My 1999

In Highbury Stadium, the Arsenal team anthem "Hot Stuff" filled the sky.

The red background and the Arsenal team emblem and flag embroidered with artillery filled the entire venue. The Manchester United fans on the opposite side were not to be outdone, waving Manchester United flags in their hands to show their presence.

Today is Manchester United's away game against Arsenal. The feud between the two giants has always been one of the most exciting aspects of the Premier League.

In addition to these, this game is also related to the ownership of the championship in the 2002~03 season.

Therefore, the entire Highbury Stadium was almost filled with fans from both sides, and the broadcasting media also sat in a large row around the stadium. Except for the British media, almost all European media, and even the world's media, broadcast this Premier League focus game.

Xu Liang, who was in London, was also attracted by this heated showdown.

But he was not in the stands, but in the VIP box at Highbury.

Next to him is Manchester United CEO Peter Kenyon.

Looking at the tall young man standing in front, overlooking the court, Peter Kenyon had a complicated expression.

Hanhua has announced through the media that they have successfully reached an acquisition agreement with Magnier and McManus, and will acquire 28.7% of Manchester United's shares from the two for 129 million pounds.

Combined with the previous acquisition of Scot Dobson 6.45%.

Hanhua's stake in Manchester United has reached 76.85%, and it has gained complete control of Manchester United.

He has the power of life and death over all aspects of Manchester United.

So even if Peter Kenyon didn't like him, he would still bow before Xu Liang.

Looking at the Manchester United players on the court, Xu Liang's eyes became wandering.

After thoroughly understanding Manchester United, he also obtained detailed information about Manchester United.

It has to be said that as the richest player in the Premier League, Manchester United has unparalleled profitability.

Throughout 2002, Manchester United's net revenue was 153 million pounds and its operating profit reached 35.78 million pounds, the highest among all clubs in the Premier League.

And the net profit was also 15.89 million pounds.

When other clubs were struggling and struggling, Manchester United was not only able to spend a lot of money on stars, it was also profitable. Peter Kenyon and Ferguson made huge contributions.

The former ensures Manchester United's commercial operation capabilities.

The latter ensured Manchester United's results.

The two complement each other and make Manchester United stronger and stronger.

Advertising sponsorship is particularly generous.

It’s just a chest advertisement, and the telecom giant Vodafone paid 30 million pounds for six years of sponsorship.

There are 17 other advertising sponsors, large and small.

Just from advertising sponsorship, Manchester United can get nearly 25 million pounds a year.

In comparison, the advertising sponsorship fees of Liverpool and Arsenal, which are also giants, are only half of Manchester United's.

Moreover, Manchester United's advertising sponsorship is still rising.

Next is the broadcast share.

In the Premier League, each club receives £13.7 million from domestic TV broadcasts and £18.7 million from overseas rights. There are also "ranking awards" and "broadcast awards".

The "ranking award" is an additional 756,000 for every one place you move up in the Premier League standings.

The "broadcast award" means that if a game is broadcast live by the copyright owner, the team will receive 582,000 pounds in income. Even if the team is broadcast for less than 10 games in a single season, it will still receive a guaranteed minimum of 5.82 million pounds.

Manchester United's revenue from broadcasting revenue alone is close to 40 million pounds.

In addition to broadcasting shares, there is also a global tour.

Manchester United is the football club with the most fans in the world, with approximately 354 million people around the world being fans of Manchester United.

The appearance fee for each game of Manchester United's commercial tour is around 500,000 euros. After 6 games, Manchester United's appearance fee alone is 3 million euros.

And that's not all.

There are also ticket sales and sponsorship fees from sponsors.

In 1999, when Triple Crown champion Manchester United came to China to play against Shenhua, the appearance fee was only US$350,000, but the 80,000-person stadium in Shanghai was packed and the ticket revenue reached 20 million yuan.

Totally a huge profit.

Others include distribution and licensing revenue from sports equipment, such as jerseys.

Manchester United can sell 1.4 million jerseys a year, and the share of this alone is more than 10 million pounds.

Another major source of revenue for Manchester United is new media and mobile business. Manchester United through its official website

Provide content services to users.

Fans can apply for credit cards, apply for bank mortgage loans, apply for insurance for their cars and travel and even buy real estate through Manchester United's website.

In addition, the club also has its own television station - "Manchester United Television" (MUTV).

Fans can buy almost anything in the fan shop, from baby clothes to wallpaper, all products without exception bear the Manchester United logo.

Coupled with ticket revenue on match days, it forms the main body of Manchester United's revenue.

Revenues are high, and expenses are no less.

Not to mention anything else, the player salary alone is as high as 85 million pounds, and plus miscellaneous expenses, it is close to 130 million pounds.

"If we have to put some burden on Manchester United, how can we make a profit in the financial report? Isn't all the money earned taxed?" Xu Liangzhong thought to himself.

Wow….

Xu Liang's thoughts were interrupted by cheers like a tsunami.

Look closely.

Arsenal fans were cheering, while Manchester United fans were in despair.

