Football giants

Chapter 896 Saint Dynasty
On the second day after Boxing Day, the media all over the UK, and even all of Europe, were bombarded.

Since the European debt crisis, the British economy has been sluggish, and domestic consumption has never been able to recover before the economic crisis.

Although in [-], among many EU countries, the British economy took the lead in recovering, with a gratifying growth momentum, it can be said to be a unique one. The manufacturing and financial services industries have grown steadily, but domestic consumption has not improved much.

But at the end of the year, first it was Black Friday, and major merchants stepped up promotions one after another. Then, before Christmas, there was a pre-holiday frenzy, which greatly stimulated domestic consumption in the UK.

This makes other countries in the entire EU very envious.

But it was Boxing Day that really took everyone by surprise.

The total sales of 30 billion pounds in a single day not only created the highest single-day sales record in the UK since the European debt crisis, but also created the craziest Boxing Day sales record in history.

This caused the whole of Europe to exclaim that the British have returned to the level of consumption before the crisis.

The well-known accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers even predicted that with the astonishing momentum in November and December, the UK’s annual GDP growth rate will reach [-]%, taking the lead in realizing recovery and successfully gaining a foothold.

The south coast city of Southampton has managed to capture the spotlight across Europe amid one of Britain's wildest Boxing Day sales frenzy.

The outbreak of Glory Plaza on Boxing Day can be described as a sudden birth.

The turnover reached 2000 million pounds, and it attracted 32 people to enter and exit throughout the day. These two figures are the highest in the UK, making the Glory Square in Southampton the most eye-catching consumption hotspot in the UK.

You know, the McDull Hall Shopping Center in Sheffield is ranked second, with a total of only 20 people entering and leaving throughout the day, and a total sales volume of less than 5000 million pounds.

But Southampton's Glory Plaza not only surpassed its opponents in terms of number of people, but also more than doubled in sales.

In the analysis report of PricewaterhouseCoopers, it was pointed out that the outstanding performance of Glory Plaza did not come out of nowhere.

"In fact, according to the data we have obtained, since the trial operation began in May, the sales of Glory Plaza have maintained a steady increase, especially when there are competitions, the sales will be much higher than usual."

"This situation is due to the business model of Glory Plaza."

"Saints Southampton pioneered the free ticket mechanism. There is only one way for all fans to get tickets, and that is to accumulate fan points after consumption in Glory Plaza and other Saints authorized stores, and then go to the club to redeem free tickets and season tickets."

"In recent years, Saints Southampton's performance has improved by leaps and bounds. First, it has been a step up every year, and it has been promoted every year. In the first season of entering the Premier League, it was a newly promoted team and won the league championship. Last season, while successfully defending the Premier League title, it also won the club's first Champions League title in history!"

"Excellent results have greatly stimulated the fans. In addition to moving to a new stadium this season, the fans are full of enthusiasm to watch the football. In order to get free tickets, they have gone to the Glory Plaza to spend. This has greatly stimulated the sales of the Glory Plaza."

"On Boxing Day, Glory Plaza just ushered in a strong dialogue between the Saints and Chelsea, which greatly attracted the attention of the fans. After the game, the six-goal victory stimulated the fans even more. As a result, the original sales forecast of around 2000 million pounds was constantly broken by enthusiastic consumption frenzy, and finally locked in at [-] million pounds."

"It is worth mentioning that according to the data we have obtained, on Boxing Day in the UK, the per capita consumption was about 380 pounds, but in Southampton's Glory Square, the per capita consumption was as high as [-] pounds, almost twice the average level in the UK."

"The reason for such an astonishing gap is that after our analysis, [-]% of the consumers in Glory Plaza are tourists from overseas, most of whom are from China, the Middle East and North Africa, and the per capita consumption level of tourists from China is as high as [-] pounds."

"We have heard from some multinational travel agencies that Southampton has gradually become the first choice for Chinese tourists to spend in the UK. This is not only because the owner of Glory Plaza is Chinese, but also because it has the best football stadium in Europe, the world's top underwater hotel, and because everything here seems to be tailor-made for them. Shopping here makes them feel very comfortable and at ease."

"Not only that, in order to attract Chinese tourists, Glory Plaza has offered ultra-low discounts one after another. The discounts for all luxury goods in Harrods are below 50.00%, which is quite favorable. Moreover, the exchange rate of the British pound has fallen, making Chinese tourists very willing to take advantage of the opportunity of Boxing Day to come to the UK to find bargains."

"In an interview with us, the relevant person in charge of Glory Plaza said that from Christmas, Boxing Day to New Year's Day, their entire shopping carnival has been planned for half a year. It is expected that on the 28th, the Saints will host Arsenal at home, and around New Year's Day, there will continue to usher in a consumption boom."

After PwC's analysis report came out, the seaport city of Southampton, as well as Glory Square, immediately became famous in Europe and became very popular.

The facts also proved that the prediction of the management of Glory Plaza was not wrong.

The sales frenzy on Boxing Day was more like a carnival of advance payment. After a carnival, various consumer indexes in the UK have declined, and almost all major shopping malls can’t sell.

