From Manchester to North America, and from North America to Ireland.
Manchester City went full circle and spent nearly a month on long-distance training. The training intensity was very intense and the games were quite intensive. So after returning to Manchester, Gao Shen gave the players a day to rest.
On the one hand, it allows them to get over the jet lag, and on the other hand, they also have a rest and spend time with their families.
Next, Manchester City will face Manchester United in the Community Shield.
This is the prelude to the new season.
…
As the saying goes: flowers are similar every year, but people are different every year.
Every year, the European transfer market plays out seemingly different but actually similar dramas, making media and fans around the world worried.
If the rich man like Manchester City was still supporting last year, then it is Paris Saint-Germain who has taken over the banner of the rich man this year.
But unlike last year, this year's European transfer market is relatively dull.
This is clear when you look at the investment of major leagues.
The Premier League, in particular, tightened money for the first time this season after Manchester City's massive investment for three consecutive seasons. As a result, the Premier League's transfer spending actually lost to Serie A.
This has to be said to be a very surprising thing.
Serie A is considered a dark horse in the transfer market this season. This is mainly because after Napoli won the Serie A championship and reached the Champions League semi-finals, they successively sent away the core players of the team and received more than 200 million euros in transfers.
Income, naturally also involves a lot of investment in the transfer market.
Coupled with the reorganization of Juventus, increased investment by Lazio and Roma, and continued spending by the Milan duo, the entire Serie A transfer investment reached 460 million euros, surpassing the Premier League and ranking first in European football.
.
The Premier League is only 10 million euros behind Serie A. This is mainly because Manchester City is unwilling to invest in the transfer market. In addition, other teams such as Everton have tightened their money, and the overall performance is still relatively sluggish.
La Liga ranked third with 350 million euros, Ligue 1 relied on the investment of a team from Paris Saint-Germain to climb to fourth, and the Bundesliga's total investment was only 150 million euros, ranking third.
fifth.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to Paris Saint-Germain, Malaga, known as La Liga's Manchester City, has also attracted much attention, with a net investment of 60 million euros, even more than Real Madrid and Barcelona.
After Roma was acquired, it also underwent major changes, with an investment of nearly 80 million euros.
The same goes for Anzhi from the Russian Super League. One Eto'o cost 23 million euros. The key is Eto'o's annual salary of 20 million euros. This is the most scary thing.
Now we can clearly see the general trend of European football in the next few years.
That is, after the economic downturn, hot money began to pour into professional football, especially hot money from the Middle East such as Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Malaga, etc., and there was no limit to squandering it.
This will create a phenomenon, that is, high-quality players will become more and more popular.
The final result is that the player's value and annual salary have increased significantly.
…
The day after Gao Shen returned to Manchester, Lucas came to report the situation.
This time the management went to China to recruit investment and the progress was quite smooth.
At first, Gao Shen contacted the famous domestic communications giant Huawei through his own channels in Italy.
This company has been sponsoring sports projects in the past two years, including this summer's Italian Super Cup in China, which they are the title sponsor of. In addition, I heard that they also plan to sponsor teams in La Liga and Serie A.
The two sides had a little contact and hit it off immediately.
Unexpectedly, during my stay in China, another well-known domestic solar photovoltaic giant, Inco, was more sincere. Not only did they sponsor the World Cup, but they will also sponsor La Liga teams in the future, and they are also very interested in sports marketing.
After contact between the two parties, a consensus was quickly reached. Yingke will sponsor Leeds United's chest advertising at an amount of 3.5 million pounds per year. If they can enter the Premier League, an additional 1.5 million pounds per year will be added.
That's five million pounds.
Huawei's consumer business has not yet improved, and the Mate mobile phone that Gao Shen has longed for has not yet been released. Naturally, it is not willing to invest such a large sum of money to sponsor chest advertising, but it still sponsored Leeds United with two million pounds.
Won Leeds United's training uniform sponsorship and cuff sponsorship.
After signing two major sponsorship deals, Leeds United's finances suddenly became much better.
Not only that, Su Qing and Fernando Lucas also visited Lianxiang, the world's largest computer manufacturer. The two parties also reached a sponsorship agreement. Lianxiang will become a partner of Leeds United's data center and be responsible for providing a full set of servers to Leeds United.
Equipment and system construction, and will also become a sponsor of Leeds United.
This sponsorship is also up to one million pounds, but most of it will be based on the goods and services provided.
After all, in order to build such a huge data center, we also need to set up an office system within Leeds United. Equipment and services will also be a big expense, and Lianxiang has them all.
Regarding this cooperation, both Huawei and Lianxiang are more optimistic about the combination of technology and football advocated by Leeds United.
To put it bluntly, they just believe in the prospects brought by the business model that Gao Shen wants to develop.
…
"When I went to China this time, I found that the Chinese market is huge and the potential is amazing."
Fernando Lucas said with admiration.
"I have heard you say it several times before, but I can only believe it after seeing it with my own eyes. It is completely different from the China I imagined."
Gao Shen and Su Qing looked at each other and laughed in unison.
