Serie A is the most popular in the European League, in addition to the top three in the north, other teams have also become rich in money due to sponsors, broadcast fees, commercial income, etc., even if it is a relegation team, it can also attract some international stars to join, and the poaching of these small teams also makes Aldridge feel a headache.

La Liga because there are two TV stations to compete for broadcast contracts this summer, so that La Liga teams also have a lot of money to expand their army, so many teams in the middle and upper reaches of La Liga have also started an "arms race", but because of the league style, most of them look down on Premier League players, and England's talented players in recent years have also ended up dismal when they go abroad, such as Gascoigne, Rush, etc.

The Premier League has also begun to recover steadily after alleviating the financial constraints of European bans and the huge financial pressure of building new stadiums or renovating stadiums, and the major teams have been investing more and more every year, and the successful commercial operation has begun to give Premier League teams a taste of the sweetness.

Although Manchester United won the Premier League title last season, Ferguson is not satisfied with the lineup, after missing Ronaldo and Shearer in succession, he can comfort himself is that at least he brought Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and at the same time brought in substitute goalkeeper Van der Gooy, last season Manchester United brought in a number of substitute goalkeepers to transfer to Sunderland in the winter, and then, brought Poboski, the Czech national team's amazing performance, baby-faced compatriot Johansen also came to Old Trafford, and finally Manchester United also Cruyff Jr. was also brought to the net, who was originally involved in the Ronaldo deal at Barcelona, but the latter clearly had strong self-esteem and refused to add to the deal. Then he put on the Red Devil's shirt.

Arsenal's summer has been very turbulent, the whole of London is rumored that Ricci will be sacked, but the manager called Arsène Wenger, Fleet Street is not familiar, and Arsenal has completed a heavyweight signing, Pirega Vieira, the former is seen as the hope of Arsenal's revival, and the latter can only be expected because he is not a main player at Millwall.

Liverpool has introduced a number of powerful players one after another, and the investment has exceeded 10 million pounds. Chelsea are run by Bates. Turning his attention to the twilight superstar, veteran Vialli, who won the Champions League at Juventus last season, spent $10 million from Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Compared with other Premier League teams, some have even expanded their army.

Millwall have made no move in the transfer market, except to sell people for sale.

Vieira. Pire. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Thuram, the four-man move has brought Millwall close to £30 million, excluding buy-ins and wage payments over the past two years. Millwall netted more than £20 million!

This made the young marshal Aldridge praised by the outside world as a business-minded manager, but it also made the outside world criticize Millwall for his lack of initiative.

Sold two main players, two main substitutes, obviously, Millwall's strength does not increase but decreases, in the new season, they will face the competition of Manchester United, Newcastle United, Liverpool, Arsenal and other strong teams, there is no doubt that their attitude in the transfer market has shown that they are lagging behind.

Aldrich has been busy lately, and he can't take a break.

Tomorrow is the day when the players return to training, but he is talking to people in the box of the Leeds Hotel.

There were four people in the box, all dressed in suits and leather shoes, with Aldridge sitting next to the club's chief executive, Adam, and opposite the two, FA chairman Wiseman and chief executive Kelly.

After eating about the meal, Aldridge got straight to the point and said: "Mr. President, renting Wembley is not a plan I came up with in haste, on the contrary, I have made up my mind to make this request to the FA after careful consideration. ”

Wiseman and Kelly remained silent, and Mr. Chairman nodded slightly, motioning for Aldrich to continue.

"First of all, Millwall's stadium is small, with a capacity of less than 20,000, and we are going to play in the European Cup Winners' Cup in the new season, so I don't know if UEFA will be able to pass our stadium audit, but it doesn't matter, I think Millwall is representing English football in Europe, and it involves an image issue. Secondly, if Millwall can win the Premier League title next season, and our stadium will certainly not be able to pass UEFA's review for Champions League home games next season, I will come to you again to make the same request. ”

Last season, Millwall won two championships and one runner-up, won the European ticket, in this era, the three major European cups are the strongest in the Champions League, followed by the European Cup Winners' Cup, and the League Cup is the last.

The Champions League is the stage for the champions of various countries, the European Cup Winners' Cup is the stage for the champions of the national cups, and the remaining League Cup, the participating teams have strength, but most of them do not have titles, and the taste of exchange and exchange is stronger.

Therefore, Millwall will compete for the title of four major competitions in the new season, and the Cup Winners' Cup is the stage for the king of the cup competition, but Aldridge does not care about it, he has only one goal in the new season: to win the Premier League!

And he thinks further, if Millwall plays in the Champions League next season, after all, the Champions League is about to be expanded, and then I am afraid they will not be able to play home games at the Lion's Den Stadium, because of the problem of stadium capacity, UEFA will definitely not allow the game to be played at the Lion's Den Stadium.

The Champions League is a golden sign created by UEFA, if there is no Champions League, UEFA is simply useless, therefore, the threshold of the Champions League is naturally high, in addition to the strength of the team, the club's hard power is also one of the standards that cannot be reduced.

