The Young Lion

In the European League, Serie A is the most prosperous. In addition to the wealth of the top three in the north, other teams have also become entangled due to the commercial income of the sponsor's broadcast fee. Even the relegation team can attract some international players to join these small balls. The team's digging also made Aldridge feel a headache.

Because there are two TV stations competing for the broadcast contract this summer, the La Liga team also has a lot of funds to expand the army, so many middle and upper teams in La Liga have also started an "arms race", but because of the style of the league, they Most of the players who look down on the Premier League, the talented players that have appeared in England in recent years have also ended in dismal games, such as Gascoigne, Rush and so on.

After the Premier League has eased the financial austerity of the European war ban and the huge financial pressure to build a new stadium or rebuild the stadium, it has begun to recover steadily. The investment of the major teams is increasing every year. The successful commercial operation has begun To sweetness.

Although Manchester United won the Premier League title last season, Ferguson is still not satisfied with the lineup. After losing with Ronaldo and Hiller, he can comfort him at least that he brought Solskjaer and introduced substitute goalkeeper Vandergut. Last season, Manchester United brought in a substitute goalkeeper to transfer to Sunderland in the winter, and then brought Manchester United to the Czech national team's amazing Pobosky, baby-faced compatriot Wan Jinyou Johnson also came to Latra Ford, in the end, Manchester United also accounted for Cruyff Jr. online, who was originally involved in the transaction of Ronaldo in Barcelona, ​​but the latter obviously had strong self-esteem and refused to add to the transaction, and then put on the Red Devils. Tabard.

Arsenal's summer is very turbulent, and it is rumored throughout London that Riocchi will be out of class, but the head coach named Arsenal Wenger is not familiar with Fleet Street, and Arsenal completed a heavyweight signing. Reggaeira, the former is regarded as the hope of Arsenal's revival, and the latter is not the main force in Millwall, so it can only be expected.

Liverpool successively introduced many powerful cadres and invested more than 10 million pounds. Chelsea under Bates managed to focus on the late twilight star. The veteran Viali who won the Champions League at Juventus last season spent 10 million dollars on Chelsea. Stamford Bridge.

Compared with other English Premier League teams recruiting and buying horses, some even expanded their troops.

Millwall has nothing to do in the transfer market, except sellers.

Vieira, Pires, Solskjaer, Thuram, and the transfer of four brought Millwall an income of nearly 30 million pounds. Excluding the purchase and wage expenses in the past two years, Millwall net Earn more than 20 million pounds!

This made the young marshal Aldridge praised by the outside world as a business-minded manager, but it also criticized Millwall for his lack of initiative.

Sold off two main players and two main substitutes. Obviously, Millwall's strength has not increased but declined. In the new season, they will face a higher level of Manchester United, Newcastle United, Liverpool, Arsenal and other strong teams. The competition, no doubt, their attitude in the transfer market, has shown that they are behind.

Aldridge has been very busy lately, too busy to pull away.

Tomorrow is the day when the players return to the team for training, but he is in the private room of the Ritz Hotel.

There were four people in the box, all dressed in suits and leather shoes. Aldridge was sitting next to the club's CEO Adam. Opposite the two were the FA's Chairman Wiseman and CEO Kelly.

After eating almost the same, Aldridge came straight to the point: "Mr. President, renting Wembley is not a plan I hurriedly came up. On the contrary, I made up my mind to make this request to the FA after careful consideration."

Wiseman and Kelly remained silent, and the chairman nodded slightly, motioning to Aldridge to continue.

"First of all, Millwall’s stadium is small and has a capacity of less than 20,000. In the new season, we are going to compete in the European Cup Winners’ Cup. I don’t know if UEFA will pass our stadium review, but that’s not important. I think Millwall is Representing the English football team in Europe, this involves an image problem. Secondly, if Millwall can win the Premier League title in the new season, our stadium will definitely not be able to pass the UEFA review for the UEFA Champions League game next season. At that time, I will still come to you to make the same request."

Last season, Millwall won two championships and one Asia and won the European War tickets. In this era, the three European Cups have the strongest influence in the Champions League, followed by the European Cup Winners' Cup, and finally the UEFA Cup.

The Champions League is the stage for national championships, and the European Cup Winners' Cup is the stage for national championships. The rest of the UEFA Cup, the participating teams have strength, but most of them do not have the championship title, and the taste of exchanges is more intense.

Therefore, in the new season, Millwall will compete in the three fronts to compete in the championships of four important events. The Winners Cup is the stage for the king of the cup, but Aldridge does not value it. His goal in the new season is only one: the Premier League championship!

And he thinks farther, if Millwall is in the Champions League next season, after all, the Champions League is about to usher in expansion. I am afraid that they will not be able to play at the Lions Stadium at home. UEFA will not allow it because of the capacity of the stadium. The game takes place at the Lion’s Cave Stadium.

The UEFA Champions League is a gold signboard that UEFA strives to create. If there is no UEFA Champions League, UEFA will be virtually useless. Therefore, the threshold for the UEFA Champions League is naturally high. In addition to the team's strength, the club's hard power is also one of the standards that cannot be dropped.

Aldrich wants to plan ahead, Millwall cannot build a high-standard new stadium within a year, then once the new season can win the Premier League championship, next season they will rent someone else’s stadium to play in the Champions League, otherwise they will Was disqualified.

