An Iberia Airbus lands slowly at Dubai International Airport.
Ferran Soriano was greeted by the crew as he got off the plane.
He is the chairman of Iberia Airways.
After lingering at the airport for half an hour and drinking a cup of coffee, the call came.
Not long after, he boarded a luxury private jet and flew directly to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The first half of Soriano's trip was public. Everyone in the entire company knew that he was going to Dubai for a short vacation of three or four days. But no one knew that this sudden vacation was actually just to cover up the second half of the trip.
.
He is going to Abu Dhabi to meet someone.
A person who made him feel incredible.
…
From Barcelona vice-president to Iberia chairman, this change of status is nothing to Soriano.
He is a native of Barcelona, but unlike most Barcelona people, he does not have a strong tendency. This is related to his family education. His father is a businessman and his mother runs a hairdressing shop. The family is not very wealthy.
So much so that he didn't become a member of Barcelona until he was thirteen years old, which was already a bit late.
He was good at both reading and writing, and studied business management at university. He then entered ESADE Business School, one of the top three business schools in Spain. In addition to Catalan and Spanish, he is also proficient in English and French.
and Portuguese, I have worked in different companies on three continents and developed strong personal abilities.
In 2003, he, Rosell and Ingra served as Laporta's backbone campaign team, helping Laporta defeat his opponents in the election and successfully became the chairman of Barcelona. Naturally, the three of them also became Barcelona's vice presidents.
Chairman, Soriano is responsible for what he is best at, finance.
In just four years, Barcelona has transformed from being heavily in debt during the Gaspart period to becoming a wealthy team with the highest revenue in European football. Especially after Su Dong joined, Barcelona has done a very good job in the entire financial management system.
In place, the player annual salary structure is also well established, which allows Barcelona to make rapid progress on the court and in the market.
It can be said that behind all of this, Soriano's promotion is inseparable.
The high-level intrigues and the departure of the most commercially attractive Su Dong made Soriano feel disheartened. He knew clearly that without Su Dong, Barcelona would also lose its most commercially attractive player.
A star with limited future development. Just as Rosell counterattacked Laporta, Soriano sadly left Barcelona.
However, his excellent work experience in Barcelona allowed him to directly join Iberia Airline as chairman of the board of directors without any window period. This is undoubtedly a career leap.
Soriano did a good job at Iberia. Within a year, the company had undergone significant changes, but unlike when he was at Barcelona, the job at Iberia was too easy and a bit boring.
This is also a characteristic of many established European companies. It is relaxed and comfortable, but not everyone likes it.
Forty-year-old Soriano began to think about his career. He repeatedly asked himself, is this it?
But not long ago, he suddenly received a call from a well-known headhunter in Europe.
"Do you want to really take charge of a wealthy family?"
Now, a few days later, Soriano took advantage of his vacation and flew to Abu Dhabi.
…
The person who picked up the plane was a man named Mubarak, who said that he was Mansour's representative.
Soriano couldn't help but feel emotional as he got into the stretched Rolls-Royce that was used to receive the reception, with police cars in front and behind him clearing the way.
It’s cool to have power!
Arriving straight into a magnificent and luxurious building, Soriano felt a bit like grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden.
He thought he was well-informed, but he was still very surprised by the luxury of this palace.
The owner of the palace seemed quite ordinary. He was short, dark, wearing a suit, and had a beard. He was a typical Arab. He always had a smile on his face. He looked kind and spoke very good English. When he
When I learned that Soriano could speak English, I immediately communicated in English without even having to translate.
After a while of pleasantries, Mansour got straight to the point and explained why he found Soriano through headhunting.
"I am planning to acquire a Premier League team. The headhunting company recommended you to me. They think you are the most suitable candidate." Mansour said his intention with a smile.
Soriano is not surprised. He can come here because he knows all this.
And this club is Manchester City.
There have been reports in outside news for a long time, but they are still just rumors.
"I want to know why you want to buy Manchester City instead of other teams?"
Mansour and Mubarak looked at each other and laughed in unison, "Actually, there is no other reason. I just want to invest in the Premier League. Manchester City is one of the few choices, and the price is more suitable. You know, Thaksin believes
We are very short of money now.”
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is the current boss of Manchester City. However, after acquiring Manchester City, he was overthrown by domestic forces in Thailand. Now he is in exile overseas. Let alone investing in Manchester City, what he wants to do most now is to sell it quickly.
Manchester City, withdraw funds.
"Then why buy a Premier League team?"
