The land that had been abandoned for many years and overgrown with weeds was cleared and leveled, and the messy warehouses and scrap depots were also cleared away.
Green barbed wire fences were erected on the small mounds beside the surrounding highways, which seemed to blend into the surrounding rows of tall trees that were often twenty or thirty meters tall.
In the future, Leeds United will also invest money to create a green belt with mixed layers of trees, shrubs and grass around the training base, which will not only provide greening and beauty, but also protect the privacy of the training base.
Get off the M621 motorway, go around the Elland Road roundabout to the north, and enter the main road in Leeds.
Engineering barriers have been erected on both sides of the road, with slogans in both Chinese and English.
Not far ahead, you can see the eye-catching gate of the construction site.
At this moment, there were cars parked on both sides of the gate. Many guests, fans, TV stations and media reporters gathered here, setting up long guns and short cannons to film this event that made Leeds United fans and even countless fans around the world look forward to it.
A long-awaited engineering project.
When the Mayor of Leeds, Leeds United Chairman Su Qing, CEO Fernando Lucas, and the European General Manager of a Chinese construction company, they dug the foundation for Leeds United's new training base amidst the sound of a salute.
There was a burst of warm applause.
Gao Shen stood in the front row of the crowd, standing side by side with chief designer Norman Foster, and applauded the groundbreaking ceremony together.
Driven by Gao Shen and Leeds United, this project has attracted the attention of countless fans and media before it has even started.
Coupled with Leeds United's outstanding performance last season, all these factors have attracted much attention to this project.
The total budget of this project is as high as 80 million pounds, making it the most luxurious training base in history.
Part of it is the municipal park at the north end, which was funded by the Leeds City Government and constructed together with Leeds United. After completion, it will be connected with the home ground and training area of Leeds United's youth team.
This is a very interesting interaction.
But what Gao Shen is thinking about is that from the southwest corner of the training base, past the roundabout, is the Elland Road stadium area of Leeds United.
"What do you think, Norman, if these two areas can be connected into one?" Gao Shen asked out of the blue.
"This way to the stadium?"
"right."
Gao Shen thought more and more, but Norman Foster shook his head.
"Unrealistic."
"Why?"
"I have carefully studied the Elland Road Stadium and found that there really isn't much value in expanding or renovating it, especially the west stand. It's too old. Instead of investing so much money, it would be better to just build a new one."
Gao Shen agrees very much.
Many times, the cost of renovating an old stadium is not much cheaper than building a new one. The reason why you want to renovate it is mainly because of the location of the stadium and the approval procedures.
For example, Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium is located in the center of Madrid. Every inch of land is at a premium. It would be absolutely impossible for Real Madrid to leave.
The feasibility of building a new building without moving away from the Bernabeu is very slim, because it would be a huge project, which is basically unrealistic in the busiest city center. How much work would it take to demolish it alone?
So, Florentino chose to transform.
But the situation at Leeds United is different.
The land around Elland Road Stadium belongs to Leeds United, and the area is not small.
"I calculated at that time that the land to the east, where the Centennial Memorial Hall is now, and the rented warehouse area are not enough to build a modern football stadium."
"Isn't it enough?" Gao Shen felt that the land was quite big.
It is said to be the Centennial Memorial Hall, but it is actually a bungalow with a tin roof. The warehouse is even older. The roof has been repaired over and over again. There was no money to renovate it before, so it is now rented to a beer company.
Surrounding it is a temporary parking lot for games.
"Needless to say, I need to say more about the West Stand and South Stand. They are both decades old buildings. They have no value for renovation or expansion, and their seating capacity is small. If you want to build a new stadium on this land,
If it is placed here at the Centennial Memorial Hall, the East Stand, which has the largest capacity, will inevitably be demolished."
At present, Leeds United's attendance is mainly concentrated in the East Stand, which has been renovated and has a high capacity.
It would be really not cost-effective to dismantle this part.
Especially considering that once the construction of the new stadium starts, it will take three years if it goes well, and it may take four or five years if it doesn't go well.
By that time, Leeds United will have no idea how much they will lose in terms of match-day revenue alone.
"If I go by the preliminary plan, it will be built on the west side of the land, which is the side close to the original railway. It is now a temporary parking lot. It is very convenient and will not even affect the current Elland Road stadium.
use."
In other words, if it is built on the west side, Elland Road can continue to be used until the new stadium is completed.
When Norman Foster said this, Gao Shen actually remembered it.
One of the important reasons why former Chelsea boss Bates took over Leeds United back then was that Leeds United had a very large business plan at the time, which was to transform the west and south stands of Elland Road Stadium.
The west side of the stadium was the original team's training base, but it was pushed down and placed at the current Thorpe Arch. The original plan was to build Leeds United's largest shopping mall here.