But in this case, Southampton's Glory Square is still a unique team and has become a special case.

On the second day after Boxing Day, although the sales of Glory Plaza also fell sharply, they still remained at around 3000 million pounds, which is considered a pretty good sales figure in the UK.

But on the third day, that is, on the 28th, sales rose again, approaching 7000 million pounds, a bucking trend.

This surprised the entire British business community and the media.

Even in the three days of the 29th, 31th and 4000st, the sales of Glory Plaza have always remained at around [-] million pounds.

In the three days from New Year's Day to January 6000rd, it rose again, reaching [-] million pounds.

After that, it will not work, and it will fall all the way, returning to the usual level.

But even so, during the entire Saints shopping carnival, in ten days, Glory Plaza generated sales of 5000 million pounds.

This is simply a pretty amazing report card!
Not only the UK, but even the whole of Europe, were taken aback.

After in-depth analysis by professionals, all talents were surprised to find that a large part of the sales boom of Southampton Glory Plaza were tourists from abroad, especially tourists from China and the Middle East.

"According to the analysis of the data of Glory Plaza, the per capita consumption of tourists from China is as high as 20.00 pounds. Although the number of tourists is small, they account for [-]% of all foreign tourists' consumption."

"Tourists from China and the Middle East also account for a large proportion of the sales of Glory Plaza. In addition, in the past six months, Glory Plaza has increased its promotion efforts in China and the Middle East. This has contributed to the madness and popularity of the Saints Shopping Carnival."

Not only that, the media also dug into the news that the organizer of Glory Plaza is cooperating with the British Hotel Association, retail industry and business groups to issue an initiative, hoping that the UK can streamline visas for Chinese tourists.

"Due to the inconvenient visa procedures, many Chinese tourists choose to go to Milan, Paris or Berlin for shopping and consumption, which at least costs the UK more than one billion pounds a year."

"With the Boxing Day frenzy at Southampton's Glory Square, Chinese tourists have shown the world their incredible spending power."

"It is reported that next year's Milan World Expo, Italy will open the World Expo channel exclusively for Chinese tourists, while France, Finland and other European countries will also launch considerate services for Chinese tourists, and Germany will also seriously consider streamlining the visa issuance process."

"Under such circumstances, British Home Secretary Theresa May also said in an interview that the government is also seriously considering and will launch a series of new plans to attract Chinese tourists in the near future, including a visa system."

When this series of news from Europe came back to China one after another, it immediately caused an uproar in the country.

Chinese local tyrants have bought all over the world, so that the high-ranking European governments have to introduce a preferential system with Chinese characteristics, which makes the domestic people very excited.

Among the reports of many domestic media, Southampton's Glory Square, and Yang Huan behind it, are all attracting attention in this storm of public jubilation.

As a result, Southampton has even become another popular tourist destination for Chinese people going to the UK and Europe.

……

In this wave of shopping spree triggered by Boxing Day, the Premier League is still going on in an orderly manner according to the schedule.

After defeating Chelsea with six goals, Southampton beat the visiting Gunners Arsenal 28-[-] on the [-]th, and then beat Crystal Palace [-]-[-] away, winning three consecutive victories and firmly defending the league leader's throne.

After that, in the League Cup and the FA Cup, although the Saints played with their main players, they still won the opponent without any risk.

After the main force got a full rest, Southampton beat Manchester United [-]-[-] in the away game.

After that, they beat Newcastle [-]-[-] away, drew Swansea [-]-[-], drew [-]-[-] with Queens Park Rangers, beat West Ham [-]-[-], Liverpool [-]-[-], and West Bromwich Albion [-]-[-].

In January and February, the Saints' performance in the Premier League can be said to be the best.

After the February schedule, Southampton once again defended the Premier League title, which has not much suspense.

This also shocked the British media.

But after their in-depth analysis, it is not difficult to find that the strength of the Saints comes from their own strength on the one hand, but a very important reason lies in the decline of the traditional top four of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.

The newly emerging Manchester City has a lot of problems. The team lineup looks strong, but in fact it is weak in competition. In the short term, Tottenham Hotspur will not be able to compete with Southampton for the time being.

Therefore, after five years of painstaking efforts by Bielsa and Yang Huan's continuous large-scale investment, the strength of the Saints has been steadily improving. Recently, there is a faint tendency to rule the Premier League and establish a Saints dynasty.

This point is also quite obvious in the Champions League.

In the knockout round of the top [-], the Saints first drew [-]-[-] away with Paris Saint-Germain, and then won [-]-[-] at home against the Ligue [-] squad, and finally advanced to the quarter-finals with a total score of [-]-[-].

But Manchester City, which stood out from the group stage, suffered a double-kill by Barcelona in the group stage. When Arsenal faced Monaco, they first lost [-]-[-] at home, and then lost [-]-[-] away. The total score was [-]-[-].

Koeman's Monaco has become the most dazzling dark horse in the Champions League.

But behind this is the decline of the Premier League powerhouses.

Southampton seems to have become a lone wolf in the Premier League's Europa League.

The consequence of this is obvious, that is...

(End of this chapter)