it exceeds 60%, it is unhealthy. The risk is more than 70%. I believe everyone knows what this means! ”

"And let's look at the current twenty teams in the Premier League. Except for Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, the salary expenditure of all teams exceeds 55%, or even exceeds 70%. The highest is 79%. This is a very shocking data. Everyone, we must pay enough attention and vigilance! ”

David Gill's words are indeed very convincing. No one will deny the current crisis in the Premier League.

Or, to look at this from another angle, today's Premier League and Sky TV are actually doing something like killing the goose that lays the goose to retrieve the egg. How should I put it?

The Premier League has made its attitude clear. I want to attract so many stars and build the world's number one league. I am under great salary pressure. I need more income, otherwise I will go bankrupt. Therefore, Sky TV has to provide higher broadcast rates. Fee, because the two are closely related and coexist and reciprocate. If one falls, the other one will not be able to survive.

As a result, the TV station made a compromise, and the broadcast fees continued to rise. Then in order to pass on the pressure, the TV station transferred part of the increase in broadcast fees to the cost of fans watching the live broadcast.

This is a kind of behavior that kills the goose and takes the egg. It is very short-sighted, but you can't deny that if you don't do this, the Premier League game will probably not be played.

"I have reservations about what David Gill said!" Randy Lerner, the owner of Aston Villa, stood up immediately after David Gill. "Of course, I have never denied that the current Premier League football team The team’s salary pressure is very high, and the current business model is not healthy enough, but I don’t think this can be solved by a salary limit order.”

David Gill stood up again, "I understand what you mean, Randy, I just think that we must make a courageous decision, even if this decision will make us uncomfortable or even suffer a big loss."

Randy Lerner shook his head and laughed, and raised a document in his hand, "Mr. Gill, I have read this document of yours. You think that there is no need to limit the maximum salary, but the salary growth rate should be limited. Then I will not One scenario can be assumed.”

After David Gill nodded in agreement, Randy Lerner continued with a smile: "Suppose our current salary at Aston Villa is 100 million, and Chelsea's is 200 million, both according to the 5% growth limit. In one season, we can increase by five million, but Chelsea can increase by ten million. Do you think this is fair?”

Randy Lerner's words immediately caused an uproar in the conference room. Although many people were bosses, they were not necessarily smart. Only after being mentioned by Randy Lerner at this moment did they realize, On the surface, it seems reasonable, but the problem is that whether it is limiting the maximum salary or limiting the growth rate, it is to ensure that the strong become stronger and the weak become weaker.

"There is another situation, if it is like Southampton or West Bromwich Albion, we do not deny that they are financially healthy teams. If they qualify for the Europa League or the Champions League this season, I will What I am saying is that if, with their current salary structure, they will not be able to have enough salary to introduce higher-level players to ensure that their competitiveness is improved, so next season, they may be ranked in despair. Lower league."

"It's not fair, because they have reached the Champions League and earned 10 to 20 million euros in revenue, as well as huge match day revenue and commercial sponsorship revenue. Why can't they be allowed to sign in to strengthen their strength to ensure that they continue to stay? What about in the Champions League?”

Randy Lerner's words really left David Gill and others speechless, because this is the truth!

Regardless of whether you limit the maximum salary or the growth rate of salary, it will ultimately become the most powerful weapon for strong teams to limit the rise of weak teams, and it may not be passed by the players union, especially the restriction of maximum salaries.

"Please, let's be more mature, okay?" Jeremy Peace, the chairman of West Bromwich Albion, was speechless when he saw the whole audience and stood up. "I think all the balls Just mind your own business, don’t worry about what others do, and don’t try to impose restrictions on others. I’m not interested in that at all!”

West Bromwich Albion's management over the past decade or so can almost be regarded as a model for the Premier League.

Don't look at them always wandering between the Premier League and the English Championship, but in fact, their finances have always been very healthy, even if they were relegated to the English Championship, because the Premier League has a so-called parachute financial protection policy for relegated teams, and Spain Bromwich Albion always make good use of these policies and quickly returned to the Premier League after being relegated.