At that time, Leeds United also conducted market research and felt that the transportation here was very convenient. It was adjacent to the M1 highway, connected by the M621, and connected to the M62 highway in the west. Both of these are the main arteries that run through the north and south of the UK.
It can be said that this is the most convenient area in Leeds and even the entire Yorkshire.
Everyone knows that the most important thing for British people to travel is cars. Many shopping malls are located in the suburbs because of convenient parking. Therefore, the Elland Road stadium has considerable potential, but it has never been tapped.
To the south of the stadium, there are actually two pieces of land, which are currently allocated to Leeds United and used as temporary parking lots on match days. If all these pieces of land were really utilized, the value would be amazing.
Most importantly, it had little impact on the Leeds game.
…
In the Leeds United club, it is Su Qing who has always dealt with the Leeds City Council.
After all, she comes from a ministry background. She is capable and very capable. She handles all kinds of things in an orderly manner and connects all the joints, making the entire new training base project of Leeds United progress very smoothly.
After the groundbreaking ceremony, when Gao Shen met with the Mayor of Leeds, she did not forget to praise Su Qing, which made Gao Shen very proud. At the same time, she also felt that she had done the right thing by handing over Leeds United to Su Qing.
According to the estimates of the China Construction Company, the construction period of the training base is about twelve months. In other words, if the plan is fully calculated, Leeds United will move in before the opening of the 2014 summer training camp.
This is also a very important time point for Leeds United.
At that time, Leeds United will move the team's first team and youth training echelon to the new training base, and even the club's administrative department, data center and other departments will be moved here.
This will become the heart of Leeds United in the future.
After the groundbreaking ceremony, Gao Shen specially hosted a banquet for the senior management of the construction company, Norman Foster's team, and the core management of Leeds United, and then met with the club management at the Thorpe Arch base.
The content of this meeting is mainly to summarize the past season and look forward to the future season.
Gao Shen solemnly introduced Pochettino to everyone, saying that he was very optimistic about Pochettino's coaching at Leeds United and believed that he had the ability to lead Leeds United in the Premier League and Europa League in the new season.
Pochettino also solemnly promised that he will do his best to lead Leeds United and strive to achieve good results in the Premier League in the new season.
Gao Shen focused on the 2013 World Youth Championship in Türkiye.
Many players from Leeds United participated in this World Youth Championship, such as Pogba, Kondogbia and Kurzawa of the French team, as well as Brozovic of Croatia, and Portugal
Cancelo, England's Stones, Maguire and Harry Kane.
Sterling was originally a player of the right age, but because he was unable to play in Manchester City, he missed the World Youth Championship.
This can also be regarded as the butterfly effect brought about by profound knowledge.
But in the new season with Leeds United, Sterling will definitely get more opportunities.
Because in Pochettino's plan, Coutinho's position should be in the midfielder, not the winger.
His two wings tend to use faster and more impactful players.
If Incardi transfers, the team's center will be Harry Kane, Vardy and Martial.
Among them, Gao Shen, Borrell and Leeds United's technical team have always positioned Martial as a center forward, a center like Henry.
Gao Shen hopes that the scouting team and the data center will pay more attention to the World Youth Championship to see if there are any emerging fish that have slipped through the net.
…
After the meeting, Gao Shen stayed with several core executives and talked about his conversation with Norman Foster.
He noticed that everyone's eyes were shining.
Everyone present basically knew about Leeds United's previous plans. This was something they knew as early as when they acquired Leeds United.
By now, this plan is definitely out of date, and many plans are inappropriate.
For example, there was no large shopping mall in Leeds at that time, but now there is one. It is on the north bank of the Aire River in the city center, about three kilometers away from the Elland Road Stadium in a straight line.
But this does not mean that Leeds United has no advantages, especially the advantage of convenient transportation.
If this advantage can be properly utilized, Leeds United's land business plan still has great potential.
It is even possible to create a perfect combination of business and stadium like Old Trafford in Leeds.
Whether it is the purchasing power of fans or the number of fans, Leeds United does not lose much to Manchester United.
This plan is very tempting, but the investment is also quite huge.
Not to mention anything else, a huge amount of money will be invested in the new stadium. The current Elland Road stadium will also need to be demolished, the land will be consolidated, and business planning will be carried out. The total investment in the entire plan will be an astronomical figure.
Leeds United simply cannot afford it at the moment.
The most I can do is think about the new stadium first.
And this cannot be done in a hurry. You must do market research and open up various relationships at the same time.
If you think about it carefully, time is still very tight.
"Look at the transfer operation this summer. If it is successful, we will start studying a new stadium." Gao Shen was a little impatient.
