My light shines on Arsenal

Chapter 105 Gold Medal Producer

"Are we late?" Meng Qinghe sat down with a smile and pushed a plate of bread in front of Chen Yao.

"This is..." Chen Yao smelled the bread.

"Sour bread, the specialty here." The middle-aged man sitting in front of him put down his knife and fork, took a sip of wine, wiped his mouth, and belched.

Only now did Chen Yao have the opportunity to take a good look at the middle-aged man.

He had unruly long hair that wasn't washed very well, his face was covered in stubble, and he was wearing a plaid shirt with some wine stains on the corners of his mouth.

"It's the tradition of this restaurant. It's the oldest restaurant in Hollywood. I know it."

The man wiped his hands and made a gesture to shake hands with Chen Yao.

"John Douglas, TV show producer."

"Chen Yao, uh... football coach."

Chen Yao shook hands with him, without thinking for a while.

I am a coach, why do I feel that the style of painting suddenly turned into an entertainment urban novel?

"I met Mr. Douglas when I was participating in a consulting project. He is an excellent producer and has won a BAFTA award." Meng Qinghe introduced.

"BAFTA?" Chen Yao asked modestly.

"It's not something worthy of praise." John Douglas waved his hand nonchalantly.

"It's the British Academy of Television and Film Arts." Another person sitting next to Douglas whispered.

"Mr. Douglas is a senior I admire very much." She added.

"Oh, it's you……"

Chen Yao looked at the girl who had been silent before, with blond long hair draped over her shoulders, light blue eyes reflecting the light, brilliance flowing, and a gentle smile.

"My name is Charlotte, and I am a director." She paused and said with some embarrassment, "I'm still learning how to become an excellent director..."

The waiter came over with a steak that was squeaking with hot oil, and placed it in front of Chen Yao.

Smelling the fragrant aroma, he realized that the continuous travel and interview had consumed a lot of his energy.

"Don't be rigid, eat." John Douglas waved his hand, "I hate those red tapes the most."

"Oh...thank you." Chen Yao hesitated and asked, "Then, Mr. Douglas..."

"Do you want to ask why we met?" John Douglas' eyes lit up, as if he was interested in an instant.

"Hmm..." Chen Yao shivered, lowered his head and started cutting the steak.

"..."

He seemed to be on his back, and his hands were tense as he cut the steak, because John Douglas was watching himself.

"..."

I can't take it anymore.

"I said..." Chen Yao raised his head helplessly, and John Douglas smiled apologetically.

"I'm always looking for groundbreaking film subjects, and my specialty is documentaries."

John Douglas withdrew his gaze, interested.

"We all expected this to be the eve of the explosion of streaming media, so I have been thinking about how to create interesting works and give priority to catching the audience's attention."

"So have you come up with a good idea?"

"I thought about it."

John Douglas stretched out his finger and nodded at Chen Yao, "That's you."

"I?"

"Well." John Douglas smiled, "Football to be precise. Documentaries in the field of football, filming the story of a team in front of and behind the scenes. This is a good way to activate the audience of the most popular sport in the world."

Chen Yao was stunned, this Mr. Douglas is quite farsighted.

"Both Netflix and Amazon are interested in filming football-themed documentaries, and they have unanimously set their sights on the Premier League. I am also very interested in this, but which club should I choose?"

"You want to choose Arsenal?" Chen Yao asked tentatively.

John Douglas said nothing, but nodded affirmatively.

Chen Yao put down the knife and fork, and thought for a moment.

John Douglas, a BAFTA-winning producer, can't be kidding himself.

Moreover, if I remember correctly, the "All or Nothing" documentary series that became popular in the future seemed to be invested and produced by Amazon. I wonder if John Douglas was also a key member of the production team.

From his personal point of view, this is a good thing.

Arsenal has suffered from a lack of commercial development for many years.

Thanks to the good foundation laid by Wenger, Arsenal's fan base is very widespread, and their popularity is not even fully commensurate with the size and dominance of the club in terms of results.

But the team has been for so long, and in the ternary income structure of game day income-television broadcast income-commercial development income, it is still the most dependent on match day income.

And, as the value of the Premier League brand has soared, soaring TV revenues have dwarfed matchday revenues.

However, Arsenal's most potential commercial development income is tepid, and it is not worth mentioning compared with the terrible commercial income of the old rival Manchester United.

Chen Yao is not a shareholder of the club, but the improvement of the team's financial situation is good for him.

This means that even if the club's shareholders do not invest more money, Arsenal can ensure its own revenue capabilities and bring excess wealth for itself to invest in the team and purchase players.

It is true that he can still rely on his own advantages to tap Xiaoyao, play his worth, maintain competitiveness, and improve the status of the team from a competitive perspective.

But in the long run, only a club with strong blood-generating and revenue-generating capabilities can maintain its dominance on an intercontinental scale.

The opportunity provided by John Douglas is a wonderful way to promote Arsenal's brand image to a wider space. Taking this opportunity, the team has the opportunity to achieve overtaking in commercial development.

"Don't say no, coach. It will be good for you and the club."

John Douglas is like a profiteer, persevering, "I have confidence in my content production ability, Arsenal is a perfect protagonist, and I can promote its image to the world."

"And you, Coach, you're interesting and full of conversation. You also get a lot of things, wealth, fame, status...it's going to be good for your career."

"I know." Chen Yao frowned, "But, Mr. Douglas, why do you want to talk to me about this kind of thing? I don't have the right to decide."

"I'm very well-informed." John Douglas smiled, "I know you are the first candidate for the head coach. I need to find out your attitude first. If you don't want to cooperate, there is no point in continuing."

Chen Yao picked up a piece of beef and chewed it in his mouth.The meat is fragrant and the juice is splashing.

He didn't want to answer John Douglas right away, he couldn't make up his own mind about such matters.

From a commercial point of view, this is certainly a good thing, but the whole team's life and competition under the camera may have an unexpected impact on the team's state.

Chen Yao is not stupid. He knows that Arsenal's brand and revenue growth are mutually beneficial to each other, but if he makes fun of the record, his foundation will be gone.

Moreover, this requires full communication with the players, and he needs to respect the players' attitude.

John Douglas put one arm on his chair and played a ditty without seeming impatient.

After slowly tasting the classic dishes of this ancient restaurant, Chen Yao wiped his mouth and looked at John Douglas.

"Have you considered it?"

"Mr. Douglas, I personally don't reject the idea, but I want you to understand a few things."

Chen Yao stretched out three fingers.

"First, I'm not the head coach at the moment. I don't have the right to make decisions. It doesn't necessarily make sense for you to talk to me."

"Secondly, you need to discuss this with the club and I need to discuss this with the players, we need to respect each other."

"Thirdly, I do not represent any official Arsenal attitude."

There was no clear rejection, and certainly no clear yes, but John Douglas knew he could move on to the next step.

For him, this meeting is both a test and a curiosity at the same time-will such a coach, such a team, be interesting enough?
But now, John Douglas believes it would be an interesting subject for a show.

"Om-"

The cell phone on the table rang again, Chen Yao was a little annoyed, the cell phone hadn't stopped in the past two days, it's really true.

He picked up the phone, glanced at it, put it down, with a complicated expression on his face.

Immediately he picked up the phone again and read the text on the screen carefully.

(End of this chapter)