This time since being promoted to the Premier League in the 2009/10 season, West Bromwich Albion has been ranked in the middle of the Premier League in the past two seasons, earning a lot of money. The team's strength has steadily improved, but the team's finances have been controlled. Well done.

David Gill couldn't help it and stood up again, "I must make it clear that this is not to restrict other clubs from buying excellent players. I never meant this."

"I know!" Jeremy Pease sneered, "But your proposal guarantees that when our teams compete with you for players, we don't have enough funds to compete with you, right?"

After hearing this, David Gill sat down angrily, and Jeremy Pease also sat down under the applause of many people.

Everything is no different from the past several presidential summits, and it seems that this one will end without any problem.

Scudmore is also helpless about this, because although he is the CEO of the Premier League, he looks more like a steward, and they are the bosses, so he really has no say here.

Just when the meeting reached a deadlock and everyone was in an unspeakable embarrassment, Ye Qiu slowly raised his hand, "I don't know, can I get up and say a few words?"

Everyone was a little stunned. Do you still need to ask for instructions?

The purpose of the Chairman's Roundtable was to allow everyone to speak freely. Not to mention Ye Qiu's status, even if he was a newly promoted boss, he could still stand up and speak freely.

"But I have a request. If I speak, please everyone be quiet and don't interrupt. After I finish speaking, I will discuss and study with everyone, and let everyone put forward their opinions. We will negotiate again. How?" Ye Qiu asked politely.

"Can!"

"no problem!"

There was a burst of statements on the scene, which made Abramovich a little envious. At least he did not have the status of Ye Qiu in English football. Even though he looked very rich, he was It’s hard to earn the respect of this group of people.

Perhaps, Ye Qiu is right. Only by using royal methods and conspiracy can we survive in this world for a long time and win the respect of these people.

“First of all, let me summarize my opinions on the speeches made by gentlemen such as David Gill, Randy Lerner and Jeremy Pease. I think they are all very reasonable. In fact, on the surface, their speeches are Tit-for-tat is incompatible, but in fact, the core elements they discussed are different, so if we continue to hold such discussions, another hundred meetings will not lead to a satisfactory result. "

Ye Qiu's words got a nod from almost everyone present, because the issue of salary limit had actually been discussed for many years, but it never came to a result, and every time it ended in a quarrel.

But also because of this, more people are looking forward to seeing if Ye Qiu can give some fresh suggestions.

Ye Qiu walked out of his position slowly. He didn't like standing still and talking.

"Why do you say everyone is right? First, all of us are sitting here because we all know that we cannot allow player salaries to continue to rise like this. Just like the TV organizations and media, We will not let our broadcast fees increase endlessly. Once we cannot control the players’ salaries, but TV organizations control our broadcast fees, or fans give up to resist this endless increase in fees, we will what to do?"

In fact, those who can sit here, even the worst team owners, can clearly realize the current problems of the Premier League. They all know that changes must be made, but the problem is, changes can be made, but don’t touch my interests. Don’t affect it. I can do it.

This seems to have turned into a dead end.

"But I am also very clear that salary restrictions or controlling salary growth rates are obviously inappropriate. This one-size-fits-all policy is obviously inappropriate. We cannot use this system to curb the vitality of the league, because once the league loses its vitality, it will lose its vitality. If competition loses passion, the Premier League will also lose its charm."

Ye Qiu's words were met with applause this time, and the owners and managers of some mid- to lower-tier teams responded with affirmative applause.

“I must also mention one thing, don’t focus on local TV broadcast rights. I can tell you very, very clearly that in the foreseeable future, online and other copyrights will become one of the three major broadcast rights. And at least we won’t lose to local and overseas copyrights!”

Today, the broadcast rights of the Premier League are mainly local copyrights and overseas copyrights. Recently, these two copyrights are very important, but the proportion of online copyrights is relatively small, but the development speed is very fast.

