We have set the tone in the overall development of the club in the past two years. The first and most important thing, apart from the professional team and youth training, is quality promotion and business, that is, operation. Clubs must have the ability to earn money in order to survive, rather than relying on the government and the owner's passion and sentiment alone, which I don't think is long-term.
China Super League (soccer league)
This year is fine, the business rights are a little wider than they could have been before. After three years of the tournament system, the ball market is sure to be particularly hot this year. The main income this year will definitely be box office income, peripheral income, and some sponsorship income.
Earlier, we also paid attention to the fiery atmosphere of Chengdu's home stadium. Chengdu's fan culture is very enviable, including Guoan
Shenhua and Taishan, I think their fan culture is in the forefront of the country. Our club also wants to do branding, culture and management in the past few years, hoping that the fans can have a greater sense of belonging to the club, so that the whole team can be better integrated into the city and the life of the citizens.
We also put forward a new goal: put aside the competitive level, downplaying the competitive level, so that the team can be more able to convey a humanistic feelings, hometown complex. Including through soccer, to pass some positive energy. In this way, many fans do not pay attention to the team because of its performance, but because they really like the team. Including the team now has a lot of local players, which is also the development direction of the club. The club has always talked about sentiment and temperature.
Fans in each region don't have quite the same requirements. Qingdao fans are more demanding and maybe they prefer to watch top league teams. In China, there are no clubs that have that level of heritage like foreign clubs. Most fans of Chinese clubs are performance-oriented. So the next development of the team will slowly dilute the level of performance, and incorporate other aspects into the hearts of the fans, planting this idea in their minds. We chose to go into the campus, and cooperated with many Qingdao local enterprises which are closely related to the people, so that soccer can enter into everyone's life more, and let soccer integrate into the city more. We don't want the fans to think, "I just want to watch this game and see if the team wins or loses".
Of course, our fanbases are very die-hard, and from the time we were relegated, to the time we fought our way back, our fanbase was never disbanded, just like us.
Jiang Ning and Zheng Long left the team at that time, which is a normal phenomenon. Because it's the law of the market, it's good for the club and good for the players. They came back, first of all, they did enough good and good enough on their own. Although their age is here, they have the ability of certain competitive level. Secondly, they have very good character and can play a role in the team. And they are also representatives of the previous team's youth training. They are relatively well known among the local players and popular among the fans. So as long as they can stand on the field, I think the fans will be very happy. Although they are not in the team for some time, they will make a phone call every year to ask how the team is doing, and we will flirt with them and say, "Come back, come back", and when we say that, they really come back.
In 2020, we were in the second division, the investment that year should be the biggest, determined to go up, so we recruited and tried to recall all the old players. Jiang Ning came back first that year. At present, Jiang Ning is ready to play until next year. He wants to sign his contract until the end of next year, and wants to make up exactly 20 years of his career.
A lot of work was rushed this year to get in time to use this youth soccer field. Acceptance, and the infrastructure around it, including the parking place and the business district, were all rushed. Now the stadium is only in basic function. And this new stadium is a certain distance from the city, the club also contacted Qingdao city transportation, transportation, some transportation companies, sent a lot of exclusive buses to transport fans.
We want to be a 100-year club. But in the process, at different stages of history, there have been promotions and relegations, there have been in the Premier League
I've been in Central League
, have been in the second division, I think this is all a normal situation. No one can guarantee that a team will always be in the top league, and no one can guarantee that a team will always be in the lower league. So no matter how the environment changes, the team should follow a normal soccer law and develop normally. Even if the environment changes suddenly, the team itself does not have the strength, and relegated, I think this is also very normal.
I think this kind of epiphany is relatively richer. Because when you have really experienced three levels of league, experienced the ups and downs, you can only see Chinese football
Ball a lot of things at the very grassroots level. When you're always in the top league, you can never pay attention to what's going on in the sub-division, the third division. The Chinese league is like a pyramid, with the national team at the top, and then the Chinese Super League at the bottom
China A
, C.B., in fact, whether it's C.A.
Still, the grassroots leagues are the foundation of the entire Chinese league. Imagine without the support of these grassroots leagues, how can the topmost league get better and better?
Formerly in the Super League
The time to take on the Central League
I don't think I've ever paid much attention to Chinese B. And at the time, it was felt that at that time, the Central League
, S.B. is still a semi-professional game. But really getting into this kind of game and realizing that the Central League
, C.B. is particularly competitive. And there are very good players in it. In terms of selection, it will bring a lot of new ideas. Now a lot of players from China A
The players who play in the Chinese Super League are all in the Chinese Super League.