In fact, as long as you go to China in person, live for a while, and experience it, everyone can feel the progress and development speed of this country. This is a shock that cannot be felt in Europe and the United States.
"Before we left China, a TV company, a home appliance company, and several other brands were contacting us. I can feel their desire to further open up the international market."
When he said this, Fernando Lucas looked at Gao Shen and said, "Gao, I think we should set up an office in China to do brand promotion and build and maintain cooperative relationships."
Gao Shen has actually thought about this.
"If we are just trying to make money, it doesn't make much sense to establish this office. I have always believed that we should establish a benign and sustainable win-win cooperation with our partners, even including serving China
As fans, I think we should consider this issue from this point of view."
Lucas looked at Gao Shen and then at Su Qing, and couldn't help but laugh, "You two said exactly the same thing."
"Really?" Gao Shen was quite surprised.
Su Qing smiled gently, "Actually, there is a saying in China that when friends come, there is good wine; when there are wolves, there are shotguns. We should be this friend, and even more broadly, we should strive to become a cooperative partner between the East and the West.
A bond of communication.”
Look, after all, he is from a ministry background, this pattern is big enough!
In fact, Gao Shen and others already have a complete set of plans surrounding the marketing of Leeds United.
For example, the team will invite professional documentary directors to plan the documentary shooting of Leeds United, starting from the history of the team, to the peak of the White Rose, to the subsequent decline, and finally to the revival now...
The club intends to tell the story, culture and feelings of Leeds United in a way that young people like and can understand, thereby arousing resonance.
Leeds United will follow suit on major Internet platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
In addition, the team also plans to cooperate with Huawei to build wifi throughout Leeds United's Elland Road Stadium and start making apps so that fans can enjoy more convenient stadium services and watching games, and at the same time
Have more and closer interactions.
For example, sponsors can carry out brand promotion and advertising marketing. During the game, fans can use their mobile phones to watch slow-motion replays, multi-angle lens replays, player statistics and goal reminders, real-time sharing of game highlights, etc. The club will also create a permanent
It provides a dedicated fan activity space and launches various online and offline activities in a targeted manner.
In addition, after connecting to wifi, fans can order food and purchase goods at any corner of the stadium, which will greatly facilitate fans and further promote consumption on match days.
All of these can greatly improve the watching experience of Leeds United fans, and at the same time, it can also make a qualitative leap in Leeds United's stadium services.
Huawei also attaches great importance to this. After the two parties signed the contract, they immediately arranged for personnel to go to the site for inspection and quickly formulated a plan. It is currently being prepared intensively and is expected to be officially launched before September.
Huawei, who advocates wolf nature, knows very well that this is a stepping stone.
What will be knocked on will be the door of European football!
Leeds United's Elland Road Stadium will also become the first team in European football to activate stadium WiFi, which will undoubtedly set a good example for other teams.
It is precisely because of this that Huawei attaches great importance to cooperation with Leeds United.
It can be said that regarding marketing, Gao Shen, Su Qing, Lucas and the club's marketing staff have made a lot of preparations, and now it's time to put their efforts into action.
In the Chinese market, Gao Shen also hopes to adopt this long-term approach, rather than blindly chasing money and interests.
For example, the cooperation with Huawei, the cooperation with Yingke, and the cooperation with Lianxiang are all aimed at forming a win-win situation.
…
Compared with the management of the club, Gao Shen doesn't have much to worry about when it comes to the team.
At the beginning of Sarri's coaching, he was still a little worried about the team's strength, but on the first day of training, he called Gao Shen in the United States and happily expressed that he was very confident in the team.
Why?
Because the players at Leeds United are really strong.
After a month of training and running-in, the current main lineup has basically been revealed.
Goalkeeper: Courtois.
Defence: Kurzawa, Koulibaly, Woodgate and Klein.
Midfielder: Pogba, Schneiderlin and Paulinho.
Forwards: Adam Lallana, Benteke and Bolasie.
On the left back, Kurzawa was able to suppress Bertrand, which surprised Gao Shen.
After all, Bertrand will play in the Champions League final this season.
In the midfield, Kondogbia failed to grab a main position, and Gao Shen was also a little surprised.
On the front line, Bolasie became the main force, which also surprised Gao Shen.
But after discussing with Sarri, I found that Bolasie is really fast and very capable. As long as he is allowed one-on-one, he can definitely become the number one threat.
As for the midfielder, the three strong men are all brave, but the key is to be able to move at both feet.
Schneiderlin plays as a deep-lying player, is excellent at playing the ball and passing the ball, and is also very defensive, which is especially suitable for the style of play of Sarri and Gao Shen.
The presence of Pogba and Paulinho further protects the team's midfield and backfield.
Both Sarri and Fernando Lucas are quite satisfied with the situation of this team.
If we really talk about hidden dangers, the biggest hidden danger should be the central defender in the defense.
Koulibaly has outstanding physical fitness, but his defense is still a bit rough. Woodgate is stable but prone to injuries. Maguire and Stones are still too young, especially Stones, who cannot be reused for the time being.
But it doesn’t matter. To put it in a sophisticated way, you will get it after practice.
