The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 445 Regret is a Terminal Illness

"Romain, I heard that you have seen Juan Figel recently?"

On Abramovich's luxury yacht parked in Canary Wharf, Pini Zahavi saw that Abramovich was in a good mood early this morning, so he asked this question a little boldly.

Perhaps for many ordinary reporters and fans, this news is very mysterious and arousing daydreams, but for the well-known agent in Europe, Pini Zahavi has his own set of personal connections and news channels, and he It is also very clear that Juan Figel is a very important football consultant for Abramovich, and the two must be talking about the new coach.

Abramovich raised his head, looked at Pini Zahavi, and smiled slightly, "Relax, Pini, we just had a meal and discussed some things, that's all."

He made it very clear, but Pini Zahavi is not at all relaxed. He has worked so hard for the past two years to get Grant into the Chelsea manager position. He really hopes for his fellow Israelis. Be able to continue to sit, sit firmly, even sit like Ferguson for decades.

But he also knows to some extent that after Grant served as the firefighting head coach, although Chelsea's performance has steadily improved, both players and fans have a very bad attitude towards him, and Abramovich especially treats him 0:2 The game lost to Tottenham Hotspur at home was very dissatisfied.

In the current Premier League standings, Chelsea are still four points behind Tottenham Hotspur.

Originally, Tottenham Hotspur's loss to Manchester United should have been an opportunity for Chelsea to quickly close the point gap, but Chelsea was tied. Now Chelsea is ushering in Liverpool, while Tottenham Hotspur has encountered an almost sure victory. Derby County, the favorite for relegation, is likely to be pulled apart again by then.

It's not good to lose to anyone, but to that damned Ye Qiu!
"By the way, Pinney, what do you think about our new CEO candidate?" Abramovich asked this friend lightly, "I said before, let you contact David Dunn, I don't know How's the connection going?"

When Abramovich was preparing to buy Chelsea, his favorite CEO was David Dunne, but David Dunne was the vice-chairman of Arsenal at the time, and it was impossible to jump to Chelsea, but now it is different , Now that David Dunne has left Arsenal, taking over Chelsea is not a problem.

"I have contacted him through relationships, but he expressed no interest." Pini Zahavi shook his head.

Abramovich's face froze, "Typical Londoner's arrogance!" After speaking, he also showed a sneer.

The current Arsenal is not qualified to be arrogant no matter from which point of view, even if they are currently ranked runner-up in the league, everyone can see that Arsenal is a bit like a strong outsider. The problem will become more and more obvious, and in fact, they have performed poorly in the second half of almost every season.

To paraphrase what that damned Ye Qiu said, this is the fine tradition of Arsenal!
"Then let's put it down for now!" Abramovich thought for a while, but didn't take it too seriously.

But Pini Zahavi shook his head and said: "I'm afraid there is no way to let it go for the time being. This time Peter Kenyon chose not to renew his contract. Another executive who came to Chelsea at the same time as him, Chief Operating Officer Ron Gurley also left at the same time, there is no one to lead the executive branch, and this is not a long-term solution."

Abramovich didn't like to intervene in these trivial matters. Although he still listened patiently, his face was not very good-looking, but Pini Zahavi knew him very well, and continued.

"And according to the current situation of the team, if we want to continue to maintain the team's combat effectiveness next season, then we have to clean up a group of players in the team in exchange for a part of the transfer fee for signings."

This speaks to Abramovich's weakness, because he has told Pini Zahavi, Peter Kenyon and others before that he will no longer invest in the team in these years, but To make Chelsea self-sufficient.

Now Chelsea is losing money every season, a large part of which is because the team’s salary burden is too great. Don’t look at the current Chelsea League and Champions League. They are playing very happily and doing very well. A lot of money, but in fact, spending more.

At present, Chelsea spends 1 million pounds on salary every year, a very important part of which comes from Shevchenko and Ballack. At the same time, several players in the team have received a substantial increase in salary due to the joining of the two superstars , such as Lampard, Rooney, Terry and other local stars.

Chelsea's salary expenditure far exceeds the second-ranked Manchester United. They are only close to [-] million pounds. From this point, it is not difficult to see that Chelsea have been completely kidnapped by their superstar policy.

Abramovich regrets it now, really regrets it, his guts are green with regrets, because this is a situation he never thought of when he wanted to introduce Shevchenko, he was just thinking about himself After the introduction of Shevchenko, he was able to afford his salary, but he never thought that this would cause a chain reaction within the team.

This is only a part of the expenditure, taxes, bonuses and other aspects are also very large expenditures. Even in the next two years, this situation will hardly be improved, because Chelsea is currently in a very embarrassing situation.

There is a Chinese saying that is right, it is easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but difficult to go from extravagant to frugal.

Now Chelsea's problem is that the salary completely exceeds the team's pressure, and they are forced to cut the transfer budget to supplement the salary. Unless the salary is cut, the team will always bear this pressure, but the question is can the salary be cut?