Playing soccer, such as Sha Yibo from our club, including Liu Tao from Chengdu Rongcheng. Liu Tao first played in the Central League
, of China B, is now the main captain in Chengdu. Before that, he played for Shenzhen Lehman in the Chinese B. At that time, a lot of good players could be found in the Chinese B.
For China B League, I think the strongest time is 2018-2019. Those two seasons, from the tournaments, the whole investment in China B, I think it is the strongest two years in the history of China B. The investment of Sichuan FC in those years reached the level of hundreds of millions. And the tournament system is also very intense, a lot of Chinese Super League
China A
Players are coming to play in the middle B.
Sometimes from another perspective - as much as the fans don't want to see it - the club is fortunate to have experienced China's third tier from a historical development perspective. Having gone through that, a lot has been gained.
A lot of people say that we escaped the golden dollar soccer, but it was not really intentional at that time. In fact, this matter is caused by the objective environment: the objective environment has become that way, we still follow their own rhythm, that is bound to be relegated. You can't catch up with the development of the times, the standard of input, itself you are a hundred million dollars of basic input, the environment suddenly become a billion, two billion, and you are still a hundred million dollars of input, will inevitably be relegated. But we can not go to follow the trend, others invested one billion, we also invested one billion, then the next year maybe the team is gone. No matter what, we do a good job of our own, according to the law to develop. Even if we are relegated, we still have to develop the club in a complete and healthy manner, the Chinese Super League
If you can't play, you can play in the first division.
. The bottom line for us from the fans is that the team can't be disbanded, it has to stick around.
As you can see from the prices, the current team's prices should be the same as the entire Super League
Ranked in the bottom three. The price is only one aspect, but it is also an objective reflection of something, reflecting the team in the Premier League
The positioning. So based on that positioning, we come to set our own goals, and our goal this year is to stay in the relegation
Mainly. In relegation
The foundation of the program is to seek better breakthroughs and better results.
As we can all see by now, this year's Super League
It's particularly intense, with basically every game being an encounter, so the relegation
The pressure is very high. Now we're investing more than we did in the Central League
, C.B. is definitely still higher, by about fifty percent more. The epidemic has widened the gap between the three tiers again over the years. We didn't follow the trend when we were in S2, but there are times when you can't help it, the boat rises. For example, if you want to keep good players, you have to invest more. Balancing income and expenditure is really too difficult now. No matter how you try to cut costs, it's still useless if you don't make money. The key is open source, even if you keep the player's salary low, you don't make money, it's still a loss. For example, a player was worth 100 dollars, now you press the player's salary to 50 dollars, but you still earn zero money. At the end of the day you still lose money, just more or less.
In the past two years the club has put the operation in the first place, it is to see how to make money. The Sports Authority has been very supportive of the club for so many years and has been very helpful. Now our revenue is just a direction, the actual figure is very difficult, but it is an ideal direction for us. Nowadays, none of the clubs in China can make a profit. The biggest drain on the club is still player salaries. For all Chinese clubs, player salaries are the biggest part of the investment. Now that the golden dollar era is over, player salaries have returned to a relatively rational level, which is definitely good for us.
What we can take out for operation, including advertisements on the chest and back of the jerseys, billboards, armbands, and even clothing, food, housing, and transportation, including chicken, beef, and eggs eaten by the players, can all be sponsored. At present, the advertisements on the chest and back of our jerseys are still bare boards and are still "running naked". It is estimated that after four or five rounds of league matches, there may be progress.
The third from the right is Zhang Dong
We're actually in the Central League
The sponsorships we got when we were in the second division didn't amount to much money, and we relied on some connections to put up chest and back advertisements for us. This is nearly 20 years, basically is the owner of Joe alone in the money. For the sponsorship, we have been talking about it recently. Because of playing on the Chinese Super League
After that, and the Central League
, C.B.'s funding needs are different.
This year, I understand that various clubs are actually not particularly successful in attracting investment. In the past few years, there are so many negative things about soccer that companies are very cautious about sponsoring and investing in soccer for fear of causing some negative things. Qingdao's corporate investment enthusiasm for soccer is also very low, basically tends to zero. This is the result of the general environment, not by a club can change, rely on the Chinese Super League!
With 16 clubs working together, all clubs will benefit when the bigger picture is better.
The percentage of localized players is currently about 60 to 70 percent. I think the concept of localization should be broader, as long as they come from the club's youth training, they should be considered local players. Why do clubs always emphasize localization? It is to strengthen the players' sense of belonging. Take a look at Qingdao Hainiu
Apart from the ups and downs in performance, the club has rarely had any negative news in the past 20 years, and is relatively stable, which is also an advantage of localization. And the reason why we called it "relegation" before.
