The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 317 It's You!
Proactive means proactive in English, or it can also be translated as forward-looking and pre-emptive.

But if you look for it on the London stock market, you will find that this is a company, a very special company!
And what makes you absolutely unexpected is that this company once caused quite a stir.

In May 2001, this company was successfully listed in London. The analysis report of the London stock market at that time clearly indicated their optimism and favor for this company, and believed that such a company would soon replace those deformed listed football clubs. , and become the investment direction of the new sports economy.

At that time, Internet technology concept stocks were in dire straits, and the stock market needed new stimulation. In the UK, where football is regarded as a religion, football-related listing projects have always been highly anticipated, even those that are considered deformed. There is no shortage of people holding shares in listed football clubs, let alone such football-related stocks that can lead to profitability.

In the company's business expectations, the company also gave a very authoritative data, that is, the salaries of players will skyrocket day and night, and for a company like them engaged in football brokerage and marketing It is said that the skyrocketing salary of players will also cause their income to skyrocket.

Yes, this company called Proactive is the largest sports group in England. The boss behind it, Paul Stretford, is the best and most famous among the 170 professional agents in England.

At that time, not only the football circle was waiting to see the company's listing, expecting it to create a new situation, even investors in the stock market were full of confidence in it, because not long after the company's listing, Arsenal introduced Saul Campbell from rivals Tottenham Hotspur, with a weekly salary of 9 pounds!
This was a jaw-dropping contract at the time, but it also made everyone realize that what Stretford said when the company went public, predicted The forward-looking remarks that players' salaries will skyrocket day and night are fully reflected in this contract.

No one knows whether Campbell's transfer has something to do with Stretford, because the former's agent is not Stretford, but it is clear that Sol Campbell's sky-high contract made Proactive The stock became so hot that many people even believed that brokerage companies would completely replace football clubs in the stock market.

There is no doubt that it was the peak moment of Stretford. That year, his company had 270 players on hand, including Beckham, Keane, Owen, Anelka, the Neville brothers, Andy Cole and other well-known top stars in the Premier League, but the real core assets of this company are obviously not just these.

One thing must be explained here is that a player’s agent is actually not just a person, and often takes the form of authorization. For example, Ronaldinho’s agent is his brother A Sis, but in fact, Assis is only responsible for the contract and salary, and other aspects such as image marketing and business cooperation are all authorized to Eliza Moon.

There is also a situation where people like Robben, Van der Vaart and Sneijder authorized them to Eliza Moon, and the latter arranged an agent through the company to be in charge of their business, so in many news media In the reports, the name of the broker in charge of the business may appear, and no one will know who gave their authorization.

This is a very intricate relationship. It can be said that without an agent, the player and the club will become incompatible. Therefore, many things must be handed over to the agent to buffer.

For this sports marketing company in Stretford, the core asset is not the players, but the shareholders.

When the industry and commerce department investigated the Premier League black gold case, it once investigated this company, and announced the company's shareholders and specific shares: Bobby Robson 10 shares, Souness 40 shares , Martin O'Neill 17 shares, Wilkinson 2 shares, Keegan 4 shares, Allardyce 8 shares
Not only the head coach, but also the club's management, the most famous of which is Everton's CEO Donford.

At that time, the two transactions that were controversial and attracted the most media attention were the two transactions. After Sunderland coach Reid held 12 shares of Proactive, he introduced the American midfielder from the Glasgow Rangers at a price of 5 million pounds. Field Rainer.

After Downford bought 4 shares of the company, a week later Rooney announced that he refused to sign a contract with his agent and switched to Stretford. Both transactions caused considerable controversy at the time.

However, people living in modern times are always particularly forgetful. Even after the black gold case was hyped up, but not long after, all the people affected were safe and sound. With a stake in this company, who will say anything about them?
And what can best reflect how majestic Stretford was back then was what he said to Aston Villa chairman Ellis. The chairman who sacked manager John Gregory brought in Graham Taylor, but it was still Stretford's partner.

At that time, Stretford also told this guy who couldn't tell reality in a relaxed tone that no matter who he changed, everyone was the same!

Stretford's most famous theory is that when Blackburn was on the verge of relegation and the finances were not abundant, Souness advocated the introduction of Manchester United striker Andy Cole for 800 million pounds. For this reason, Stretford and Souness gets a 5 percent cut.

When he was tracked down by the BBC in the future, he defended himself, "No one will care what you have done. For Blackburn's management and fans, the most important thing is that Andy Cole joins and advances. To score a lot of goals, to keep Blackburn safe from relegation and to finish tenth is more important than anything."

