Chapter 44 Bribery

"Stay in a five-star hotel?"

On the first floor of St. Mary's Stadium, in Yang Huan's office, Nicola Cortez almost outstripped the highest tenor in his life.

The purpose is to show his surprise and unacceptability at this moment.

"Do you know how much a five-star hotel costs a night?"

Opposite him, Sun Yue had a calm smile on his face, nodded and said, "I know, I'm staying in a five-star hotel now."

Nicola Cortez was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered that this dude was staying at the Grand Harbour Hotel for more than half a month.

"You don't need to stand and talk over there without backache. Since you know how much a five-star hotel costs a night, you should be clear that three referees in a game, plus the fourth official, their board and lodging is itself A lot of money."

"Even if we play a game once a week, if it is arranged in a five-star hotel, there are 24 teams in the League One, and there will be 46 rounds of games, including 23 home games. Calculate for yourself. How much will it cost."

After speaking, Nicola Cortes angrily sat on the other seat in front of Yang Huan.

"Don't forget it, do you think you can spend the 100,000 pounds?" Sun Yue asked calmly.

Nicola Cortez smiled bitterly, "Is 100,000 pounds less than that? And you said you wanted to give them a gift every game, my God, don't you know we're in debt now? "

Southampton is indeed heavily in debt this summer. Almost all of the team's signings are paid for by Yang Huan. These are all included in the team's debt, but Yang Huan is the team's owner.

"Don't be so nervous, the gifts are not worth the money, and it's not a big deal to host them in a five-star hotel, but doing so can help us build a good image in the minds of the referees."

Having said this, Sun Yue paused, "I said that I wanted to give reporters gifts, but you didn't think it was necessary, but now you see, in the past twenty days, we have appeared in England every day, big and small. In the newspapers, this attention is only given to a few top teams in the Premier League."

Nicola Cortez also has to admit that the gifts are small gifts and worthless. Even now, as soon as there is any news from the team, they hold a press conference, give gifts and things, and even invite the reporters to eat. Dayton, it made Southampton have a very active relationship with the reporters, and the reporters gave Southampton a very high treatment.

Sun Yue has carried over some of the domestic style to the UK, and this set can work anywhere in the world.

In recent times, Southampton's popularity has been far ahead in League One.

Not much else to say, the team is currently negotiating with the jersey sponsor Umbro, asking Umbro to increase the jersey sponsorship from the original two million pounds to five million pounds, especially after the team signed Ibrahi. After Movic.

I believe it is difficult for Umbro to refuse Southampton, because once Umbro refuses, Southampton will quickly switch to the arms of other sponsors.

Not only jersey sponsors, but also in terms of chest advertising sponsorship, Southampton did not hesitate to reject some sponsors less than one million pounds before, and the current sponsorship market has also rapidly increased to two million pounds.

However, both Yang Huan and Sun Yue still refused all sponsorship intentions. They planned to knock on the sponsors again after Ibrahimovic's transfer was announced.

As long as Southampton maintains the current media attention,

Sponsorship costs will certainly not be low.

Yang Huan silently listened to the two assistants arguing. In fact, it was Nicola Cortez who was arguing, while Sun Yue was calm. As the team's owner, it was difficult for him to say who was right and who was wrong. .

After all, one is thinking about how to save money for oneself, and the other is for the purpose of promoting publicity.

"Okay, you two stop fighting!"

Seeing that the two of them were almost quarreling, Yang Huan also came forward and called to stop.

Can't keep them arguing all the time?

"Nikola, I think your idea is good, but Sun Yue's plan is more in line with my taste, so this matter is left to Sun Yue to handle, and later marketing and external public relations matters will be left to him. Responsible."

Yang Huan felt that it was necessary to divide the work between the two assistants and clarify each other's authority.

"As for you, Nikolai, you are in charge of the team's day-to-day operations and transfer operations, especially the construction of the training base, as well as the community promotion plan we have drawn up before, both of which are key projects for the team's development. ."

The community promotion plan was formulated before Yang Huan took over Southampton. The attendance of St. Mary's Stadium still depends on the support of local fans, so the community promotion plan is very important.

Nicola Cortez's wife is the person in charge of this plan. After Yang Huan took over the Saints, he did not make any personnel changes and continued to use the previous team.

Nicola Cortez sighed helplessly.

"I told you a long time ago that Young Master Huan is someone who does big things, unlike you who care so much. Can Young Master Huan see things like 100,000? You are small and narrow-minded, so how can you do big things?" Sun Yue looked at him. Went to Nicholas Cortez to be deflated, and laughed and sneered.

Hearing this, Yang Huan felt relieved, but he coughed heavily, "If you dare to flatter me again, I will break your neck, kick your little balls with one foot, and then slap your ass. Throw it at a gay bar to pick up soap, don't believe it!"

When Sun Yue heard this, he felt flustered, and immediately laughed with him, "I don't dare to try, I don't dare to try."

Nicola Cortez still shook his head and sighed, "Don't you know, I looked at the team's financial situation last month, we lost more than 10 million pounds last month, and several big signings this month, Add to that a flurry of spending, and I see panic and a full budget deficit."