Mansour smiled again, "Two reasons. First, you know, the U.S. subprime debt crisis has seriously affected the whole world. All countries have been affected, especially Europe. Now is the best time to buy bargains.
, in addition to high-quality assets such as real estate, hotels, and banks, we are also very interested in sports, and we are very optimistic about this prospect."
"Second, the whole world knows that the Middle East is rich in oil, but few people know about Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and Abu Dhabi. We have needs in this area, just like Dubai."
Soriano nodded and summed it up with two points: profit and advertising effect.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "What are your long-term plans?" Soriano asked again.
"This requires you to operate for us, because you are the expert and we are laymen, but I can promise that you can rest assured that we are not Thaksin. We will not just say a few words and be done with it. We are not going in blindly.
Football, but we hope to work in this field for a long time, ten, twenty years, or even longer. We believe that football will be a long-term high-quality industry."
Soriano asked a lot of questions, and finally he began to believe that Mansour's acquisition of Manchester City was really intended to be a long-term operation, but he hoped that Manchester City could become the top European club as soon as possible and then realize its own profits, rather than just blindly invest in it.
The country relies on blood transfusions from the consortium.
This is also a very realistic idea.
Soriano thinks this is not impossible.
Today's Manchester City seems to be full of waste, but precisely because its foundation is poor enough, the cost of tearing down and rebuilding is lower.
The good thing is that Manchester City has a brand new stadium that can accommodate nearly 50,000 people. It is located in the same Manchester as Manchester United, and its fan influence in the region even exceeds that of Manchester United.
The advantage of this is obvious, that is, Manchester City can tie up Manchester United for intra-city marketing, such as intra-city derbies.
London is undoubtedly the most influential city in the UK, but there is a problem with London football, that is, there are too many teams in the same city, which seriously weakens the significance of the same city derby. But Manchester is different. There are only two Premier League teams, and Manchester United is
The most successful wealthy families in the world would not be too happy to be tied up.
There are certain risks in tying up Manchester United. If you are too weak and you are abused too badly, you will lose more than you gain.
Soriano believes that after acquiring Manchester City, the first step should be to transform the management.
Premier League teams lag behind continental European teams in this regard, because the British are still very conservative in terms of professional football management, such as technical directors. This is already very common in other European leagues, but it is still very new in the Premier League.
One advantage of establishing a technical director is that he can control the club's long-term planning and development.
Head coaches change often, which is inevitable for any team, but how to avoid changing styles every time a head coach is changed?
This requires a professional in this area to carry out long-term control.
Soriano recommended Begiristain. He believed that the former technical director of Barcelona was a very good professional. More importantly, the entire European football world now knows that Barcelona's passing and possession style will be the long-term future.
trend.
But no one expected that Barcelona would choose Mourinho and go back on their own.
…
Soriano talked a lot with Mansour and basically talked about everything about the club from management to daily operations to commercial brand promotion.
This also benefits from his in-depth understanding of professional football.
Both Mansour and Mubarak were very satisfied with Soriano's insights. When talking about business promotion, Mansour suddenly pulled out a newspaper from his side and gently pushed it in front of Soriano.
.
The photo above is clearly Su Dong.
The background is that Su Dong visited India on behalf of Bayern, which aroused the enthusiastic pursuit of Indian fans.
This is big news around the world this year, because no one believed before that there were so many fans in India.
"My people tell me he is the best player in the world. Is there any way to get him into my team? Let the best player in the world play for us and give our fans the best player in the world."
Football, to create the best football brand in the world." Mansour said at the end, his tone was a little excited.
Soriano suddenly had a feeling that he suspected that Mansour contacted him not because of a strong recommendation from a headhunter, but because of his relationship with Su Dong.
Of course, the ability must meet the requirements, but there are many people who meet the requirements, but they chose him because of Su Dong.
Everyone knows that when Su Dong was at Barcelona, the management had a better relationship with Soriano and Begiristain.
At least he got his tickets through Soriano.
Soriano laughed immediately, "He is my friend and the most influential superstar in the world. His commercial value is far underestimated. If he can come to Manchester City, it will definitely make Manchester City famous overnight."
worldwide!"
Mansour laughed immediately, this was what he wanted.
"But..." Soriano changed the subject and hesitated, "He is very expensive!"
"Expensive?" Mansour and Mubarak both laughed.
"It's okay, I don't have anything else, I just have a lot of money!"
As long as digging a few more barrels of oil can solve the problem, is it still a problem?
