Football giants

Chapter 475

Headquarters of William Hill bookmaker, UK.

The betting department manager hastily knocked on the door of CEO Ralph Topping's office.

After 10 minutes, high-level executives including the chairman of the group, Gareth Davis, all appeared in the high-level meeting room.

It looked like an emergency and major accident had happened, and the atmosphere was very tense.

"What's the matter?" Gareth Davis asked nervously.

Just 10 minutes ago, a call from Ralph Toppin made him drop everything and show up here.

But what happened, he had no idea.

Ralph Toppin nodded to the betting manager beside him, who stood up.

"Everyone, 10 minutes ago, we just received a betting slip."

As soon as he spoke, everyone in the conference room fell silent and listened attentively.

Everyone knew very well that there must be something wrong with this betting slip, otherwise how could it be possible to call all the high-level executives for a meeting for no reason?Could it be that you are free and have nothing to do, and plan to treat you to afternoon tea?

"This betting slip was received at a betting shop outside Wembley Stadium, and the amount is as high as 100 million pounds!"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the audience was in an uproar.

"What? A million pounds?"

"Really? Who, so crazy!"

"The stakes are too high, right? Who is it?"

"This is probably the biggest betting slip William Hill has ever received, right?"

"Absolutely!"

Gareth Davis also had his eyelids twitched. The executive who had only airborne to William Hill as chairman two years ago and served as the CEO of Imperial Tobacco for 14 years was also taken aback by this betting slip.

£100!
What kind of talent must be able to vote for this?
"Tell me about the specific situation!" Gareth Davis asked patiently, suppressing the complicated emotions in his heart.

The manager of the betting department nodded, "The one who bet is none other than Southampton's behind-the-scenes boss, Yang Huan!"

"It's him?!"

"That's right, he's the only one who can mess around like this!"

"Last year, he gambled heavily on the Southampton match and won a lot of money. I heard that all of it was paid to the players as bonuses. I didn't expect him to come this year!"

"It doesn't matter if it's still coming, the most important thing is that he's betting bigger and bigger!"

The people in the meeting room were discussing for a while, and the scene was very noisy.

Ralph Topping saw that the situation was a bit chaotic, so he had to cough twice, "Everyone!"

He didn't continue until everyone was quiet again.

"The bet of £100 million is indeed quite large, and it is also the largest bet amount that William Hill has received so far, so we must take it very, very seriously. The incident two years ago is a warning."

The larger the bet amount, the greater the risk for the bookmaker.

Two years ago, William Hill’s betting project at the Royal Ascot Jockey Club was due to a calculation error, which directly led to heavy losses for the company. If it didn’t happen that the World Cup made a lot of money, William Hill would lose a lot.

It is because of this incident that Charles Scott, the former chairman of the company, resigned.

"As far as I know, Yang Huan is not only betting on William Hill this time, he is also betting on Ladbrokes and Bet365, and each bookmaker's betting chip is 100 million pounds."

"What?" Everyone was shocked again.

God, a family of 100 million, so the total is 300 million pounds?
Yayagope's, they don't print British pounds, do they?
How can you spend money like this?
Everyone started talking again.

"Why?" Gareth Davis looked calm.

There is no point in shocking and arguing at times like these, the most important thing is to solve the problem.

"I heard it was out of anger." Ralph Topping smiled wryly.

"Angry?" Gareth Davis didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Everyone present was one or two, and the expressions on their faces were so funny.

Because of anger, each bookmaker bet 100 million pounds?

Obediently, my young master Huan, do you think this is a joke?

That's 100 million pounds in real money!
"Someone heard a few words in the royal box. It seems that Yang Huan felt that our odds for Southampton were too low, so he was not convinced."

Gareth Davis opened an internal document in front of him, and saw that Southampton's odds were [-], which ranked seventh among the Premier League teams this season, and he couldn't help frowning.

"What's the matter with the odds? Southampton's winning odds are indeed a bit low."

This also exposed his unfamiliarity with the gaming industry, after all, he was airborne two years ago.

On the contrary, Ralph Topping has been working at William Hill for more than 30 years, starting from the grassroots and stepping up to the present step by step.

Strictly speaking, the CEO is the real power of the company.

"When we calculate the odds, we not only consider the overall strength of the team, the most important thing for us is to control the risk."

Everyone present couldn't help nodding, and this involved very complicated calculations.

"Southampton is undoubtedly very strong, but after all, this is their first season in the Premier League. Fans are generally not optimistic about this team, because in the 100-year history of England's top league, there has never been a precedent for a newly promoted team to win the championship."

Everyone nodded again and again.

"Also, Southampton is very popular on the underground black market. Everyone knows that this team has never played match-fixing, but in the eyes of regular bookmakers, he is still too unfamiliar. Who knows what will happen to their first Premier League season?"

"How many teams were so bullish in the low-level leagues, and even killed the Premier League giants in the cup to win the championship, but in the Premier League, they failed to relegation in the first season and returned to the low-level leagues. This is not unheard of!"

This time even Gareth Davis nodded in agreement.

