Chapter 353 Taking over White Hart Lane

In front of the large window of the administrative office on the second floor of White Hart Lane, Ye Qiu silently listened to Danny Levy's introduction to Tottenham Hotspur. The reason why this cunning Jew set Tottenham's price so high , mainly because of Manchester United.

According to outside sources, the Glazer family's purchase price for Manchester United is at least 800 million euros. According to Levy, Tottenham Hotspur's market value must be at least half of Manchester United's, so he directly offered 400 million euros.

"I believe you also know that we are one of the few teams in the Premier League that does not have any debt!" This is what Danny Levy is most proud of, and it is also the bargaining chip that he can best use in negotiations.

When most teams in the Premier League are in debt or have bank loans, Tottenham Hotspur is the team with the healthiest financial situation except Manchester United. At this point, Danny Levy's The operational capabilities are truly outstanding.

You know, when Joe Lewis took over the team, the team was tens of millions of euros in debt.

However, in the past few years, Tottenham Hotspur paid off its debts at the cost of a decline in the team's competitiveness. It has only improved slightly this year and is currently ranked sixth in the Premier League. According to Ye Qiu's previous life You know, Tottenham Hotspur should be fifth in the league this season, just one step away from the Champions League qualifying area.

"Mr. Lewis, Mr. Levi!" Eliza, as Ye Qiu's right-hand assistant in this acquisition, had already been psychologically prepared for Levi's move. All acquisition negotiations were like this, asking for high prices and paying back the money. .

"I don't deny that Tottenham Hotspur are financially healthy, but we are also very aware of the problems Tottenham Hotspur are currently facing. White Hart Lane is also a very backward home stadium among all Premier League teams. , not to mention the imperfect facilities, the capacity of 36,000 is quite satisfactory, but it is almost impossible to operate at home!”

If you walk around the White Hart Lane stadium, it is not difficult to find that the stadium is so simple that it will even make you think that it is just a piece of turf surrounded by stands. There are no shops that are highly praised by professional teams today. There is no land that can be used for business. The fence is just around the stadium. To say it has no potential would be an understatement.

"I believe that the first decision anyone makes after buying Tottenham Hotspur is to prepare a new stadium!"

Eliza Moon's analysis was so reasonable that not even Levi had to refute it.

“Second, Tottenham Hotspur’s training base in Chigwell is also notoriously crude in the Premier League. I believe that with Chelsea’s move to Cobham, Chigwell should be regarded as the crudest training base in the Premier League. Bar?"

Tottenham's training base in Chigwell is really poor. There is no floor heating and no complete drainage system. The first team and the youth team share a single-story building with a pitiful ground area of ​​less than 200 square meters.

There are three standard-sized fields, one small field, and an indoor training ground, but don’t think it’s some high-tech property, just a cheap building supported by iron frames and covered with plastic films that can protect you from rain and sun. .

Moreover, the entire training base is right on the roadside, without even a fence. It is directly separated from the hockey training field and the college football field by a barbed wire fence that can be easily browsed. The latter two do not belong to Tottenham, but the training field is next door to Tottenham.

In recent years, there has been a general craze for English professional teams to build new stadiums and training bases. Many fans only remember Arsenal, but in fact, Arsenal is just the more famous football team in this trend. It’s just a team, and there are countless other teams that are selling their pots to build new stadiums and training bases, such as Wolves and Leicester City.

Tottenham Hotspur is moving very slowly in this regard. First of all, the potential of their White Hart Lane stadium is almost zero. It will be difficult to continue to develop without planning to build a new stadium. Their training base is also very crude, even Not as good as some Championship teams.

Of course, this cannot be blamed on Joe Lewis and Danny Levy. This is not their responsibility, because in the past ten or twenty years, Tottenham Hotspur has always been in a very embarrassing situation, beset with internal and external difficulties, and then In addition, the club frequently changes coaches, and no one will ask the management for a new training base.

This is a bit like Chelsea's Bates back then. Who would have thought that the third-ranked team in the Premier League would train in a training base like Harrington that is inferior to even the English Championship team?

"Don't talk about planning to build a new stadium, just talk about expanding or improving the White Hart Lane stadium. I have done the calculations, and it will cost at least 50 million euros. When planning to build a new training base, we don't talk about following Chelsea and Arsenal. But I believe that nothing can be done without 50 million euros, and these two sums exceed 100 million!”

After staying in the United States for more than two years, Eliza's negotiation skills have indeed become more and more powerful, and her current agency's information channels are so pervasive that she has almost completely investigated Tottenham Hotspur.

"The economy in North London has not been ideal in the past few years. More and more Tottenham Hotspur fans have moved away from the Tottenham area, and the surrounding environment and public security are getting worse and worse. I believe You have also experienced this. Coupled with the inconvenience of transportation here, the subway only has one route, which has greatly restricted the development of the team. "

"I also received definite information that Tottenham's contracts with jersey sponsor KAPPA and chest advertising sponsor Thomasson Travel Company have expired. Anyone who takes over the team must find two major sponsors again!"

