Chapter 498 Can being a team owner also become a charterer?
Chapter 498 Can being a team owner also become a charterer?
Author: Ant who watches football ruthlessly
During the international competition month, York City certainly did not stop.
They first defeated Plymouth 2:1 in the irrelevant second round of the British Championship group stage, and then had an away game against Oxford United in the English League One.
As an old teammate of the same League Two team during the season, York City at this time has clearly changed from what it used to be.
Even though it was an away game, they still played vigorously and were able to defeat the Eastern Conference with a score of 3:1.
After returning home, York City's momentum continued unabated and they defeated Swindon Town 3:1.
After the international break, although York City was forced to a 0:0 draw by Burghley in an away game from the East, they quickly won the East with Peterborough United 1:0.
The most exciting game occurred when York City missed Bradford at home.
Although Bradford is ranked fourth, they have remained unbeaten like York City.
Of course, it’s because they had too many draws, and Li Yi had 8 games! That also left a certain gap between them and York City in points.
But that match in the 16th round of English League One turned out to be a goal-scoring battle.
Only four minutes into the game, De Ligt took a header from a corner kick, and Baker headed in to open the scoring for York City.
Just seven minutes later, Baker's header missed again!
That time came from Lin Liangming's pass from the left, and the big center headed the ball from close range to further expand the score.
Before the end of the half, Kenyo Fuyasu suddenly moved forward and reached the right side of the penalty area. After receiving a pass from Kulusevski, York City gained another victory.
After a change of sides in the eastern half, Bradford took the opportunity to launch a wave of fierce attacks and took advantage of the York City defense's somewhat absentmindedness to score two goals in a row.
After the score was tied at 3:2, York City's situation was once in danger.
But at the critical moment, Rice's assist in the 76th minute allowed Aman to score a goal for York City on the left side of the penalty area, expanding the score again to 4-2.
In stoppage time, Baker built a wall outside the penalty area and returned after receiving the ball. Lin Liangming stepped in to add to York City's success.
Five to two!
Previously, York City defeated Bradford 5-2 at home.
With that victory, York City became the only remaining unbeaten team in English League One.
After that round, York City topped the list with 12 wins, 4 draws and 40 points, followed by Scunthorpe in second place with 34 points.
This not-so-famous team appears to be a dark horse next year. It seems that it has no ambition to break into the English Championship. At least for now, the momentum is not very strong.
Bolton Wanderers are third with 31 points, Bradford are fourth with 29 points, Sheffield United are fifth with 28 points, and Bristol Rovers are sixth with 26 points.
Those six teams form the first group currently competing for the English Championship.
——
"Jason, have I noticed that Leon Weyl seems to have a lot more red hair recently!"
Pan Yi stood in front of the window of the chairman's office, looking at the training ground in the distance, with Chairman Jason McGill standing next to him.
The chairman's office is on the second floor, and the training ground is right outside the window, so you can have a clear view of the situation there.
At this time, Leon Weir Scaloni was watching the first team training on the sidelines. His assistant Kaski kept showing off, obviously guiding the players in training.
During that period, the team's performance was very good, and it seemed that it had become the biggest promotion favorite in the English League One this season.
As the head coach, Scaloni obviously doesn't want to lose control at the critical moment, so he has been strictly following the team's training. The entire training base is filled with the smoke of the liquid war.
"Well, he sees that he has been under a lot of pressure recently and works late every day. He heard that he has been staying up late recently to watch the game videos and data of the wrong leg!" McGill said.
Pan Yi nodded slightly.
Although he would ask Scaloni to relax a little and not push himself too hard when discussing tactics, it was obvious that that didn't work.
Scaloni really tried his best to repay Pan Yi's kindness, and at the same time, whether he could fulfill Pan Yi's request as soon as possible.
He is not yet 40 years old, and he already has some red hair on his temples.
But there's nothing I can do about it. Doesn't that negate the reason why Pan Yi chose Scaloni?
Is he the kind of person who is very diligent, so diligent that he can't wait to influence everything in the game, no matter how meticulous and minute the details are, Pan Yi sometimes suspects that he is a little paranoid.