Some people may wonder that the Premier League black gold case was finally settled, but if they clearly know that when goalkeeper Schmeichel transferred from Aston Villa to Manchester City in 2002, the Danish Football Association realized that there were interests in this transfer. As a result, the FA refused to investigate the matter. Later, the Danish Football Association handed it over to UEFA. The FA was forced to respond under the pressure of UEFA and issued a written statement stating that the transfer was in It went on without any issues.

This is the FA's maintenance of Stretford, because when they encounter problems, the first thing to consider is face.

But sometimes, many things are dominated by the dark. Stretford's plan and strategy were originally very shrewd, and he even had the opportunity to become bigger and stronger, but in the end he didn't expect one thing , that is, he escaped the black gold incident and was safe and sound, but investors in the stock market also abandoned him.

The stock price of a single share of 25 pence at the time of listing fell all the way to 7 pence during the black gold case, and now it has fallen to the bottom, but all the head coaches and football practitioners who hold shares in this company have not sold it. All locked up.

And all this has formed the interest pattern of the entire Premier League!

It can be said that as long as these shareholders exist, as long as they are still in the Premier League, Stretford cannot fall!
But in the past few years, with the continuous influx of foreign funds into the Premier League, as more and more foreign managers have entered the Premier League, it is inevitable that more competitors will be brought to share with Stretford. This big cake is getting more and more attractive.

Among all the competitors, there are actually only two people who have entered Stretford's vision. One is Pini Zahavi, a Jew from Israel, and the other is Eliza Moon from France. .

The former is the most popular agent in the Premier League in the past few years. Although he doesn't have many player resources and his connections are not good, he has done what Stretford has wanted to do for many years. That is to engage in club transactions and further embed one's influence deeply in the club's power structure.

Perhaps, this point can be described in a Chinese saying, those who steal the hook will be punished, and those who steal the country will be marquises. They all want to be the latter.

Eliza Moon is the fastest growing agent in recent years. Her previous network was mainly in the Netherlands, but after Ye Qiu came to the Premier League, she quickly spread her network to the Premier League. With the addition of a group of players from Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV to play in the four major leagues, her influence has also expanded rapidly.

Eliza Moon's player resources are not many. Compared with his 270 players, Eliza Moon's player number is only 50, but each player is a well-known player in today's football stars, and every transfer is an astonishing number, the most shocking thing is that Ajax Samsung switched to Real Madrid not long ago, and the transfer fee is said to be over [-] million euros.

Just imagine, according to the general 10% commission, that is 1 million, or if it is 5%, it is also 500 million.

In addition, a large part of the recent Chelsea players belonged to Eliza Moon. Stretford had never seen this woman with his own eyes, but he knew very well that she and There is an unusual relationship between Ye Qiu, and some people even speculate that Ye Qiu is a shareholder of this brokerage company, but who knows about this kind of thing?
Compared with the relatively low-key Eliza Moon, Stretford hates Pini Zahavi the most. The latter is his number one competitor in the Premier League, and this shrewd Israeli It seems that he is also coveting his agent empire, including Souness and many other head coaches, who are now closely related to him.

What's even more hateful is that Rooney's former agent Mike Shkin suddenly jumped out to wreak havoc in front of the media. Stretford was under pressure and had to fight back, but unexpectedly, the plot turned around.

Originally, he just wanted to sue Maxshkin and others for maliciously spreading rumors and slander, but he did not expect that the other party seemed to be prepared, not only provided a series of evidence, showing that he had installed bugs on Maxshkin and others back then, and prepared to This was used as a bargaining chip for extortion and intimidation, and he planned to bribe McShkin with 25 pounds in cash, but failed in the end.

Although this unsolved case has been hotly debated so far, it is still a matter of the year of the monkey if you want to come to a conclusion, but it will cause huge damage to your business and reputation. More importantly, the police have found A very crucial witness was his assistant Lindfield back then, and Lindfield knew all these things clearly.

It can be said that Stretford is very likely to lose the case until now, unless he is willing to beg for mercy.

Stretford knew exactly what the price of begging for mercy would be.

Therefore, he didn't go anywhere during this period of time, but stayed in the company office in Wilmslow, Cheshire, secretly planning a counterattack strategy, because he already knew very clearly in his heart who was behind the attack. Hit his mind.

While Stretford waited anxiously, an assistant knocked on his office door.

"Boss, here is what you want!" The assistant put a thick stack of documents on Stretford's desk.

