Chapter 1304 Save Ajax

Although he is a good friend, Yang Yang has to admit that Van Basten is a great star, but he is not a successful head coach. He has never achieved satisfactory results in his coaching career.

During the coaching period of Ajax, he was burdened with the high hopes of the team's management to regain the Champions League within five years, and invested a lot of money in the transfer market, among which Suleimani's transfer fee was as high as 16 million euros , twice the Dutch transfer record at the time, and also a quarter of Ajax's financial revenue.

It can be said that that big gamble was a disaster for Ajax. They wanted high input and high output, but the result was a complete failure. None of the players brought in played a satisfactory game. In terms of value, Suleimani played for Ajax for four years, but his performance was not satisfactory, and he finally went to Benfica on a free transfer.

It can be said that in this gamble, Van Basten and Ajax's management completely destroyed all the funds of the club. Since then, Ajax has suffered losses every year without any improvement.

"Financial income has not increased, or even dropped sharply, and the transfer operation has failed. These have hit Ajax very hard, but what has followed has been the continuous increase in European football salaries in the past few years. From 2006 to 2010, during the five-year period, Ajax's salary expenditure increased by more than 50%."

"This is not a problem with Ajax, it is a problem with Dutch football as a whole. Alkmaar declared bankruptcy and was supervised. Feyenoord almost followed suit. This traditional giant fell into a slump. Thirteen clubs are listed by the Football Association as having serious financial problems, but there are many more that are not on the list."

"Many people know what happened afterwards. A group of people led by Cruyff launched the Velvet Revolution and overthrew the management. They began to pay attention to financial health, so they reduced the number of players, saying that they wanted to clean up some useless players. Players, but in fact this is not realistic, Ajax has been losing money all these years, and it is not enough to make ends meet every year."

Guido Albes is obviously very worried about the situation of Ajax. This veteran giant team still has considerable weight in the hearts of many Dutch people, but unfortunately, the problems they are encountering now are very serious .

Yang Yang also has some understanding of this period of history, but not as deeply as Guido Albes. He still vaguely remembers that UEFA President Michel Platini proposed to merge Belgium with the Netherlands to form a new league. , including Anderlecht, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and other well-known European teams competed on the same field, thereby increasing their influence and financial revenue, but in the end it was nothing and failed.

After Albes finished speaking, Wei Zheng also immediately showed what he had gained during this period of time.

"Ajax's financial reserve is very bad. It has been declining from more than 110 million euros in 1999, and now it has even reached the point where cash flow is seriously insufficient. In addition, the team's performance over the years has been very sluggish. , Ajax’s stock price is also constantly falling, it fell below 9 yuan not long ago, and now it is only about 8.5 euros per share, setting a record low.”

"Currently, the market value of the club is about 150 million euros, and there are no assets at all. The total value of the first team is also a record low, and the team only holds 13% of the shares of the Amsterdam Arena. The remaining 48% is held by the Municipality of Amsterdam, and 39% is held by joint shareholders.”

"For this reason, Ajax needs to pay 10 million euros in stadium rent every year, and Ajax's annual ticket revenue is about 30 million euros. After deducting stadium maintenance and other expenses, the income is actually not much. many."

"The only thing that is commendable is that Ajax has no debts so far, but the current team management is in a dilemma. Although the management has been working hard to adjust and maintain it, there is still a serious shortage of funds."

Yang Yang understands that cash is the key to a company's survival. Ajax is seriously short of cash now, and they lost a large chunk of income from the Champions League before the season, making the team's management even more embarrassing.

"I vaguely heard the news that Ajax is planning to find investors, and they need a sum of money to tide over the difficulties." Yang Yang said the information he got, which is why he let Wei Zheng, Raiola and others The reason why people go to inquire about information.

Van der Sar had a conversation with him before, which made him feel that the Ajax management has indeed realized the problem, and this team is his home team. Although it is not well managed, in terms of football, Ajax Si is still very solid.

"Your news is correct. I heard that Invesco, an investment company from the United States, has some interest in Ajax, but you also know that the current situation of Ajax is not optimistic. Invesco is also involved in football for the first time, so Both parties are very cautious." Guido Albes affirmed Yang Yang's information.

Yang Yang looked at the three people in front of him, "What do you think?"

"I don't think it's worth it. It's better to vote for the British Championship team." Raiola suggested from the perspective of a businessman.