But it is precisely because of that kind of paranoia, coupled with a harmonious attitude and high emotional intelligence, that Scaloni is deeply loved by the players, and York City's performance is getting better and better this season.
Strong contender.
Pan Yi thought for a while and said: "I will find a time to talk to him and ask the Yidong coaching staff if they want to expand the number of people and if there are too many things that I can do myself. If necessary, he will help him find someone.
Come."
The current number of first-team coaches at York City is indeed a bit insufficient.
In addition to a goalkeeper coach and a physical coach, there is also an assistant coach Kaski.
As for Caskey, he works hard and gets along well with the players, but after all, he is just a coach from the old York City, and his abilities are average.
In other words, it is okay for him to be responsible for some monthly training, but it is difficult to help Scaloni with deeper work such as tactical design.
This resulted in Scaloni basically asking for a hand in everything, but there was really no one he could rely on.
In that situation, Pan Yi naturally wanted to find a few people to help him.
After hearing this, McGill nodded in agreement and was about to go out when he saw Horta bumping in.
Victor Horta is a Spaniard who is currently the club's director of football.
He will only be 37 years old next year, but he has already served as the director of Valladolid, Sevilla, Zenit, Elche, Middlesbrough and other teams. He is a highly rated football director in the FM game.
In Pan Yi's previous life, the guy later joined Leeds United, also from Yorkshire, and helped oversee the club's reforms. Those reforms also led to Leeds United's return to the Premier League in 2020.
Now, Pan Yi has hired him from Middlesbrough to take charge of the team's business management.
Although Chairman Jason McGill is a die-hard York City fan and has absolute enthusiasm and loyalty to York City, some things do not require people with strong business capabilities to do them.
The arrival of Horta can also share McGill's work well.
After Valentina resigned as financial director, Horta also took charge of a series of financial and operational matters.
It can be said that at York City now, McGill plays the outside role, Horta plays the outside role, and Scaloni focuses on training and games.
As for the boss Pan Yi...
Everyone cares about it, but at the same time everyone cares about it.
All matters big and small will be reported to him, but he usually doesn't get involved. Only when he encounters something that he can handle, Pan Yi will take action personally.
Otherwise, Pan Yi can live his life as a boss comfortably, and then take the time to give advice to Arteta on one side and Lippi on the other. That would be great.
"Hey, what's going to happen tomorrow? I'm so happy!" McGill asked curiously, looking at Horta's cheerful face.
Horta laughed and said: "I saw it all! Because he went to help the club and made a lot of money and came back!"
"Oh?" Nadong McGill stopped, and Pan Yi came over curiously to listen.
Horta explained: “He went to meet with one of their sponsors and went through the contract again. Obviously, the original contract was unreasonable because they had been promoted before, but now they are not a League One team.
The strongest team in the world must have a different value!"
McGill and Pan Yi took a wrong look.
Didn't they think much about that?
After all, as a League Two or League One team, to be honest, it is pretty good to find sponsors.
For Pan Yi’s sake, how could Musk and Abramovich’s company come to the door?
Maybe you can find a local stationery store to advertise initially.
Then Horta is not simple, he can actually increase the sponsorship fee further?
"He went to talk to them, and they thought what he said made sense. They decided to increase the original sponsorship fee by 50% in the eastern half of the season! Of course, he also gave them feedback, such as improving the stadium's facilities.
The billboards were all given to them to display.”
"Moreover, the sponsorship contract will also become a one-year model. The price of the English League One will be the same, and the price of the English Championship will be the same. In other words, if they can successfully reach the English Championship that season, the sponsorship fee will be the same.
It is possible to get a substantial increase!"
"As for the remaining part of the billboard, he will rent it separately, and will also keep a few display boards as public service advertisements. When their stadium is expanded, their home stadium can accommodate about 20,000 spectators, so that won't
It’s quite a publicity platform.”
"Of course, as their record gets better and better, and more TV stations are willing to broadcast their games, there will be a lot of income, and the publicity effect of billboards will be better..."
Horta talked eloquently, and Pan Yi and McGill nodded frequently.
The money-making part is good, it's Horta's job, and he does it well.
