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Russell originally thought that Chu Zhongtian would have to think about such an important matter for several days, so he had already planned not to think about this matter for the next two days, so as not to be distracted. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Unexpectedly, it was only half a day before he received a call from Chu Zhongtian.

"I think we can talk about the details of the contract, Alai."

Russell was ecstatic, he was a little impulsive when he first said the phrase to find Chu Zhongtian to join, but he didn't expect Chu Zhongtian to really agree!

Of course, the details of the contract cannot be discussed between Chu Zhongtian and the head coach, but the agent went to negotiate with Russell. However, they could reach some consensus first, such as Russell's eagerness to know what Chu Zhongtian wanted from him for his annual salary, which was the most important item in the contract.

Chu Zhongtian's current annual salary at Real Madrid is 8.5 million euros, and if it is still this standard, Wimbledon Athletic will not be able to sign it anyway...... In addition, the length of the contract should also be inquired, does Chu Zhongtian plan to play here for one season, or two seasons? Or until retirement?

"Chu, your annual salary ......," Russell asked.

"Ah, you don't have to worry about this, I definitely won't ask for an annual salary of 8.5 million, haha!" Chu Zhongtian laughed. "What is the highest salary in the team right now?"

"Uh, it's Kevin. Clark, a striker, earns six thousand a week. He is the highest. Russell replied.

"Then I'll ask for £7,000 to make sure I'm the highest in the team." Actually, better than Kevin. Clark's 1,000 pounds higher is not because Chu Zhongtian cares about the 1,000, but he is still a little vanity, thinking that he wants to be the highest-paid player in the team, and in his own capacity, it is not too much to ask for a "highest-paid player in the team".

Russell didn't think there was anything wrong with Chu Zhongtian asking for the highest salary in the team, 7,000 pounds was already much lower than Russell himself thought. Russell felt that even if Chu Zhongtian was willing to come, why would he have to ask for a weekly salary of twenty or thirty thousand...... How did you think it was only 7,000...... With such a small amount of money, Wimbledon can still afford it.

The salary is affordable, and the biggest obstacle for Chu Zhongtian to join the team has been removed.

"What about the length of the contract, Chu?"

Russell asked again.

"Hmm...... Think about it, how about signing for four years? ”

"Four years?" Russell was taken aback by Chu Zhongtian's words.

On June 30 next year, the contract between Real Madrid and Chu Zhongtian will expire, and Chu Zhongtian will be 34 years old by then, and he will be signed for four years, and after four years, he will be 38 years old, and he will be 39 in half a year...... At such an age, Chu Zhongtian can really still play on the field? You must know that the intensity of the Championship is no less than that of the Premier League, which is known as the most fierce football league in the world.

So Russell was surprised.

"Yes, four years. I feel like I can play at a high level football for at least four years. "Before, Chu Zhongtian said that he could play for two to three years, why did he change it for another four years now. Because he thinks the level of the Championship is lower, if he plays in the Championship, he will not have a problem playing for four years. In the past four years, he has worked hard to help the team get promoted to the Premier League.

"But you were nearly thirty-nine years old at that time......"

"Stanley. When he was 41 years old, Matthews was awarded the European Footballer of the Year. At the age of fifty-one, he led his hometown club Stoke City to promotion to the First Division. I don't think it's too unusual for me to play at least forty, right? Chu Zhongtian gave Russell an example of his predecessors.

"There weren't as many games back then as there are ...... now"

"Hey, Alai. Do you want me to play at Wimbledon? ”

"Ahh Yes, of course! I'm just worried about ......"

"There's nothing to worry about, my body is clear to me. Even if I'm hurt, I don't think anything will happen. You can rest assured. ”

Chu Zhongtian said so, Alai. What else is Russell to say?

Of course, he wished that Chu Zhongtian could play for two years.

"That's it, Alay. My agent will come and find you then. You can discuss the specific details, anyway, that's the general principle. ”

Alai. Russell hung up, excited. If Chu Zhongtian can join the team, he thinks that at least the team's relegation is no problem, and an all-round player like Chu Zhongtian can use one person on the field for two people. In addition, Chu Zhongtian is the kind of player who can make his teammates play at a high level, so his joining will definitely improve the strength of Wimbledon Athletic.

He can't wait to tell the club's president, Eric, such good news. Samuelson too. So he started dialing the club president's cellphone, but it was revealed that the number he dialed was on the phone.

After dialing a few more times, all during the call, Russell could only temporarily suppress the excitement in his heart and wait until tomorrow morning to tell the other party the news.

He was now worried that he would not be able to sleep because he was too excited...... ※※※ The reason why Russell couldn't get through after calling several times was that Chu Zhongtian was talking to Eric. Samuelson called.