Immortal Bird", or local players in some key games burst out of the fighting force is still stronger. Because sometimes I also chat with them privately, they said a sentence that made a deep impression on me: "at home, guarding their wives and children, guarding their friends, relatives and family, it is impossible not to fight".
We also want our local youth players to be able to stand on their own feet. But the problem at the moment is that these players have had so few chances to play in the past few years that they don't have what it takes to stand in the Chinese Super League right now.
strength on the field of play. That's why we loaned out a lot of young players this year to a lot of the Central League One
, C.B. teams so they can get a better workout there.
Not only will youth training create value and revenue for you in the future, but it's also a steady stream of blood being pumped up the ladder, and it's good for both. Whether it has value in the future or not, youth training is still something to do. We want to go through these two years to see the youth training players, because the club in the first few years in the Central League
, C.B. The assessment of many of the players is not particularly accurate. Plus, the league has had too many ups and downs in the past two years. This year's Chinese Super League
And last year's Super
, the feeling is different, this year's Central League
And last year's Central League
, and it feels different. The level of the league isn't very stable every year now, and the gap changes from year to year. So the clubs are constantly re-evaluating what players are suitable and what players are not.
The club's main income at the moment is still ticket revenue. It's actually good enough for fans to get money for tickets. You look at Qingdao's economic development is good, but sets of tickets sold six or seven hundred yuan, many people will still feel expensive. In fact, in a professional soccer stadium, it is not the same viewing experience. Just like watching a movie, watching a regular theater, and watching an IMAX is definitely a different price point. So we still have to find a way to attract fans to the stadium, so that fans can take the soccer game as a regular pastime every weekend, rather than this game is good, fans will watch the next game; this game is not good, fans will not watch the next game. I think this year is an opportunity, especially after three years of the tournament system, the Chinese soccer team has a lot to offer.
With an opportunity like this bottoming out of the ball, if you can set the right direction on some of these, steer them a little bit better, and play a little bit better, I think it's going to draw the fans in.
As for the selling of peripheral products this piece is quite complicated, it needs sponsors and several other parties to talk together. Relatively speaking, the development cost is still very high.
Previously, we had the income from player trades, but the current climate has made it difficult to trade players now. So we feel that Everest
When I first got into soccer, I was very interested in the Chinese football
The ball is an irritant and a good thing. Players are traded and ultimately it's a benefit to the club. I think this is the most practical thing. Jiang Ning went to Evergrande at the end of 2010
Zheng Long went to Evergrande in the second half of 2013.
The Liu Jian
He's a free agent, and Zou Zheng has a transfer.
Fee's.
But further back it's a bit of a stretch. At first the transfer
The fees are also reasonable, and further down the line the transfer
The fee would basically be unreasonable and would be in the hundreds of millions. When we sold Zheng Long, we sold him for the normal market price. in 2010, it would have been a lot for a player to sell for 10 million. Qu Bo transfer
Shaanxi was sold for just a few million, which at the time felt like a high enough transfer
A fee of 10 million would be considered impressive, but it basically doesn't happen, and most of them are just a couple million. Everest.
Come in, Kwon.
, clubs such as WACC come back in and it just feels like a bit of a less normal market.
I feel that Chinese clubs have certain public welfare attributes, but also have certain commercial market attributes. It is a combination of two attributes, and it is difficult to say that it is completely marketized. If you can save more, you can save more, and the pressure on the club will be less. In the past three years, more than 40 clubs were dissolved, all because of the money problem.
For a private club like ours, it's been too stressful over the years because it's our own money that's being spent. For the share reform, we don't have any news at the moment. Because not many local companies in Qingdao are interested in soccer. So the shareholding reform is firstly led by the government, and secondly, we have to rely on ourselves to play beautifully and do well in the club, so that the outside world will pay more attention to it. Today (home opener) is an opportunity to put Guoan under the attention of 30,000 spectators.
Take it down, a lot of people are happy, and sponsorships may come.
We still follow the objective law and our own ability. If the development is good and we have this strength, we will invest more; if we do not have this strength, we will invest and develop according to our existing strength. We all hope that the club can achieve good results, but from the perspective of objective facts, there is definitely a certain bottleneck in the ceiling of this team. Our vision is for this team to become a household name in Qingdao. When you think of Qingdao now, you think of Tsingtao Beer, Haier and Hisense. When you think of Qingdao in the future, we hope you will think of Qingdao Manatees!
This team.