Ballack is already old, he will definitely stay at Chelsea, complete this contract, and then he may retire or go to another team, so he is hopeless, and what about Shevchenko?

There is a market for the Ukrainian, and AC Milan wants to recall him, but the question is, what about his jaw-dropping salary?
Unless Chelsea is willing to subsidize Shevchenko's salary and then loan him to AC Milan, otherwise, at the age of 31, the Ukrainian, let alone a transfer fee, no one wants it for nothing, because that huge salary is Enough to discourage countless teams.

The salaries of the two superstars cannot be cut, and the salaries of core players such as Lampard, Rooney, and Terry cannot be cut. They are the most important core of the team at present. Salary, especially like Wayne Rooney.

Therefore, in the next few years that can be seen, Chelsea will always live with this salary burden, and if they want to invest heavily in the transfer market, don't even think about it.

It is precisely because of this that Abramovich decided not to continue to invest more, because it is a bottomless pit. No matter how much money he has, once he falls into this bottomless pit, it is almost impossible for him to get out.

So now he regrets very much, regretting that he didn't listen to Ye Qiu's suggestion back then.

At least look at the current Tottenham Hotspur. The current salary expenditure of this team ranks sixth in the Premier League, around 7000 million pounds, which is exactly less than half of Chelsea, but the overall combat effectiveness of this team However, they are ranked in the top three in the Premier League, and this is the result of Ye Qiu's team raising the salaries of many players this season.

The salary was raised, but Ruud van Nistelrooy, a big salary earner, was sold, so that the overall salary expenditure of Tottenham Hotspur did not increase much, and although the joining of Beckham brought salary pressure to the team, but It also brought huge profits.

Thinking of this, Abramovich suddenly felt envious and regretful.

But regret is a terminal illness, an incurable terminal illness!
It was at this time that the morning news from the Sky TV Sports Channel came from the yacht's TV.

"Our reporter reported that Tottenham Hotspur held a press conference at White Hart Lane at [-]:[-] p.m. yesterday. The chairman and head coach of the team, Ye Qiu, announced that the team will hire the former Chelsea chief. Executive Peter Kenyon, ex-Chelsea COO Ron Gourley, as the team's new CEO and COO!"

"As early as the beginning of the year, Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourley both made the decision not to renew their contracts with Chelsea. According to sources, this is because Peter Kenyon's power in Chelsea is gradually Being vacated by chairman Roman Abramovich made Manchester people very dissatisfied and made a decision not to renew the contract."

"For Peter Kenyon joining Tottenham Hotspur, Ye Qiu gave a very high affirmation, saying that he is very optimistic about Peter Kenyon's future in Tottenham Hotspur. He believes that the former The football guru who created Manchester United's business empire can make a huge difference to Tottenham Hotspur."

"At the press conference, Peter Kenyon refused to answer why he left Chelsea, but he said that he and Chelsea broke up amicably, but he also said that relatively speaking, he prefers the environment of Tottenham Hotspur , and Ye Qiu's trust in him, he believes that he can do better and better at Tottenham Hotspur than ever before."

"However, some Premier League experts said that Peter Kenyon left Chelsea for Tottenham Hotspur, on the one hand because Ye Qiu could give him the trust and environment that Chelsea could not get, and more importantly, because Tottenham Hotspur The future prospects of Tenham Tottenham are even brighter, because this north London team has just signed an agreement with the London City Council and the London Olympic Organizing Committee, and according to this agreement, they will be in September 2012. After the Paralympic Games, we will get the London Olympic Stadium, which is about to start construction, and plan to transform it into a five-star modern top-level stadium with a capacity of up to 9 people."

"Compared to being restricted everywhere at Chelsea, Ye Qiu has adopted a modern corporate institutional management for Tottenham Hotspur, which is obviously more in line with Peter Kenyon's wishes, coupled with the stimulation of the new stadium, and Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur's rising results made Peter Kenyon finally make the decision to join Tottenham Hotspur instead of staying at Chelsea, which has been difficult to achieve a breakthrough."

Sky TV's exclusive report and analysis on this transfer was broadcast in the news, and Pini Zahavi in ​​front of the TV was surprised, because he didn't even receive any relevant information, and looked at Abramovich, who was beside him, found that the Russian was obviously surprised and angry, suppressing the anger in his heart.

Pini Zahavi knows Abramovich too well. This Russian rich man seems to be easy to get along with, but in fact, anyone who really knows him knows that he is very powerful, domineering, and possessive. He will give you You can ask for what he doesn't give you, and you can't even think about it.

Today, Peter? Kenyon jumped from Chelsea to Tottenham Hotspur, even if Peter? Still feeling unhappy and angry, because he felt his things were robbed by Ye Qiu.

"Pini!" Abramovich suppressed the anger in his heart.

Pini Zahavi heard that he was being called, and immediately responded. Whoever offends him at this time is a fool.