To be honest, Pan Yi might not be able to do that kind of thing better than him even if he was in the battle in person - after all, Pan Yi often just asks for his face to be swiped. If his face can't be swiped, sometimes he doesn't know what to do.
Done.
And Horta mentioned public service announcements, which is something Pan Yi has paid more attention to recently.
In the past year or two, Pan Yi has also established a foundation in the name of York City Club, with the purpose of serving the community and fans, while also taking into account some charity activities.
For example, in their free time, some York City players will go to local nursing homes and children's welfare homes to visit the elderly and children, and at the same time bring them some gifts and send them blessings;
If there are some die-hard fans who are in difficulty, the foundation will also provide sufficient help, such as providing job opportunities, helping their children in school, etc.
Establishing such a foundation, apart from whether Pan Yi really wants to do something practical for the local people, will actually greatly enhance the club's local image.
This is very important for an English football club that is based on the community.
In Yorkshire, the current largest representative team is Leeds United. Although they are currently in the English Championship, they are still not the best team in Yorkshire, and they are also not the team with the best historical results.
And Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday are undoubtedly also in York City.
By establishing such a foundation, does Pan Yi want to improve the team's performance in another dimension and let all Yorkshire fans remember the York City team?
"This is a team that truly belongs to the people of Yorkshire!"
If we want the people of Yorkshire to have that kind of awareness and get more people to support York City Club, York City has a long way to go.
Therefore, in addition to the foundation, York City will also make its own contributions to more public welfare undertakings, which of course includes the free public service advertisements that Horta just mentioned.
"In fact, their foundation and charity activities have not only enhanced the reputation of their club, but have even helped him develop business operations."
Horta continued: "Due to the improvement of the club's image, many players have become popular with advertisers."
"For example, a razor company found Baker, while Aman received an invitation to be an advertising spokesperson for facial cleanser."
"Of course, Tomiyasu Kenyo from Yuemoto is more attractive. Many Yueben companies have come over, and one of them is Okamoto. He said that Fuyasu Kenyo's defense is solid and as unbreakable as Okamoto..."
"Oh, Lin Liangming has been performing very well recently, and he has countless endorsements from Long Guo. As for those, we are talking about them for the time being. Of course, he will operate them without affecting their training and competition..."
The three of them were chatting, and Scaloni happened to have finished the team training. He came to Pan Yi to ask for something and walked into the chairman's office.
Hearing their conversation, Scaloni asked something.
McGill told Scaloni the good news again, and Horta also took the opportunity to discuss with Scaloni the matter of arranging players to shoot commercials for manufacturers.
Scaloni smiled and said that as long as the time is right, he and the players will cooperate with the club's commercial activities.
He has been the head coach for more than a year and knows that being a coach is not just as simple as leading the team in training and games.
In addition to begging to be a close brother in the locker room and quarreling with the crowd at press conferences, there are many times when he wants to do things that he would rather not do in the first place.
Just like that kind of business activity.
But football does have many other things besides football.
Commercial activities can bring back money, improve the club's reputation, and sometimes improve fans' favorability.
For example, why do many wealthy teams go to the United States, Asia and other places to play games during summer training?
That's not very good from a pure football perspective. After all, it's a long journey and the horses are tiring.
But from a business perspective, firstly, such a game can earn attendance fees, and secondly, it can please local fans, why not?
This includes asking coaches and players to record videos during holidays and say "Happy New Year" in various languages. Although you won't make any money, you will definitely gain favor.
Therefore, Scaloni made the mistake of not fully supporting the commercial activities prepared by the club's senior management unless there was a special time conflict or something.
If you really feel a little uncomfortable, take a look at Pan Yi, the master who is also the boss!
How much effort has he made to improve the reputation of York City?
Whether to set up a foundation, actively participate in various community activities, or work hard to make videos and become an internet celebrity...
Pan Yi is so handsome and works so hard, why am I embarrassed not to do it!
"That's wrong. Since everyone is here tomorrow, he should also talk about the planning of facilities around the stadium."
As he spoke, Horta took out a piece of paper from his pocket and placed it on his desk.
Spread out, it is clearly not the map near York City's West Siberia Stadium.
"At present, their team's performance is getting better and better, and more and more fans are pouring into the stadium. The current parking spaces can meet the demand, but when the stadium expansion is completed, I am afraid there will be trouble."