Recalling that for about two thousand years, Arsenal rented Wembley to play the home game of the Champions League. Aldrich took the lead and started renting this season until the new stadium was built.

The advantage of lending in advance is obvious, players can familiarize with Wembley earlier, and minimize the negative impact of no home advantage.

Secondly, the large capacity of Wembley means that the ticket income is large.

At the same time, it can also benefit Millwall's propaganda and enhance its influence.

Wiseman and Kelly greeted each other, and then Wiseman sighed: "Aldrich, I want to help you, but your plan is not a long-term plan. If Millwall has been doing well, then Wen Does Bully always lend you? I heard that Millwall’s new stadium plan was shelved after the Hall family took over, and it was converted into a youth training base. You always have your own stadium. "

Aldridge nodded in disbelief, actually Adam sitting next to him was shocked. If Millwall really invested in the construction of the new stadium, it would definitely be his CEO's failure!

The capacity of the new stadium is only twenty-five thousand, and once built, it does not meet the UEFA Champions League standard. It is not easy to say whether it can be expanded at that time. If the money hits the float, Adam’s resignation is certain and will become The laughing stock in the circle.

Can't help but glance at Aldridge, or this young boss has vision and courage.

Aldrich took out a document and handed it to Wiseman, saying: "This is our new stadium plan. The investment budget is between £100 million and £150 million. My brother is talking for me. Passenger, Millwall invested 20 million pounds in the early stage, and all the remaining loans will start construction before the end of the year and will be completed within five years."

Suddenly, more than 100 million pounds of funds are needed to build the stadium. Even the Hall family does not have so much liquidity. The Millwall club itself is not valuable, but the players they own are valuable!

One year or two years ago, Millwall went to a loan, and it was impossible to borrow more than 100 million pounds. Even if Barnett came forward, unless he used his company as a mortgage, the major banks would only refuse.

But this summer is different. Millwall's team valuation has exceeded 50 million pounds. With Barnett coming out as a lobbyist, Millwall can also invest 20 million pounds in the early stage. The bank is willing to sign an agreement, and then according to The progress of the project is allocated little by little. If Millwall fails to repay the loan in the middle of the project, the subsequent grant will be terminated and Aldridge will lose everything and can only apply for bankruptcy.

In this decision, Aldridge bet on everything he had.

He can’t build a new stadium, and it’s cheaper and faster to build early than late.

If the Premier League completely enters the capital era, Millwall will again encounter financial pressure to build the stadium, I am afraid that Millwall will no longer be able to turn over.

Where does the income come from?

In addition to the club's business development, it can only sell players.

This year, the sales of players have been close to 30 million, of which 20 million are used to invest in the preliminary work of the new stadium.

Next summer, Stam will definitely leave, as long as he can’t transfer without injuries, then Millwall can start repaying his income at least next summer, plus the broadcast share of the Premier League is getting higher and higher, Millwall also strives to enter the Champions League every year to obtain new benefits, which must be based on the team's record, so Aldridge is not easy at all, but it is this pressure that makes him look forward to the future. The work for a long time is full of motivation and passion.

Wiseman and Kelly discussed for another period of time, and the final focus of the debate was on interests.

The decayed institution of the FA is full of political struggle, and Kelly, who can sit in the position of executive officer, is often the target of the thousands, because since the establishment of the Premier League and the FA’s control, the FA’s debt It is getting higher and higher. The role of Kelly as the CEO of the FA is to make money.

In this regard, Aldridge doesn’t want to have a little bite to talk to each other. After all, the loan of Wembley from a team like Millwall has taken a huge advantage, both in terms of income and image.

In the end, the two sides negotiated the conditions. In addition to Millwall having to pay for the maintenance of Wembley after the game day of the leased venue, the FA will receive a 15% profit on ticket income as Millwall’s Rental fee.

It sounds like 15% is not much, but Wembley can accommodate more than 60,000 people, even if Millwall fans only have 30,000 attendance, European war tickets are more expensive than domestic league cups, even if it is calculated at 20 pounds, the FA Each game earns at least 100,000 pounds. In a season, if Millwall can go further, the FA's total income of nearly one million pounds is not a problem. This income is already a lot for the FA.

Wiseman has reached an oral agreement with Aldridge, but he still has to go back and unify the opinions within the FA. Before the start of the community shield game in the new season, he will give Aldridge an accurate answer.

Aldridge smiled and shook hands with Wiseman and Kelly, and then took a step with Adam.

Tomorrow, the team's training will begin, and Millwall's transfer door has been closed.

The club signed a lot of new sponsorship contracts in the summer, plus the 9 million pounds added to the club account from the transfer market, Millwall's finances for the 96-97 season are at least safe.

Now Aldridge's headache is how to face a new season with a team that has barely rested in the summer.

Attachment: Millwall 96-97 season club first team list goalkeepers: Bout, Keller, Wright.

Defenders: Schneider, Mills, Materazzi, Richards, Stam, Southgate, Elgra, Ferdinand, Capdevila, Zambrotta, Neil (one year seriously injured) , Comeback in March 1997, no appearances throughout the season.)

Midfielders: Makelele, Gattuso, Pirlo, Lampard, Nedved, Barack.

Strikers: Larson, Trezeguet, Shevchenko, Phillips, Van Nistelrooy, Glenn Charles, Tony.

A total of 27 people.