"Also, if you look at the new season's schedule, the first few rounds are simply a devil's schedule for Southampton, but if you look at the next page, a total of ten players from Southampton have been transferred to play in the London Olympics."

"So much?" Gareth Davis was a little surprised.

Turn it over and see, it really does exist.

The British Olympic team has Sturridge, Gareth Bale, and Ravel Morrison. This is also the most trusted frontcourt trident attack combination of the British Olympic team coach Pierce.

Spain has Javi Martinez, Azpilicueta, Isco and Cork.

These four players are also the main players of the Spanish Olympic team, and Spain is also the favorite team to win the Olympic Games.

The other three Olympic internationals are Brazil's Neymar, Danilo and Alex Sandro.

Among them, Neymar is the main force, Danilo and Alex Sandro are substitutes for Rafael and Marcelo respectively.

"I really can't see that Southampton is not only full of stars, but also young players are so strong!"

"That's right, ten national football players from the Olympic team, this lineup is strong enough!"

"But it's sad. Is there anyone in the Premier League like Southampton?"

"The roster of 25 people went to ten at once, and the lineup for the expedition was not complete!"

Looking at the schedule again, they are all facing strong opponents such as Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton, and they will also play the Europa League, and there will be a European Super Cup at the end of August.

It's sad enough to think about it!
Even if Gareth Davis is not a professional, after reading so much information, he can somewhat understand why William Hill and other bookmakers gave Southampton such low odds.

After all, as a newly promoted, Southampton is too strange.

Especially considering that if the start is not played well, the whole season will be over!

Thinking of this, Gareth Davis nodded and looked at Ralph Toppin, "Then what do you think?"

"Accept!" Ralph Topping said almost without hesitation.

"Not only to accept, if other gaming companies want to transfer risks, we will also accept!"

It seems that William Hill is very pessimistic about Southampton winning the championship after internal evaluation.

Even thought it was impossible!

Gareth Davis thought for a while, nodded and said, "Okay, then take it!"

…………

…………

William Hill, Ladbrokes and Bet365 respectively received a £100 million Premier League betting order. Although the three companies caused an uproar within the three companies, they did not attract much attention from the outside world.

On the one hand, due to the confidentiality agreement, the news of Yang Huan's betting cannot be disclosed.

But more importantly, the much-anticipated London Olympics has begun!

During the entire Olympic Games, Yang Huan and Zhuang Ziqing kept shuttling among the major stadiums of the Olympic Games.

Table tennis, swimming, diving, gymnastics, badminton...

As long as the time catches up, Yang Huan and Zhuang Ziqing can be seen in almost all competitions where Chinese athletes participate. For this reason, they were photographed by Capital TV several times, but Yang Huan declined to be interviewed.

This feeling of experiencing the Olympic Games in person made Yang Huan indescribably excited, and his whole body was on fire!
In addition to watching the matches of the Chinese delegation, Yang Huan will also take time to watch the Olympic football matches whenever he has time.

Different from the previous life, perhaps with the strong support of Southampton, the British team can be said to be the main force this time.

In addition to Southampton's Gareth Bale, Sturridge and Ravel Morrison in the frontcourt, there are Arsenal's Theo Walcott, Manchester United's Welbeck and others.

In the midfield, there are Ramsey, Henderson, Wilshere, Cleverley and other stars. The defense also includes Phil Jones, Evans, Micah Richards, Neil Taylor and other stars.

With a gathering of stars, outstanding strength, well-prepared and playing at home, the British United team has been invincible since the beginning of the group stage, winning three consecutive victories and qualifying as the top of the group.

Gareth Bell, the team's number one star, shined even brighter and performed dazzlingly.

After that, in the knockout round, the British United team eliminated South Korea and Mexico successively, and successfully reached the final.

The other team that reached the final at the same time was the Brazilian Olympic team led by Neymar.

This is also a star-studded team, including Neymar, Lucas Moura, Thiago Silva, Marcelo, Oscar, Pato and Hulk.

As a result, the two sides launched a fierce duel at Wembley Stadium. In the end, the British United team, which played at home, defeated the Brazilian team [-]-[-] and successfully won the men's football championship medal in the local Olympic Games.

The Brazilian team made it to the finals three times tragically and won three silver medals, which is embarrassing.

Although he missed the championship, Neymar won the top scorer with six goals.

After two years of experience in England, the Brazilian striker almost regards England as his home game and is in very good condition.

The second place is England's top scorer Gareth Bale, who scored five goals, tied for second with Senegal's Konate.

Sturridge scored four goals and ranked fourth.

The outstanding performance of several Southampton stars in the Olympic Games has aroused unanimous praise from the outside media.

In particular, Neymar and Gareth Bale, who each led their teams to the finals, have shown convincing strength and let people see their outstanding potential.

But behind the scenery of the Olympics, Southampton did not start well in the first season of returning to the Premier League after many years of absence.

　Thanks to [Tony Twain] book friend for the correction, I checked it out, Liverpool in the 1905/1906 season and Nottingham Forest in 1977/1978 are both precedents for newly promoted teams in England's top leagues to win the championship, so it should be changed to the Premier League, that's right, ha ha!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)