Guido Albes pondered for a while, "I think Ajax has a solid foundation in the football field, which is why Van der Sar, Davis, De Boer, Bergkamp, ​​etc. The reason why they will come back one after another, the problem now is that Ajax needs a lot of money to survive this difficult period and get back on a path of healthy development."

"Investing in the Dutch club may not be a good deal, but I believe that you and I do not want to see Ajax in this quagmire, and with your capital injection, I believe Ajax will be very happy. Regroup quickly."

Today's Yang Yang is really too popular.

He injected capital into Ajax today, and tomorrow the Eredivisie team will immediately appear on the pages of major media around the world, and its influence will skyrocket. In the future, everyone will mention Ajax, except for the declining European giants, and Yang Yang's team, these are very helpful for Ajax.

More importantly, Yang Yang's funds can help Ajax overcome the current difficulties.

"What about you?" Yang Yang looked at Wei Zheng.

Wei Zheng smiled, "You've already made up your mind, why bother asking me?"

Yang Yang smiled wryly and nodded, "That night at the Grimaldi Conference Center, I talked a lot with Van der Sar, he said that for him, Ajax is his memory, and for me, Why not? Before, I always thought that sooner or later I would go back to Ajax."

Raiola looked at Yang Yang, then turned his head to look at Wei Zheng and Albes, and finally his eyes fell back on Yang Yang. He sighed. He suddenly remembered Yang Yang's investment in Apple stock. It was opposed at the time, but in the end, Yang Yang's profit was turned over, and it has more than ten times up to now.

At that time, Yang Yang bought Apple stock without thinking of making money at all, purely because of liking and interest.

He knew Yang Yang well, and he also knew that Yang Yang was an emotional person at heart.

"If you are really interested in Ajax, now is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to buy the bottom. The stock price has fallen to 8.5 yuan, and the market value has also fallen to 150 million euros. I am afraid it will be difficult to fall again."

Raiola has spoken, and Yang Yang has a bottom line in his heart.

"Well, I will leave it to you to discuss. I can come up with a capital injection of 50 million euros. You ask the Ajax management to come up with a plan. I want to know how they plan to spend the money. There is also a plan. The plan for the next three years, but one thing must be clear, I must get the corresponding power from the board of supervisors."

At present, 75% of Ajax's shares are privately held and are in the hands of the member organization of the Ajax Association, which is composed of Ajax management and members. The remaining twenty-five percent circulate in the stock market.

Although it is a listed company, the management structure of Ajax is similar to that of other clubs in the Netherlands. It consists of a shareholders’ meeting, a supervisory board and a board of directors. Needless to say, the shareholders’ meeting is composed of shareholders. is responsible for overseeing the Board of Directors.

Under normal circumstances, the shareholders' meeting has no right to interfere with the board of supervisors and the board of directors. In other words, it cannot intervene in the club's daily operations and decision-making. right.

Yang Yang is very familiar with the Dutch football model, but he is not a Kaizi himself. He has feelings for Ajax and hopes to help the team out of the predicament, but it is impossible to accept that he has paid for it. name, but it turned out to be just put up like a mascot.

Even people like Cruyff who don't have any shares and don't contribute a penny can join the board of supervisors and direct the club's daily operations. Yang Yang can contribute real money. If he is not given the power, he will definitely not agreed.

Wei Zheng nodded and smiled after hearing this. He wanted to remind Yang Yang of this just now, but Yang Yang himself was already prepared.

"Okay, leave this matter to us to discuss, don't worry, friendship belongs to friendship, but how to do business, and how to do it." Raiola is very clear.

Wei Zheng didn't have any comments either.

He is Yang Yang's finance minister now, and he knows very well that 50 million euros is a blessing in disguise for Ajax, but it is nothing to Yang Yang.

Among other things, Yang Yang has been getting rid of Rice Technology in the past two years, and he happens to have a lot of cash in his hand, let alone 50 million euros, even if he invests 100 million, I believe it is not too much. Big question.

Of course, if Yang Yang really wants to acquire Ajax, it is really unrealistic.

At least the management and fans of Ajax will not agree, and the gamble is a bit big. After all, no one knows whether Ajax can really turn around its business difficulties after receiving Yang Yang's capital injection.

Therefore, this matter has to be done slowly, first enter the market to test the water, it is really worth investing, Wei Zheng has a lot of ways.