Top of the big era

In the end, Manchester United relied on Rooney's wonderful goal to defeat Chelsea at home with a score of 1:0, and got the opportunity to advance to the semi-finals.

This game is really not exciting.

Zhou Buqi's focus is more on the club's infrastructure. There are interest-free loans and it can also be used in the name of helping local economic development. There is no reason to miss this kind of good thing that brings both fame and fortune.

Premier League matches usually take place in the afternoon, while Champions League matches usually start in the evening.

After the game, it was already 10pm.

David Gill did not let Boss Zhou go, and directly called in several directors of the Carrington base, and then everyone came to the president's office in the Old Trafford Stadium.

There are three main locations at Manchester United’s core workplaces.

The commercial department is in London, led by Gilbert Lawrence; the administrative department is at Old Trafford, led by David Gill; and the football department is at the Carrington base, led by Ferguson.

Ferguson also had to attend the post-match press conference and summarize the game in the locker room, so he did not participate in this small meeting.

In fact, there is no need to participate.

This meeting mainly discussed the construction of the team's infrastructure.

David Gill has already seen that Boss Zhou seems to be very responsible and very willing to respond to the government's call to use Manchester United's influence to develop some infrastructure projects.

In that case, let’s do it!

In addition to the five-star hotel project, there are also other new projects!

When everyone arrived, David Gill first elaborated on the significance of further developing the Carrington training base from an overall perspective. "Manchester City's training base is only two minutes away from our Carrington base."

Zhou Buqi couldn't help laughing after hearing this.

Because once he went to the Carrington base for training and saw an interesting scene.

At that time, during training, full-back Evra took an unreasonable long shot 30 meters away from the goal. As you can imagine, the defender's footwork turned the ball into an anti-aircraft cannon and disappeared.

Ferguson was very angry and immediately scolded Evra and told him to go to Manchester City's training base to get the ball back.

The training bases of the two bitter rivals are very close to each other.

This means that a close comparison can be made. Which of the two training bases is better?

Well Manchester United, this is how it should be.

Manchester United is a super club.

If Manchester City were better, it would be over. Not only would the public image be ruined, but the players' internal self-perception would also be confused... Who is the better club, Manchester United or Manchester City?

It used to be easy to say that Manchester City was a mid-to-lower team.

Things are different now. Manchester City has achieved rapid development with the funds of Middle Eastern tycoons. They have spent huge sums of money to carry out high-standard, all-round renovation and upgrade of the training base.

David Gill continued: "Manchester City is growing very fast, which is putting pressure on Manchester United. For Manchester United, even if it is on the same level as Manchester City, it is a shame. Especially the club's infrastructure. Old Trafford is the pride of Manchester and Manchester City will never surpass it. However, the stadium is only a place for fans to cheer. For our coaches, players and young children who come to trial, the training base is more A crucial place.”

Zhou Buqi understands and agrees with this idea, "Yes, Manchester United must lead Manchester City in all aspects. Not only must it lead in the stadium, but the training base must also be stronger. Manchester United must have an absolute competitive advantage in front of its mortal rivals in the same city."

David Gill said with a smile: "This time the region and the city hope to boost the economy through the development of football infrastructure projects. The first choice is Manchester United. This is the brand value of Manchester United. The stronger the brand, the more resources can be obtained. More; the more resources you get, the stronger your brand will be.”

"Tell me, what else do you have in mind?"

"The five-star hotel plan is aimed at the first team. However, we also have youth teams such as U13, U14, U15, U17, and U19. Well, there is also a women's team."

David Gill's thinking in this regard is very traditional and his attitude towards women's football is very cold.

The Premier League women's football team is now a semi-professional league. 90% of the girls in the Premier League women's football team are playing football in their spare time. Some are nurses, some are teachers, some are students, some are models, some are flight attendants, some are OLs...just like in the bar. It’s the same as the service industry, all part-time jobs.

The difference is that if you work part-time in a bar, you can make a lot of money; if you work part-time in the Premier League women's football team, you are extremely poor, and your income is similar to that of the U15 youth team.

Zhou Buqi was a little surprised, "Youth team? Youth team competitions also need to adopt this model? Aren't youth teams all amateur competitions? Do they need to be so professional?"

"No, it's not the same thing..." David Gill smiled, and then asked the youth training director to explain the youth team's competition mode and the difficulties encountered.

Youth training director Brian McClair is a direct descendant of Ferguson and a former Manchester United player. He talked about it.

Manchester United is the best team in the Manchester region and of course has the best youth selection team and youth academy in the area. However, the Greater Manchester area is so large that many children’s families are too far away from the Carrington base, which may take three or four hours to drive.

Some children were even sent from the next city.

Therefore, Manchester United’s youth training is about three days a week.