"Starting tomorrow, you will go to the team as the CEO. You are right. It is not a good thing for the team to have no CEO for a day. At the same time, I have also decided that the team will continue to invest more this summer. If you fight a good battle against your opponent, you have to improve the team's strength and combat effectiveness in a short period of time!"

After hearing this, Pini Zahavi felt a little joy in his heart, and immediately nodded, "Don't worry, I know how to do it!"

"I'm tired, you go to Stamford Bridge!" Abramovich said sullenly.

Pini Zahavi nodded and got up to leave, but when he walked downstairs of the yacht, he heard the sound of smashing things from upstairs. He guessed that it must be Abramovich. Vent your anger.

It's just that this doesn't have much to do with him anymore, because he's already got what he wants!
Tottenham Hotspur announced Peter Kenyon and Ron Gourley as the two top executives of the team. Tottenham Hotspur's poaching of Chelsea, Chelsea should counterattack and directly sue Tottenham Hotspur and Ye Qiu to court.

But soon, Tottenham Hotspur immediately gave a clarification, saying that what the team did was in line with legal procedures and there was no violation of regulations, while Chelsea still did not respond to this matter.

On February 2th, the league ushered in the No.9 six rounds. Chelsea drew 20-0 at home with visiting Liverpool. It was also this round. Manchester United suffered a 0-1 upset at home against rivals Manchester City in the same city and lost this game. Manchester derby.

This also allowed Arsenal to take advantage of the trend to reverse Manchester United and once again climbed to the top of the Premier League leader.

Tottenham Hotspur challenged Derby County away. After a week of recuperation and adjustment, Tottenham Hotspur played a crazy offensive storm, which completely sieved the defense of this hapless deputy squad leader.

After the opening, Derby County defended very tightly, especially in the first 10 minutes, they would stick to their 30-meter zone, while Tottenham Hotspur actively organized and launched waves of attacks .

Ye Qiu's midfield combination this time is still Modric, Cesc Fabregas and Mascherano who is lagging behind. Through orderly sorting out, the three midfielders provide an endless stream of shells for the frontcourt players. Coupled with the active forward penetration of Vargas and Alves on the two wings to participate in the offense, Tottenham Hotspur's offense played very lively.

It wasn't until the 25th minute that Tottenham Hotspur got off to a good start when Messi broke through Derby County's goal.

But in the first half hour, or even the entire first half, no one would have noticed that this would be a big victory, because Derby County played very hard and invested a lot of troops in defense. Even in the 40th minute, Van Persie was Tottenham Hotspur made another victory, and everyone felt that this game was about three goals at most.

But in the second half, starting from the 60th minute, Tottenham Hotspur suddenly played a round of offensive storm, Ribery performed a hat-trick, Arshavin, who came off the bench, also made another victory for the team, and it was stoppage time In the second stage, Messi's goal helped Tottenham Hotspur finally lock the score at 7:0!

This is simply a feast of goals, especially in the second half, as the physical fitness of the Derby County players declined, they could not stop Tottenham Hotspur's offense at all, and were broken by Tottenham Hotspur again and again. Goal, their defensive rhythm and pace seemed clumsy and sluggish, unable to keep up with Tottenham Hotspur's brisk offensive.

7:0, Tottenham Hotspur once again played an almost crazy attack, which completely pushed Derby County into the abyss of relegation, and let all opponents see Tottenham Hotspur's overwhelming offensive ability again.

In this way, Tottenham Hotspur, relying on this hearty victory, successfully widened the gap between themselves and Chelsea to six points, and Tottenham Hotspur, which has 58 points, is currently behind the leader. Sheep Arsenal 5 points, 2 points behind the second place Manchester United, successfully caught up again.

After playing Derby County, the Premier League was temporarily suspended again, because the FA Cup and League Cup finals ushered in.

Tottenham Hotspur's opponent in the round of 2 knockout round of the FA Cup is Bristol Rovers in League One. Ye Qiu plans to use these two weeks to properly adjust the physical fitness of the team's main lineup, so the FA The Cup also used all the substitutes and the youth team to play. They defeated Bristol Rovers 0-[-] in the away game. Kompany served as the starting central defender and performed well.

In the middle of the week, the League Cup final was ushered in, against Arsenal and Chelsea.

Grant's team played very tangled with Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Both sides are familiar with each other and understand each other, so there were not many surprises in the game. The two sides finally played 10 in 1 minutes. : 1 draw, entered the overtime stage.

After entering overtime, the physical fitness of the two teams was obviously exhausted, but in the end Arsenal got a free kick. The main central defender Gallas headed the ball to kill his old club. The former Chelsea player After scoring the goal, he celebrated excitedly on the sidelines and won the first championship trophy for Arsenal in the new season.

Chelsea left the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with disappointment, but they didn't have time to lick their wounds, because they had to return to London quickly, and they had to be a guest at White Hart Lane in the seventh round of the Premier League No.20. Rivalry Tottenham Hotspur!

(End of this chapter)