Danny Levi listened with interest at first, but now the more he listened, the more uncomfortable he became. He did not expect that Ye Qiu and others had already found out all the details about them.

For Tottenham Hotspur, revenue mainly comes from three aspects, one is Premier League revenue, the second is ticket revenue, and the third is sponsorship revenue.

The Premier League's division is mainly based on the team's performance. Tottenham's performance in the past few years has not been very satisfactory. This year's performance has made a breakthrough, but it is not very convincing. After all, it is only one year, and in terms of ticket revenue , has always been restricted by home operations. Others also have stadium operating income on match days, as well as some shop rentals, etc., but Tottenham only has ticket income, and other aspects are pitiful.

Therefore, it is inevitable that the third largest income is very important, and among sponsorship income, chest advertising and jersey sponsorship are undoubtedly the top priority. Everyone knows that these are the two most important sponsorships for any team, and they are also popular. Thorn's largest source of income.

Now that the contracts with the two major sponsors have expired, it is indeed very disadvantageous for Tottenham in negotiations.

"As expected of Eliza Moon!" Danny Levi was left speechless by Eliza's counterattack, and then Joe Lewis interrupted the topic with a smile. At least in his opinion, this was the real The attitude that a smart business owner who wants to acquire a team should have.

Similar to Abramovich's acquisition of Chelsea, come on, that's a rich man with too much money and no place to spend it, just throwing it around.

"Mr. Lewis!" After Ye Qiu heard Joe Lewis speak, he also spoke, "Let's have a good talk. I don't like those virtual things. I like real things. So, we have shown We have shown our sincerity, and you should also let me see your sincerity.”

After hearing this, Joe Lewis nodded and smiled, "Then let me ask Mr. Ye Qiu, you might as well make a price."

Ye Qiu looked at Eliza, who nodded and took over, "I received news that an American consortium is interested in Aston Villa, with an offer of less than 70 million euros, and now there is also a foreign company that wants to To acquire West Ham United, the offer is around 90 million euros, and the two teams are currently ranked 16th in the Premier League, and West Ham United is 7th.”

Eliza's statement is actually a reminder to Joe Lewis that the club you own is not as valuable as you think. If Aston Villa's ranking is not convincing, then West Ham United Woolen cloth?

This season's newly promoted team has a better geographical location than Tottenham Hotspur. Their stadium is very close to the financial center in east London and closer to the Olympic Village. It has higher appreciation potential and value, and the stadium and training base are also more expensive. Good, and their youth training camp is obviously better, but the price quoted by investors is only about 90 million euros.

Joe Lewis really had the urge to curse after hearing this. It was simply a very serious information asymmetry.

He has indeed received news about West Ham United and Aston Villa being quoted, but he does not know the specific price, but now Eliza is so sure, considering Eliza is in the agent circle The influence should be correct, so the price is obviously about the same.

"I want to remind you, Miss Moon, both clubs have serious financial problems!" Danny Levy interjected. He also has shares in ENIC, and the price at which Tottenham sold them was also affected. his assets.

Eliza Moon smiled sweetly after hearing this. In Ye Qiu's eyes, it was gentle and touching, but in the eyes of Danny Levi and Joe Lewis, it was a rose with thorns. "So, I didn't say that I would pay their price." , I think 150 million euros is the most appropriate.”

"That's impossible!" Joe Lewis shook his head.

"Mr. Lewis, I want to remind you that Tottenham's market value is already very low." Eliza reminded.

This also hurt Joe Lewis, because he entered the market when Tottenham's stock price was relatively high, but in recent years, Tottenham's stock price has been declining, and even fell for a time in 2003. to 31.7 pence. Although it has rebounded somewhat now, he does not want to make money at all.

In the past few years, Tottenham fans have been very dissatisfied with their management because they are very stingy in the transfer market. In the past, almost every summer, Tottenham fans would protest against the club's stinginess by marching and handing out leaflets, believing that the management was stingy. All that is considered is financial health, not the competitiveness of the team.

Therefore, Tottenham's financial health is actually achieved at the expense of the team's competitiveness.

If the transaction is really for 150 million euros, then with the 54% of the shares they hold, they can get more than 80 million euros. Although they can still make some money, after all, the value of the Premier League teams in recent years It is still rising, but this small increase still cannot satisfy them.

After a long period of negotiations, both parties actually had intentions for each other, and each could vaguely set a psychological price. Ye Qiu had already figured out everything about the other party, and ENIC also knew it very well. , it is absolutely impossible to kill Ye Qiu as a traitor, so both parties are willing to sit down and talk. In fact, their intentions are already very clear.

Ye Qiu saw that both sides fell into silence, and then looked at Lewis and Levy who wanted to take the opportunity to make more money. He couldn't help but smile, patted the table lightly, and stood up.

"Mr. Lewis, Mr. Levy, I don't like to be verbose, nor do I like to bargain. So, I will use 100 million euros to buy 54% of your shares. If you think it's acceptable, then we will continue to talk in depth. If you think there is no way, I'm sorry, I will consider other teams."

