By the late night of February 1, Chang'an Athletic had successfully absorbed 7,000 members, and although the exact amount of funds was not disclosed, it was feared to have exceeded ten million. The management finally breathed a sigh of relief, after all, the financial pressure of operating a team in the Central League is already huge, and this fund is just like the snow in the charcoal, timely relief of the "salary arrears" predicament, for the team to provide access to the security.
While Changan Athletic is unique in China, Guoli, an independent soccer club also from Shaanxi, is also unique. It's also worth noting that another club from Shaanxi that has invested heavily in a single season but made a profit is Chanba, a club that went on a hiring spree during the 2011 season and then surprised itself by making a profit at the end of the year. This is not a false statement, and it's a far cry from Shanghai's supposed profitability.
Shaanxi GuoLi has been a stalwart for nine years, while Chang'an Athletic is entering its eighth season. As far as performance is concerned, Guo Li has been ranked in the First Division, and Chang'an Athletic has managed to stay in the top six for two consecutive years, despite a patchwork lineup. In terms of longevity, the self-financing days are tough, but not short-lived. In contrast, clubs with strong corporate backing, such as Suning, have only lasted five years.
However, in the early years of Li Zhimin of Guoli and Xu Hongtao of Chang'an Athletic, people often used to describe them as "empty-handed wolves". They lacked the support of the industry and tried to make a profit through soccer, and were often labeled as "speculators".
But let us calm down and revisit the issue. I'm afraid that those clubs that ignore market returns, lose money year after year, and invest huge sums of money year after year are pseudo-professionals. Yes, Chang'an Athletic is in a difficult situation today, and Xu Hongtao is looking forward to the intervention of the major shareholder day and night. However, the main reason why this club can't survive is not the other clubs' lack of martial virtues, but the fact that all the clubs in the Chinese Super League have embarked on the path of self-financing, and the overall operating costs have dropped. Perhaps Xu Hongtao can only drink to his sorrows now!
Xu Hongtao and I are not friends, and we even have some hard feelings. But I admire him a lot. He pulls together a lineup at the lowest possible cost, enough to get a foothold in the Central League. That's his expertise. Similarly, Shaanxi Guoli's success stems from the fact that they have found quality coaches and players at low prices - isn't that the core of professional soccer?
At the time, Li Tie led Hebei Huaxia Happiness and Wuhan Zhuoer into the Chinese Super League and established himself as a juggernaut, a legendary scenario of coaching the national team and moonlighting in Wuhan on a $30 million salary. Can this really be evidence of his professional competence? Who doesn't know how to spend money, and who doesn't know how to do business that costs money but isn't afraid to lose it? Give Xu Hongtao that year's investment from Hebei Huaxia Happiness and he could have propped up the Shaanxi team for 20 years. For Li Zhimin, he could have ensured that Guoli would not be relegated in the top flight for 10 years. But if you give Guoli and Chang'an Athletic's stall to the professional managers who flourished and were bossy a few years ago, I'm afraid they won't last even six months.
And the most important point is that today, when the reputation of Chinese soccer has fallen to a low ebb, Chang'an Athletic recruited 7,000 members in three days and took out real money to support it. Xu Hongtao does not dare to guarantee how long the team can survive. Ren Ran of Yangkan's company paid 10,000 yuan for a five-year ticket, saying, "I am an eternal fan of Shaanxi Chanba. What kind of emotional connection is this between a soccer club and its citizens? If you think this is exaggerated, let me tell you, Shaanxi Goliath and Xi'an are 100 times more integrated than Chang'an Athletic.
Who is more like a professional club? Hebei Huaxia Happiness and Wuhan Zhuoer, who once spent a lot of money, disappeared, and Shaanxi is still alive.
After Shaanxi Changan Athletic's share reform was blocked, I witnessed the frustration and helplessness of the club's management. Shaanxi fans often complain that "Shaanxi lacks strong enterprises". In fact, there are not many companies that run a Chinese League One team in Shaanxi. The key question is, let people control the soccer club first, give a reason?