Obviously, we are lagging behind.

Xu Liang couldn't help but frowned.

"Peter, are there any flaws in the Manchester United squad?"

Peter Kenyon also noticed the situation on the field. He was scored in the first 5 minutes, which obviously made the new BOOS dissatisfied.

After thinking for a moment and organizing his words, he said cautiously.

“Mainly the two positions of midfielder and goalkeeper.

Roy Keane is 32 years old and it is difficult for him to last 90 minutes of the game; Butters, the goalkeeper, often makes some low-level mistakes.

We are currently actively seeking replacements for both positions.

There are some targets that we are still in contact with. "

Xu Liang nodded. Before Carrick matured, 'waist weakness' was a problem that could not be solved.

Goalkeepers were an old problem that Manchester United had not been able to solve before Edwin van der Sar joined.

Try to remember the players in your mind who correspond to these two positions.

But as a person who usually pays little attention and only watches the World Cup, he really doesn’t have much in his head.

But what he can remember are the top players at this position.

But top players may not necessarily be suitable for Manchester United.

The best example is Veron. When he was at Lazio, he was an omnipotent white wizard with an outstanding overall view. But when he arrived at Manchester United, he became a marginal figure.

But the goalkeeper is obviously an exception. A good goalkeeper is good everywhere and there is no problem of not adapting.

But the goalkeeper Xu Liang likes is not Van der Sar.

Although it is excellent, I am already 32 after all. Although it can still be used for a few years, if there are more suitable choices, of course young people are more suitable.

"Peter, my friend recommended to me a Czech goalkeeper named 'Petr Cech'. You buy him." Xu Liang said directly.

He doesn’t watch the ball much and knows the four goalkeepers.

Van der Sar, De Gea, Cech, and Buffon, who is known as the first goalkeeper.

De Gea is too early, Van der Sar is too old, Buffon has become famous, and only Cech is left.

Peter Kenyon hesitated for a moment, "BOSS, should we discuss this matter with Coach Ferguson?"

Xu Liang nodded, "Then you should discuss it with him.

If Coach Ferguson doesn't want to, forget it. "

Although Cech is good, Ferguson is a big leg and he doesn't want to offend the latter yet.

Peter Kenyon breathed a sigh of relief.

If the new owner wants to intervene forcefully in the team, Ferguson will definitely be dissatisfied with his character.

Once the two sides conflict, the latter will leave.

This is something he doesn't want to see.

The game continued, and when the ninety minutes were over, the score on the field was still 1:0, with the home team in front, which meant that Manchester United lost.

"BOSS, the game is over, do you want to go over and meet the players and coaching staff?"

"I won't go. Let's wait until the end of the season to talk about it. ...By the way, tell Coach Ferguson my proposal."

"OK."

Xu Liang glanced at the cheering Arsenal fans and the Manchester United players slowly exiting the field, then turned and left the box.

After losing the game, Ferguson was in a bad mood. After getting angry in front of the players, there was a trace of sadness on his eyebrows.

The aging of the team's lineup and the reinforcement of individual positions are problems he must solve now.

But it is not easy to find players suitable for Manchester United.

Especially Veron's incident made him more cautious when buying and selling players.

Sometimes throwing money at a problem doesn't solve the problem.

In the 2001-2002 season, he spent 19 million pounds to buy Ruud van Nistelrooy, 28.1 million pounds to buy Veron, and Diego Forlan also cost Manchester United 7.5 million pounds.

50 million pounds a season is a huge sum no matter which league it is placed in.

But Manchester United, which spends a lot of money, was unexpectedly defeated by Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen in the Premier League and Champions League. This also sounded the alarm for him: the championship is not what you want to buy, you can buy it if you want to buy it.

From then on, he became cautious about spending money.

This season, he only spent a sky-high price of 30 million pounds to buy Rio Ferdinand to strengthen the backcourt defense.

In addition to the team lineup, what gave him an even bigger headache was the young and excessive new boss of China.

Young people are arrogant, proud, and easily emotional.

Although judging from the last contact, the new boss does not seem to have these problems, but after only one contact, it is difficult to really see a person clearly.

Dong Dong…….

There was a knock on the door.

Ferguson was shocked and said quickly: "Come in."

With the sound of the door opening, Peter Kenyon pushed the door open and walked in.

Ferguson stood up and looked behind him, but there was no familiar figure from last time.

"Alex, don't look anymore, the boss is not here."

Ferguson sighed in relief and then quickly frowned.

"He's unhappy about losing?"

"A little bit. But don't worry, I can see that BOSS still respects you very much."

Ferguson asked after waving for the other party to sit down.

"What did he say?"

"I asked about the team's lineup deficiencies and thought I would recommend a goalkeeper."

"He wants to interfere in player transactions?"

Ferguson said urgently.

"Alex, don't worry. As a team owner, you can't give up 100% on player transactions. The key is whether you can respect you as the head coach. Judging from previous contacts, he still respects you very much. We were not forced to buy it, and we also agreed that if you don’t want it, you can refuse it, and he has no objection.”