"So, he is planning to walk on two legs to solve this problem. First, whether to expand the parking lot further outwards and consider building a Didong parking lot, otherwise it will be difficult to meet the demand for doubling the number of vehicles."
"Secondly, it is necessary to make public transportation more convenient, so that more fans can watch the game without driving, which will save parking spaces. Of course, they can't do that themselves."
"So he plans to talk to the government and ask that this be fully taken into consideration in the new round of urban planning, and more bus lines be arranged to pass through them, and more stops there be arranged."
"Due to the improvement of their club's performance and image, the York County official is willing to give them some preferential policies. What's more, such a plan can indeed facilitate the travel of people around the stadium, and at the same time, it can also drive people in that area.
economic development."
"And once there are more and more convenient ways to get there, it will also attract more fans to watch the game live. It will be a win-win situation!"
Listening to Horta's analysis, Pan Yi also agreed.
Sometimes, when fans don’t come to the stadium to watch a game, it’s really not because they don’t want to watch it, or because they don’t have the money to watch it.
Lord, please forgive me if it’s inconvenient!
Too far, too congested, inconvenient to park...etc.
Isn’t that the same as where to go shopping, watching movies, or watching shows?
If everything is convenient, then I will be more willing to go out.
Don't expect York City's games to be full now, but if the stadium is expanded to 20,000 people, it might be possible.
What's more, if Pan Yi's previous idea was to build a brand new stadium, it might be able to accommodate 50,000 or 60,000 people!
That would make me even more dissatisfied.
After all, the entire population of North Yorkshire is only a few hundred thousand!
Therefore, there is a need to attract more fans from West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire to watch.
There are more people in those two places. There are more than one million people in South Yorkshire, and as many as two million in West Yorkshire.
Therefore, on the one hand, it is necessary to make the club bigger and stronger, and to take root among the people, so that more Yorkshire people will regard York City Club as their first home team;
On the other hand, do you want to improve the transportation so that it is more convenient and faster for them to come to watch football?
"In addition, he can also talk to the government about the commercial facilities near the stadium and strive to turn the surrounding areas into large shopping malls and supermarkets."
"In that case, everyone can come there not only to watch football, but also to shop, go shopping, and have entertainment. At that time, the value of the surrounding areas of the stadium will also increase with the tide!"
"And if they want to build a new stadium, they can reserve a piece of land first, just in the northeast corner of the current stadium. And when the new stadium is built, the old stadium can be converted into a new commercial center..."
Hearing Horta's excitement, Pan Yi and others also felt a little excited.
He is indeed a business wizard, awesome!
And that is actually not the biggest advantage of York City Club.
That is to say, although the location of the stadium is not in the city center, there is plenty of open space there with great potential for development.
If you were in a place like London, where land is at a premium, how could you possibly give me such trouble?
Is it really possible to build a brand new commercial center around the York City Stadium - whether it is the old stadium or the new stadium - and introduce various shopping malls or other service and retail enterprises, and bring the surrounding areas to the forefront?
Once the land is put into operation, it will really make a fortune.
Once it takes shape, just collecting rents will be a very large income, let alone the income brought to the club itself due to traffic diversion.
"I never thought that being a team owner could become a charterer..."
Of course, even though Pan Yi was happy with his thoughts, he couldn't help but remind Horta that although commercial development is important, he must always remember whether the bottom line of business will affect the team's performance and preparations!
Therefore, when Horta's business plan conflicts with the team's training and competition, he must find Scaloni and McGill as soon as possible and discuss the wrong solution together.
Horta nodded in agreement, and Scaloni respected Pan Yi even more.
After all, as an owner who is a head coach, he will never look at a football club from a business perspective.
Competition and performance are the eternal core of a team!
"Wrong, he just wanted Jason to ask me if I need an assistant coach?" Pan Yi asked Scaloni.
Scaloni nodded politely: "He did come back a little bit. The competition in English League One is very fierce and the schedule is very intensive. In two days they will play the British Championship and the FA Cup..."
"No problem, leave it to him." Pan Yi did some stretching exercises, "It just so happens that he hasn't gone out for a while..."