Yang Huan and Sun Yue glanced at each other and knew that this was the truth. Who made Southampton a League One team?

And Southampton didn't have many commercial channels in the past, making the team's ability to generate revenue extremely bad.

Everything was created from scratch, step by step, after Yang Huan took over.

Nicola Cortes is a banker who has a natural resistance to deficits, so last season, Southampton under his helm did not make a profit, but it did not lose much.

And you must know that before Nicola Cortez took charge of Southampton, the Saints just fell into financial crisis and were deducted ten league points because of it. It can be seen that Nicola Cortez is indeed very good in this regard. Strong business ability.

"Don't worry, Nikolai, everything will get better!" Yang Huan said comfortingly.

"Yes, we all understand your difficulty."

Sun Yue is not as careless as he seems on the surface. On the contrary, he was able to integrate into the entire Southampton management organization in less than a month. His ability, especially the ability to deal with colleagues. not bad.

Nicola? Cortes and Sun Yue, one is good at business, the other is good at marketing and public relations.

With the two of them assisting, Yang Huan was very relaxed and was able to spare more time to pick up girls.

When it comes to picking up girls, Yang Huan thinks of Zhang Ning.

I'm ashamed to say, he can't even soak up the woman he has taken care of, he is really shameless to see the elders and folks in Longhai City!

…………

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Jonathan Moss, 39, is one of England's newest young referees.

According to the characteristics of the English League, Jonathan Moss is not yet qualified to enter the elite referee group specializing in the Premier League. In addition, he is young and needs to accumulate more experience, so he is currently in League Two, League One and British Championship. Random whistle in the four professional leagues of the Premier League and the Premier League.

This time, he was appointed as the referee for the 2010-2011 League One season opener, Southampton's home game against Plymouth, which is also an affirmation of his whistle-blower ability.

As usual, he arrived at Southampton a day early with the two linesmen and the fourth official.

The Saints took them to the train station in a luxurious Bentley.

"I have always heard that the new owner of Southampton is very rich, but I didn't expect it to be true, and the connection to the car is Bentley."

"Is this the only one in the English Professional League?"

"Well, not even Manchester City."

The two linesmen in the car laughed and talked about Southampton's high-level reception.

Jonathan Moss sat there but didn't speak. He was used to this kind of scene, and he could even expect that this kind of high-level reception would continue in the future, and then there would be people from the club who would come up and get in touch with them. .

This kind of thing has happened many times, and he doesn't find it strange.

But as a professional referee, he has his own bottom line, because he is very clear that there is a fourth official on the sidelines, and there is a game supervision in the stands, and his every move on the court will be recorded by them one by one. After the game, the referee company His penalty will be graded, and if the grade fails, he will face a fine or even a ban.

In the past, the referee was only a part-time job, and everyone was indifferent, but now he is a full-time referee, and Jonathan Moss didn't dare to joke about his career future.

Therefore, he has always remained wary of Southampton's high-profile reception.

He even suspected that Southampton was going to pay bribes before the game.

"How people receive them is their business, what we should do and how we should do it."

Jonathan? Moss's words have been agreed with the two linesman, they all know that their every move is being monitored.

To their surprise, the reception was indeed of a high standard.

Southampton arranged for them to stay at the Grand Harbour Hotel. According to the driver, this is the best hotel in Southampton. The new owner of the club, Yang Huan, lives in this hotel.

This further increased the suspicion of Jonathan Moss and others.

But after they checked into the hotel, they found that people from Southampton had never appeared in front of them at all.

Even the new owner of the club, who is rumored to be staying at the Grand Harbour Hotel.

This made the three of Jonathan Moss feel a little ashamed, and they treated a gentleman with the heart of a villain.

At noon the next day, near the start of the first game of the new season, the Southampton driver drove the Bentley again, came to the hotel, and took them to St Mary's Stadium.

When the umpires arrived at St Mary's, there weren't many fans, and Nicola Cortes, Southampton's executive chairman, just came over to meet them, say hello, and arrange for a staff member to receive them.

Checking the playing field and the locker room, Jonathan Moss followed the pre-match process step by step and recorded everything, which was to be submitted to the referee company for archiving after the game.

During the whole process, Southampton did not show any unprofessionalism or any sign of trying to get close to them.

This made Jonathan? Moss and others relieved, but also could not help but have a good impression of this team.

"If every English team is as professional as them, then our job will be much easier." The fourth official said with a smile.

For them, facing the management of the home team or the fans through various means to exert pressure before the game, even verbal intimidation, these are very common things, and even the FA has no way to stop it.

This situation has been repeatedly banned in lower-level leagues, so the referee is often under great pressure.

But Southampton now feels more professional than many Premier League teams, which left a deep impression on them.

"I heard that the relationship between Southampton and Plymouth is not good either."

Jonathan Moss smiled bitterly. Several cities on the south coast of England have a very bad relationship with each other, especially Southampton. It can be said that they are the target of public criticism. Who makes them always regarded as the flag of the south coast?

Portsmouth, Plymouth, Brighton... Who wouldn't want to take a flag instead?

"All in all, let's enforce the law fairly!"