Stretford flipped through a few pages casually, but read them seriously, and a smile gradually appeared on his face, but there was a bit of chilling sinister in the smile, "Hmph, that damned The Jew thinks he is smart and others are fools, and this time I will let him know that he is not too smart!"

If anyone can see these opened pages at this time, they will be surprised, because it includes a series of transfers that Pini Zahavi has handled in the Premier League over the past few years, including many outsiders. A transfer that has always been inexplicable, but it is recorded very clearly and detailedly in these reports.

The commission recorded in the report for each transaction of Pini Zahavi is very clear, and the key point is to list 15 transfer commissions that exceed the player's annual salary, and one of them The amount of pen transfer is very scary.

In this transfer, Pini Zahavi operated an Eastern European player to the Premier League and sold it for 500 million pounds, but in fact, the actual value of this player was only 200 million pounds, and the remaining 300 million pounds, leather Ni Zahavi accounted for £250m, while Eastern European clubs got an extra £50.

This is the most typical operating method of brokers, and it is also the most profitable operation method of brokers.

"Is it all ready?" Stretford asked with a smile. He now feels as if he has obtained the token of life and death. He can let whoever dies if he wants to die. The feeling of life and death is really enjoyable.

"It's all ready!" The assistant nodded in fear of him.

Stretford took another deep look at the stack of documents in his hand. He found that it was a bit heavy, but he gritted his teeth in his heart and handed it out, "Send it to the BBC TV station. They haven't been asking for it all the time recently. News? Just give them something hot!"

The assistant took the stack of documents and put them in his hands, feeling heavy too, "Boss, don't think about it again?"

Although this stack of documents is aimed at Pini Zahavi, in fact, everyone is very clear that once it is released to the public, not only Pini Zahavi will be involved in the case, but the black money case back then will definitely attract attention again , At that time, it will not only involve Pini Zahavi, but even all the brokers will be involved.

Stretford's doing so will inevitably make him a public enemy in this circle, and he will no longer be able to gain a foothold in the company and football circle, because no one will forgive him for ruining everyone's jobs and wealth. road guy.

Stretford closed his eyes, waved his hand, and signaled his assistant to go out quickly. It seemed a bit like he was afraid that he would regret it, but he was absolutely unwilling to let go of the character of being close to each other in his bones. Pini Zahavi.

As for the company he founded with so much hard work, it sounds nice, but in fact only he knows it best. It is no longer the same as it was three years ago. Now, he no longer has that kind of influence, so even people like Pini Zahavi dare to provoke him.

There is a good saying, the clay figurine is still angry. Stretford has long been dissatisfied with Proactive's performance. There are more and more shareholders, and most of the benefits are vested in them. See for yourself. It seems that a platform has been built, and some benefits have been obtained. It seems that they have been tied up by the company, but they are actually tied up by them.

Over the years, he has earned enough money. He has long wanted to give up and transform, but he still can't let it go. But this time, he is determined to fight Pini Zahavi to the end. Even if it is a fight to the death, this cunning Jew will have to pay the most painful price.

As for McShkin, a matter that can be solved with hundreds of thousands of pounds, in the eyes of Stretford, is that still a matter?
What he is fighting for now is not profit, but breath!

At this time, McShkin was insignificant in his eyes, and what he wanted to fight was Pini Zahavi.

Besides, everyone is afraid of unemployment, but he is not afraid, because even if he loses this company and everything, his relationship is still there, and he has so many connections with equal interests, he can do it wherever he goes. He can get away with it, and he doesn't need to work so much anymore. Find a top star like Beckham, Irving, and Gerrard to guard him, and he will have nothing to worry about for a lifetime.

Ye Qiu obviously didn't know that a storm that would cause a major earthquake in English football was happening in Cheshire, which was far away from Liverpool. He had never cared about Pini Zahavi and Stretford. What happened to the lawsuit, he is now concerned about his team, and has never been able to break Liverpool's goal at Anfield.

Not only that, the Red Army almost scored a goal. If it weren't for Pangler's cross and Traore's low shot was miraculously saved by Van der Sar, Chelsea would have been in a passive state at this moment up.

A score of 0:0 is obviously not what Ye Qiu is after. Standing in front of the away team's bench at Anfield, he is thinking hard about how to break the cage of Benitez. The Spaniard's targeted tactics are definitely second to none in the world. Even Ye Qiu liked to study his tactical thinking in the study room.

But Benitez's tactic is not only relying on pre-match preparation, but also on-the-spot command, so even if you are familiar with his tactic, it is useless, he will keep adjusting during the game to restrain you.

Ye Qiu turned his head, glanced at the players on the bench, and finally landed on one person.

Just you!
(End of this chapter)