On January 24, 2024, the Oriental Sports Daily revealed that one of the triggers for the dissolution of Shamrocks was general manager Ding Yong's lavish spending, which led to the team narrowly failing to pass admission last season. Fortunately, Cruyff Jr. managed to talk his way out of Caldecott.
Back in 2020, Chinese Super League powerhouse Tianjin Tianhai failed to pass the entry barrier. With the club announcing its dissolution, Ding Yong joined Shenzhen Football with a host of players, and the team then signed 16 internal and four external players. Although many of the players were free agents, each of the new recruits was offered lucrative contracts, and these high-paying contracts later became a heavy financial burden.
In the 2020 season, SZF failed to meet expectations due to the restrictions of the special competition system and ended up in 13th place.In order to improve their performance, Caldecott, Achimpen, Vaccaro and Quintero reunited their foreigner lineup ahead of the 2021 season. This season, SZF achieved their best result since returning to the Chinese Super League - sixth place, but still a long way from qualifying for the AFC Champions League.
"To be honest, it's a good thing we didn't make it to the AFC Champions League that year, otherwise we really wouldn't have the money to support it." A club executive lamented. Since 2021, Shenzhen Football's parent company, Caesar Group, broke its financial chain. Since 2022, Shenzhan Football has entered a state of no pay, not only the existing players are not paid, but also the players who left the team are owed wages.
Before the 2023 season, the two vice presidents of Shamrocks were still communicating with the foreigners on the eve of the access deadline, as the club owed the salaries of Cernus, Bifuma, Caldecott and others, and the communication came to a standstill. "There were times when I almost gave up, but I didn't want to see the disappointment of the players, staff and fans, so I persisted." The vice president said, "We really saved our Super League status by saving face, especially Caldecott, who never signed. In the end, it was Cruyff Jr. who signed him."
According to the agreement before this season, SZF will pay the outstanding wages to the foreigners in installments within two years. However, as of the end of the 2023 season, SZF has only paid one arrearage. The executives are worried: "What about 2024? If we turn to Cruyff Jr. again, he may think we are teasing him." Wage arrears have become a heavy burden on the way forward.
After Caesar Group stopped injecting capital, SZFC has been struggling to maintain itself in the past two years mainly relying on industrial subsidies. Fortunately, the Shenzhen Municipality has a clear amount of subsidies for clubs at all levels. The executive revealed, "Longgang District has given us 25 million yuan a year in addition to Shenzhen's annual subsidy of 35 million yuan, and with other commercial sponsorships and so on, our operating expenses in the past two years have been about 70 to 80 million yuan."
Last season, I opted to take a red-eye flight away from home - because tickets were cheapest in the middle of the night - and opted for an Express Hotel for lodging. The staff can't help but laugh at themselves when they mention that the team basically lives upstairs in a small restaurant or an away bathhouse. "In Dalian, our team was having lunch while a wedding was going on next to us, and the money from the wedding was handed to our players' tables."