Is Guangdong's economy developed enough? Now that three clubs - Shenzhen, Guangzhou City and Team Guangzhou - are in an existential crisis, it's not surprising that any of them have disappeared. According to Phoenix Sports reporter Feng Zhen, "We have yet to see any rescue documents issued at the government level." Even if there is government coordination, companies may not buy. Wasn't the failure of the Hebei club's equity reform promised at first, but then yellow? Tianjin club equity reform success, but the premise is to catch the chairman, general manager, good guy, with the state's money poked more than 1 billion holes.
From a business perspective alone, it would be irresponsible to force any state-owned enterprise to take control of the soccer music sector, which is itself a money-losing business. Investing in soccer also lacks a positive direction if you look at it from a social and branding perspective, which is a major difference between the present and the AA era. The top players of that time were city heroes, now the pros are no longer icons.
How to go professional in Chinese soccer? Let it fend for itself? My answer is "yes". Letting it fend for itself is not only the most in line with the law of the market, but also the only way to let professional soccer out of the way of life.
Professional soccer in China generally takes two forms, the first is state-owned enterprises spending money; the second is private enterprises consuming state resources through soccer needing policies.29 years of professional soccer is actually supported by state funds and policies. When our players say they make money in the market they are very ignorant.
In other words, Chinese soccer has never been truly professionalized, and naturally cannot find a suitable path to self-financing. There is only one way. Throw yourself into deep water and flop. If you die, you die. If you live, the road will come out.
Over 2,000 words and I haven't expressed my anger yet, now it's into swearing time.
In 2006, I interviewed Nie Weiping, and I asked him why Japanese Go had not improved. Nie's answer was succinct and comprehensive, "They are too comfortable." There are seven title wars in Japan, and the Chess Sage has a winner's purse of more than $300,000, far higher than the world championship prize. Is it like Chinese soccer?
At that time, the Korean "zombie stream" represented by Lee Sedol killed Chinese players. We were playing chess and people were fighting for their lives. Later, after the rise of the 90s represented by Ke Jie, the zombie stream was completely suppressed, because these 90s players were all trained in the dojo. Entering the dojo from a young age, they faced tough matches, rankings, and struggles every day. When Ke Jie meets a Korean player, he is afraid that his opponent will not struggle. If you fight, I will fight better than you. This is a professional game. If I win, I can live a better life.
The other day I read the news, "99% of Chinese actors don't earn much", "actors' income has shrunk by more than half in the past three years", "a few years ago Zhang Songwen couldn't even afford to buy a house in the county town". . This is the truth of life. But Zhang Songwen's acting skills are there for all to see. If he acted badly and could make a lot of money, he would never have played Gao Qiqiang so vividly.
Deng Chao is a top tier star. He made a Chinese ping pong movie. For non-technical reasons, he missed the Chinese New Year and bit the bullet and swallowed it. I attended their first internal screening. After the movie, they interacted with the audience. I sat down and got dizzy for almost three hours. They stood on stage for three hours of pure physical labor. Later, there were a dozen other similar roadshows.
The movie is really good, and like the winner, has great word of mouth and a high platform score. Unfortunately, we all know that Lang Ping is the character who wins the championship. Everyone in Chinese table tennis thinks it's a tournament, a cockamamie tournament, and is resistant to the theme, which is, in fact, life. But having missed out on the publicity, they can only bury their heads in the sand and move forward, the box office can't be faked, and it has to be recognized regardless of whether or not it ends up being a Jedi comeback.
No matter how badly Chinese soccer loses out there, they make a lot of money. Where is the incentive for them to improve their studies? "We are the best in the Chinese soccer industry, high salaries should be taken for granted" Even if you lose to Cambodia, high salaries will be high as long as the club makes a profit. The problem is that all the clubs are losing money. In recent years, more than a dozen clubs in China have closed down. Why would you want to earn a high salary?
Who told you that if you play professional soccer, you will definitely make a lot of money. Don't fixate on Melo Neymar. The main players in the four leagues make less than a million dollars a year is the majority, the average salary in the Japanese j league is over 1 million dollars. Salary cuts and arrears are the norm in Chinese soccer now, and will be worse in the future, worth your level of competition, market reputation and the state of the industry.