After deciding to join Wimbledon Athletic, Chu Zhongtian plans to give his future club a welcome gift...... Eric. Samuelson is the president of Wimbledon Athletic, the second club president in the team's history. His predecessor was Chris Brown, who gave an impassioned speech at the King's Ranch. Stewart, Samuelson was the team's treasurer at the time. After a few seasons as president, Stewart stepped down from that position. He told Samuelson: "I prefer to stand in the stands behind the goal and cheer for my team more than the club president. So he went to refuel, and Samuelson picked up the burden he had left behind.

The former treasurer was very good at managing the financial side of things, and Wimbledon built a new training ground under his rule, and has always been financially healthy. Although he is not rich, he is not in debt.

It's just that the club president is only focused on keeping the team from bankruptcy and has not done enough to support the team in terms of athletics, especially after the team was promoted to the Championship, he has almost given up his support for the sporting side. For two summers in a row, the team had to use free transfers or loan loans to find new signings, and he was very stingy in the transfer market.

Chu Zhongtian thought to himself that Wimbledon Athletic was going to be promoted to the Premier League, if it was always like this, how could he be promoted? Stadiums and training grounds can be built later, but once they are promoted to the Premier League, they will have the means to get more investment and sponsorship, and the finances will be better.

So the key is to upgrade. If you want to be promoted, you have to add quality players, and it is not always possible to rely on the team's academy and free agents, as well as loan players.

You need money to buy reinforcements, you need money to buy people, but you can't just pay a high price to attract those stars. Sometimes you can be stingy with the transfer fee, but you must not be stingy with the player's salary, because the transfer fee is for the club, the player himself does not get it, only the salary is their benefit. In order to get more salaries, they will put pressure on their clubs to accept lower offers. Don't think that the club that buys people like this will take advantage of it, there is no such thing as a club. As a token of appreciation for the player's efforts, the club that buys the player will offer him a contract with a good salary. So what is saved in the transfer fee is actually added to the salary in disguise.

In short, the club doesn't make a penny, and the players are the real profiteers.

Whether it's a transfer fee or a salary, it all costs money.

With Wimbledon Athletic's current financial situation, it will be difficult for them to come up with more money to invest in the transfer market and raise wages for the whole team.

However, Chu Zhongtian is not short of money...... So this is what he wants to give to the team.

Eric. Samuelson is now struggling with where to find so much money to build a new stadium – the same question he thinks is from a completely different perspective than the manager, with Russell believing that if you give him money and buy more quality players, the team will be promoted to the Premier League. However, he thinks that if the stadium is not up to standard, what if he is promoted to the Premier League? It's not like you're going to be beaten back into the Championship because of hardware.

He advocated that the hardware facilities should be built well first, and then they should be upgraded. Anyway, now there is only one level away from the Premier League, and it is a matter of time before the momentum of promotion is reached.

He tried his best to get sponsorship for the team, but with little success.

Now the main sponsor of the team is SI, a well-known British football manager game production company. But Si is not a game company with deep pockets, and his main work is only the "Football Manager (FM)" series. Although FM is the undisputed hegemon when it comes to football strategy games, the market is so big that SI can't compete with game giants like EA, Blizzard, Konami, Sega, and Sony.

Moreover, the already small amount of sponsorship funds also has to be brave in hardware construction, since the club decided to start the construction of the training base, it is completely expensive...... Now that the training base is almost finished, the new stadium has been raised to the agenda...... A lot of the media thought Samuelson was completely crazy – where did they get the money and the strength for a small club like Wimbledon to build a new stadium? Even in their previous life, Wimbledon had been renting Shechelst Park, Crystal Palace's home stadium, and had no idea of building a new stadium.

They don't know Samuelson's good intentions. Samuelson reflects on why the teams that his community has always supported end up abandoning their supporters and running elsewhere to start all over again. In addition to the involvement of external capital, it may have something to do with the fact that the team has never had a stadium of its own. When a team has their own stadium, they feel a sense of belonging here, and they are connected to the land where the stadium is located and the people who live there.

It's like the relationship between Stamford Bridge and Chelsea and the Chelsea fans, but also between Old Trafford and Manchester United, the relationship between Manchester United fans, the relationship between Anfield and Liverpool and the Liverpool fans.

These teams are proud of their respective stadiums, and the fans of these teams consider their stadiums to be mecca. But Wimbledon didn't, never did. They had a Plain Lane before, which was too small to meet the requirements of the Premier League, and they had to rent a stadium at Crystal Palace for the game because they couldn't afford to build a new stadium and couldn't expand it. In the long run, the whole team lost their emotional sustenance for their community from the heart. Think of how frenetic it was when Wimbledon was still playing at Prau Lane, and the relationship between the team and the fans was immaculate. But then it went sour.

Why?

Isn't it because you don't have a stadium of your own?

In order to prevent such a situation from happening again, Samuelson decided to build a stadium that belongs entirely to Wimbledon. That's how the Wimbledon community can really be connected to the team, and forever, and the relationship between Wimbledon and Wimbledon will be there for as long as the stadium exists.