"Since the establishment of the Premier League, we have owned local copyrights. During the glorious years of the Premier League, all our teams have united to create an overall Premier League market, using our overall brand to develop overseas copyrights and increase the income from overseas copyrights to It is almost on par with local copyrights, which is a very remarkable achievement.”

"Overseas copyrights still have potential that can be tapped, but the greater potential is the copyrights on the Internet and mobile platforms. This still requires all our teams to work together to create and develop this market, because the Premier League is a Premier League with 20 teams. Any team, the Premier League will be immeasurably weakened and affected."

What Ye Qiu said really resonated with many people present, especially many football people who have witnessed the rapid development and rise of the Premier League in the past few years, such as Scudmore, and even Randy Lerner and others. .

"I believe that no one will deny the overall effect of the Premier League. Just like Aston Villa, Mr. Randy Lerner, your chest advertisement could not be sold at one time, but it is worth five million pounds this year. Why? Because you have to play at least two games against several giant teams in the Premier League every season!”

Randy Lerner nodded in agreement. It was not just the league. With more and more strong teams, cup competitions also received more and more attention. The attendance rate was also getting higher and higher. Many people could not afford league tickets. fans have turned to watch cup matches, so the influence of the League Cup and FA Cup has also been greatly improved in the past few seasons.

"In fact, there is only one thing I want to say. We are all club operators and the most important decision-makers of the Premier League. We must have an awareness of treating the Premier League as an overall market. Of course we cannot Everyone is required to consider the overall interests of the Premier League before considering their own interests when thinking about problems, but I think it is understandable for us to consider our own interests, but we should also give due consideration to the overall interests of the Premier League.”

"The simplest truth is that if the overall market of the Premier League collapses and it becomes unplayable, how can your team continue to play?"

This is also a bloody fact. Why is La Liga always unable to rise strongly? It’s because of the Western Super League duo!

The power of the wealthy teams has caused many people to be blinded, thinking that it was caused by the wealthy teams' own decisions, but they failed to see that without the platform of the league, how can the wealthy teams continue to play?

Manchester United, if they lose the Premier League, will they still be Manchester United?

Ye Qiu's words left everyone present speechless, because what he said made sense. Even David Gill, who originally thought that Ye Qiu would strongly support the interests of wealthy families, felt a little ashamed after hearing this, because He is still not as broad-minded as Ye Qiu, because he only considers the interests of Manchester United and does not consider the interests of other teams.

"I have an opinion. I think that salaries cannot grow endlessly. Our team is in too much debt, so it is very necessary to limit the salary cap and growth rate. But at the same time, we cannot curb the development momentum and desire of the mid- and lower-level teams, so we can add some considerations, such as the team's newly added commercial income and the team's transfer income, which can be included in the salary expenditure without restriction."

"But the broadcasting rights income, match day income and the original commercial income are not allowed. In fact, when we consider the salary expenditure, we can appropriately consider the commercial income of the team."

Ye Qiu made this suggestion for only one purpose, which is to encourage more Premier League teams to develop the commercial market, because in the Premier League, the broadcasting rights income and match day income are relatively stable, but the commercial income has always been the weakness and deficiency of many Premier League teams, so he believes that this method should be used to stimulate these teams.

Of course, considering the current situation of the Premier League, Ye Qiu believes that he can learn from UEFA's approach, take a gradual approach, and set a timetable.

And Ye Qiu also has a very important proposal, which almost threw a mine in the entire meeting and directly detonated it, that is, to limit the team's debt, and even proposed to severely crack down on debt.

This was undoubtedly the most painful blow to a team like Chelsea, whose club owner lent money to the team instead of directly injecting capital into the team. Abramovich even suspected that this was Ye Qiu's revenge against him. He opposed it on the spot, and after Ye Qiu's proposal, when Skudmore proposed that the twenty teams vote, Chelsea was the first to vote against it.