Weekend training.

At other times, players practice on their own at nearby courts or at school based on assignments given by youth academy teachers. Children near the training base can be close to water and terraces, and can go to training every day after school.

After reaching the youth training echelons of U15, U16, and U17, the organized youth training league will be very formal. Young players who live too far away or out of town have to come here in advance and prepare for the next day's game.

But where to live?

Staying in a hotel?

These youth leagues do not create any value and clubs cannot afford so much travel expenses. Many young players’ families cannot afford to stay in a hotel for a long time.

Therefore, many families around the Carrington base warmly and friendly extend a helping hand and invite their children to live in their homes.

Some young players will also live in the homes of teammates nearby.

In the past few decades, this has basically been done. The entire youth training system in European football is basically based on this model. It relies on some well-meaning families to provide children with a boarding environment and help children from other places to receive professional training. Football training. In fact, this is not only true for football, but also for the entire social system. For example, when young people in China go to study abroad, they can find such free accommodation families as long as they are willing.

However, staying overnight is not a simple matter after all.

Some children may not like to live in other people's homes due to personality reasons; some children may be particularly naughty and cause havoc in other people's homes; especially now that women's football is on the rise and there are many girls in youth training academies, it may be possible for girls to stay overnight There are some more risks.

In short, there are various geographical disadvantages.

Zhou Buqi nodded, "It seems that we still need to build a youth training dormitory."

"That's right!"

McClair was excited.

David Gill was also very happy. After two hours of thinking, he already had a general plan for Manchester United’s upcoming infrastructure project. “There are three main points. First, build a five-star hotel; second, Second, build a youth training camp dormitory; third, further expand and improve the Carrington training base, including a larger venue, more training grounds, and richer facilities."

"Do you want to expand?" Zhou Buqi didn't know much about the situation. "Don't the Carrington base already have 14 courts?"

"Well..." David Gill's expression was a bit complicated. It seems that the big boss's attention to football is really limited. At least he has not read the emails sent to him, so he can only explain it truthfully, "14 There are indeed a lot of stadiums, and apart from Manchester City, this is the most in the Premier League.”

Zhou Buqi almost died of anger, "Man City again?"

David Gill said calmly: "After Abu Dhabi capital took over Manchester City in 2008, the first thing they did was invest 200 million pounds to completely expand and transform their training base. They are a comparison. This is what Manchester United is planning. The Carrington base covers an area of ​​70 acres, and they have planned 80 acres; we have 14 stadiums, and they will expand to 16 stadiums. Their initial plan was to suppress Manchester United One head!"

This was really the first time Zhou Buqi knew about this.

No way, he is usually too busy to read every email. With assistants like Ning Yaxian and Sun Wanran doing the work for them, they would only select the most important emails and mark them out.

Football matters are really not important at all.

This is very embarrassing.

He remembers the planning and renovation plan for the Carrington base after he took over Manchester United.

30 million pounds was used to expand the reserve stadium, 8 million pounds was used to renovate the Carrington base, and 2 million pounds was used to update training facilities...the total investment was only 40 million pounds.

From the perspective of the time, this was a big deal. But compared with Manchester City, a wealthy country in the Middle East, the gap is really big!

Their investment budget has reached 200 million pounds!

All indicators are higher than Manchester United!

At this time, Boss Zhou was unwilling. He felt humiliated and said angrily: "Why don't you talk about such a big thing? This is related to the brand of Manchester United. You should have raised it at the board of directors!"

David Gill was very embarrassed and couldn't express his pain.

Zhou Buqi was very angry and waved his hand, "Immediately inform you that there will be a board meeting tomorrow night, and everyone who can be present will be there! This is a big deal! Manchester United is the football flag of Manchester, not Manchester City! The best youth training system should be in Manchester United!"

At this point, the topic has risen to another level.

It is not just the scope of team management and financial investment discussed at the beginning, it has reached the height of Manchester United Group's strategy.

Zhou Buqi has never taken any tycoon from the Middle East seriously. It's impossible to step on his shoulders and rise to the top!

He is not Glazer!

In the previous life, the Glazer family controlled Manchester United, which really ruined Manchester United. The team's performance plummeted. This was only a superficial phenomenon.

Just like an apple, if even the peel is rotten, the core will only become more rotten!

Especially the team's training base was completely crushed by Manchester City.

So much so that Neville, Robin van Persie, Andy Cole, Rooney, Ashley Young and a large number of Manchester United legends have sent their children to the youth training camp of their arch-enemy Manchester City.

Fletcher, in particular, is the most unbearable to watch. He was the director of youth training at Manchester United at the time, but he sent his son, who was extremely talented in football, to the Manchester City youth training camp for training. It was so heartbreaking!

Zhou Buqi can't happen to him under any circumstances!