When he said this, Ye Qiu smiled confidently and said, "I believe that at this price, West Ham United, Everton, Fulham, Charlton, Aston Villa, and even Newcastle should find it difficult to refuse my request."

If 100 million is used to acquire 54% of his shares, then Tottenham Hotspur's acquisition price should be around 200 million euros, which is also the price that Ye Qiu can accept psychologically. He will not agree to it if it is higher, because the next investment is the real big head, and he is not willing to spend too much money on the acquisition link.

Besides, Tottenham is just a team that he is more satisfied with. It is also possible to change to other teams, such as West Ham United and Aston Villa. It is not impossible for Ye Qiu to acquire them. Tottenham is definitely not the only choice.

On the contrary, ENIC Company, the only buyer who is really interested in Tottenham is Ye Qiu, unless they don’t want to sell!

But don’t they really want to? They have always wanted to sell, just waiting for the price!

As it turned out, after three days of consideration, Joe Lewis and Danny Levy finally agreed to Ye Qiu’s acquisition proposal, because you know, the price offered by Ye Qiu is almost twice that of the American sports tycoon Randy Lerner’s acquisition of Aston Villa, which is a very good price for Tottenham Hotspur.

The acquisition agreement was reached under confidentiality. The outside world obviously did not know that Ye Qiu was acquiring Tottenham Hotspur, but there were still sharp-eyed reporters who captured photos and news of Ye Qiu frequently entering and leaving the White Hart Lane Stadium, and they also noticed that Ye Qiu appeared at the White Hart Lane Stadium to watch a Tottenham game.

In a short time, the news that Ye Qiu was going to coach Tottenham Hotspur spread all over the world.

Even though Ye Qiu had been away from the football circle for a year, his reputation and influence had not declined at all. On the contrary, with the popularity of Leaf Technology, Ye Qiu had become the idol of countless young fans and was revered as the leader by many people who used and admired Zeus mobile phones. His prestige was even higher than a year ago.

Of course, Ye Qiu's net worth is now a hundred times higher. Goldman Sachs once estimated that with the Zeus mobile phone and the websites and services launched by Leaf Technology in the past two years, even if Leaf Technology did not go public, its market value should be several billion. If Leaf Technology went public, Ye Qiu's net worth would soar to over 10 billion.

After all, looking around the world, there are not many companies with potential and prospects like Leaf Technology, and with the launch of Zeus mobile phones, Leaf Technology's profitability is not a problem at all. It can earn 230 million net profits just by selling mobile phones in a month. It is unreasonable for such a company's market value not to soar.

Because of this, many people suspect that this is purely media hype, because with Ye Qiu's current wealth, he doesn't need to coach anymore, that would be a thankless task, so many people think that Ye Qiu should only come to watch the game at White Hart Lane, after all, it is not far from his home.

Chelsea fans were surprised that Ye Qiu appeared at White Hart Lane, but they were very angry with the management, thinking that the reason why Ye Qiu would rather go to the White Hart Lane of his mortal enemy Tottenham to watch the game than come to Stamford Bridge was because of the management and Mourinho, so many Chelsea fans kept bombarding the management.

While the outside world was hyping it up, Ye Qiu still kept a low profile, nibbling away step by step, and gradually bought shares from other shareholders of Tottenham Hotspur. Among them, the one with the most shares was Alan Sugar, the former chairman of Tottenham Hotspur. Ye Qiu spent 25 million euros to buy 14% of his shares.

After getting rid of the two major shareholders, Ye Qiu's shares in Tottenham Hotspur quickly soared to 68%. Then he slowly took action against other small shareholders. It took two months. In May, he finally announced the completion of the full acquisition of Tottenham Hotspur.

In order to complete this acquisition, Ye Qiu spent a total of 210 million euros. This was related to the later period. Some small shareholders did not want to sell their shares, but were forced to buy them by Ye Qiu. The acquisition price was naturally more than expected.

However, Ye Qiu felt that it was still a good deal to buy Tottenham Hotspur with more than 200 million, especially with more and more consortiums and funds entering the Premier League in the next one or two years, the value of all Premier League teams will also rise. By then, the market value of Tottenham Hotspur will also increase. If the results can be more ideal, it is not impossible to double it.

Of course, Ye Qiu did not buy Tottenham Hotspur to sell it for money. His purpose is to operate it for a long time.

Since they want to operate the business for a long time, they must make long-term plans. A new stadium needs to be built, and Ye Qiu and Eliza already have very detailed plans and layouts for this.

But the team's most urgent need is a new training base, so Ye Qiu has asked Eliza to enter the White Hart Lane Stadium in advance and take charge of the administrative office. She began to adjust the personnel of the administrative office, eliminating the weak and retaining the strong, and Eliza is also preparing to transfer several marketing experts from the agency to the management.

After all, for any team, marketing is a major source of income.

But what Ye Qiu didn't expect was that the first thing Eliza did after entering Tottenham Hotspur's management was to sue Chelsea.