Chu Zhongtian listened to Samuelson's explanation on the other end of the phone about his eagerness to build the stadium, and he somewhat understood Samuelson's thoughts. However...... "If the team doesn't add players now, I'm afraid of going back to the first division, Eric." Chu Zhongtian also expressed his worries. I'm worried that this will make Wimbledon Athletic fight in this lower league for a long time due to lack of strength, and even become a lift, constantly promoted and relegated. It's going to take away the temperament of a team - we have a good chance now, we have a firm goal, it's a goal that inspires everyone to work hard, and if we can achieve that, Wimbledon will enter a new phase of development, and I think that goal has to be achieved as soon as possible. ”

Samuelson shrugged on the other end of the phone: "I'm worried about this too, but I can't come up with any more money......

Chu Zhongtian smiled: "I want to pay a membership fee to the club, can I do it now?" ”

Samuelson was a little surprised, and he was not mentally prepared for the jump in the topic of Chu Zhongtian. "Huh? What did you say? ”

"I said I was going to pay the membership fee."

Samuelson was very strange: "Chu, you have already paid the membership fee this year......"

Since Wimbledon Athletic announced its professionalism, Chu Zhongtian and Emily each have a fixed annual membership fee of 500,000 pounds, and they are the ones who pay the most dues, and no one has more than them.

It can also be seen from here that Wimbledon, which does not have a large number of members, cannot guarantee even the most basic survival if it only relies on membership fees.

When Wimbledon was still in the amateur league, a membership fee of £500,000 could make a good living, but in the professional league, this money was not enough.

Chu Zhongtian said: "Yes, I know. However, there does not seem to be a limit to the number of times each member can pay dues. ”

Wimbledon Athletic's membership charter does not have such a provision that says that each member can only pay a membership fee once a year - because this is a rule that is hardly written into the membership constitution that everyone knows, and who will pay the membership fee once a month? Membership fees are collected once a year.

But Chu Zhongtian took advantage of this loophole.

Samuelson quickly reacted that Chu Zhongtian was trying to increase the team's income and solve the financial problem in disguise. Because Wimbledon is a small club, the number of members is small, and there are even fewer big-name figures among the members, and there are only a handful of rich and wealthy people. Only Chu Zhongtian has this strength...... Since Wimbledon is a membership-based club that refuses to accept capital injections from outside capital, Wimbledon has always had a limited source of funding, in addition to ticket revenue, sponsorship and membership fees, it is the transfer fee for the sale of players. In today's football, it's certainly a very healthy way to operate, but it's not a very competitive way to operate.

However, Wimbledon Athletic's constitution restricts the club from accepting outside investment, and Wimbledon's financial situation can be imagined...... If you want to help the team, you can only use the excuse of "paying the membership fee".

But he was unwilling to let Chu Lai bear this part of the pressure every time, knowing that the couple paid a million pounds a year in membership fees, which was already the highest among all members.

After all, no matter how rich Chu Zhongtian is, it is also Chu Zhongtian's money, Wimbledon Athletic is everyone's Wimbledon, not Chu Zhongtian alone, there is no reason to ask Chu Zhongtian to contribute money to help the team, in the long run, this will become a very bad model, and will eventually push the future of the club to the side of capital - whoever has money in the future will have more say in the development of the team. This is also why when Wimbledon Athletic was founded, it was stipulated that no matter how much membership fee each member paid, each person only had one vote, and one vote in the hands of a rich person could not be used as ten votes when voting.

"Uh, you know...... We appreciate your support for the club, but there is no need for that. Besides, you also know that even if you pay more dues, your power will be the same as other members......" Samuelson tactfully reminded Chu Zhongtian, for fear that he would have the idea of "I pay more money, so I have more power in this team".

"I know that, I'm not going to make this team my own, don't worry, Eric. I just want to do a little bit for the team. I'm a member of the board of directors but I've never been to a board meeting, and I feel guilty that I won't have time to do it in the future, so I want to compensate the team financially – can't that be? Chu Zhongtian did not tell the other party that he planned to join the team.

Samuelson was silent.

In fact, he is very contradictory now, on the one hand, he doesn't want Chu to be so expensive, he can't say that whoever has money should give more money, and no matter how rich he is, it is also people's own money, others have no right to point fingers and ask the other party to contribute more, otherwise it is not voluntary payment, but force, the nature has changed, and the taste has changed. On the other hand, Samuelson also knows that if Chu Zhongtian is willing to make a move, he can really help the team. Russell has already spoken to him and asked the club to support his actions in the transfer market during the early winter break anyway, otherwise he really can't guarantee that the team will stay in the Championship next season. "I've done my best, but sometimes you know, it's not like I can change it with all my might......" Russell said, and it sounds really bad.

Chu Zhongtian saw that there was no sound on the other side of the phone, and knew that Samuelson must be very conflicted, so he didn't care whether Samuelson agreed or not, and said directly: "I plan to pay another 10 million pounds in membership fees." ”

Samuelson only felt that his hand holding the phone trembled, and his heart almost stopped beating!

(To be continued)