Aldridge has to plan ahead, Millwall can't build a new stadium of high specification in a year, so once they can win the Premier League in the new season, they will have to loan someone else's stadium to play in the Champions League next season, otherwise they will be disqualified.

Remembering that around 2,000 years ago, Arsenal were on loan at Wembley to play Champions League home games, and Aldridge took the lead and started the loan this season until the new stadium was built.

The benefits of an early loan move are clear, as players can familiarise themselves with Wembley earlier and minimise the negative impact of not having home advantage.

Secondly, Wembley has a large capacity, which means that there is more ticket revenue.

At the same time, it can also be beneficial to Millwall's publicity. Increase your impact.

Wiseman and Kelly exchanged words, and then Wiseman sighed: "Aldrich, I would love to help you, but your plan is not a long-term solution, if Millwall has been doing well, then, Wembley has been lending you?" I've heard that Millwall's plans for a new stadium were shelved after the Hall family took over, and it was converted into a youth base, so you have to have your own stadium. ”

Aldrich nodded approvingly. Adam, who was actually sitting next to him, was terrified. If Millwall really invests in building a new stadium, it will definitely be a dereliction of duty for him as a CEO!

The capacity of the new stadium is only 25,000, and it does not meet UEFA's Champions League standards after it is built, and it is difficult to say whether it can be expanded at that time. If the money goes down the drain. Adam's resignation is a certainty. It will also become a laughing stock in the circle.

couldn't help but glance at Aldrich, or the young boss had vision and courage.

Aldridge pulled out a document and handed it to Wiseman, saying, "This is our plan for a new course. The investment budget is between £100 million and £150 million, my brother is doing lobbying for me, Millwall is investing £20 million upfront, and all the rest of the loan will be finalized before the end of this year, and the construction will be completed within five years. ”

Suddenly they have to take more than 100 million pounds to build the stadium, even the Hall family does not have so much liquidity, and the Millwall club itself is not worth much, but the players they have are worth it!

A year ago or two years ago, Millwall went to take out a loan, and it was impossible to borrow more than 100 million pounds, even if Barnett came forward, unless his company was used as collateral, the major banks would only refuse.

But this summer is different, Millwall's entire team has been valued at more than 50 million pounds, plus Barnett came forward as a lobbyist, Millwall can also invest 20 million pounds in the early stage, the bank is willing to sign an agreement, and then allocate funds little by little according to the progress of the project, if Millwall is unable to repay the loan due to changes in the middle, the follow-up funding will be terminated, and Aldrich will lose everything and can only file for bankruptcy.

Aldrich gambled everything on this decision.

He can't do it without building a new stadium, and it is cheaper to build early than later, and the results are faster.

If Millwall encounters financial pressure to build a stadium when the Premier League completely enters the era of capital, I am afraid that Millwall will no longer have the possibility of turning over.

Where does the income come from?

In addition to the club's commercial development, it can only be to sell players.

This year, the income from selling players has reached nearly 30 million, of which 20 million has been used for the preliminary construction of the new stadium.

Next summer, it will definitely be Stam who will leave, as long as he does not have an injury and cannot transfer, then Millwall's income can start to be repaid at least next summer, plus the Premier League's broadcast share is getting higher and higher, Millwall also has to strive to enter the Champions League every year to obtain new benefits, which must be based on the team's record, so Aldridge is not easy at all, but it is this pressure that makes him full of motivation and passion for the future for a long time.

Wiseman and Kelly discussed it for a while, and the most contentious point of contention was over interests.

The FA's rotten institution is full of political struggles, and Kelly, who can sit in the executive position, is often the target of thousands of people, because since the establishment of the Premier League and the FA's control, the FA's debt has been getting higher and higher, and Kelly's role as the FA's CEO is to make money.

In this regard, Aldridge doesn't want to have a small belly and chicken intestines to fight with the other party little by little, after all, a team like Millwall has taken a huge advantage in loan Wembley, both in terms of income and image.

In the end, the two sides agreed that the FA would receive 15% of the profit from ticket revenue, in addition to Millwall's maintenance costs after each match day of the loan, as Millwall's loan fee.

It doesn't sound like 15% is much, but Wembley can accommodate more than 60,000 people, even if Millwall's fans are only 30,000 in attendance, European tickets are more expensive than domestic league cup matches, even if it is calculated at 20 pounds, the FA earns at least 100,000 pounds per game, and after a season, if Millwall can go further, the FA's total income of nearly one million pounds is not a problem, which is already a lot for the FA.

Wiseman has reached a verbal agreement with Aldridge, but he will go back to the FA to agree that he will give Aldridge an accurate answer before the Community Shield starts in the new season.

Aldridge smiled and shook hands with Wiseman and Kelly, then walked first with Adam.

Tomorrow, the team's training camp will begin, and the transfer door for Millwall has been closed.

With a number of new sponsorship contracts signed in the summer, and the £9 million added to the club's account from the transfer market, Millwall's 96/97 season is at least financially secure.

Aldridge's headache now is how to face a team that has barely rested in the summer to face the new season.

Attached is Millwall's first team squad for the 96-97 season.

Goalkeepers: Bout, Keller, Wright.

Defenders: Schneider, Mills, Materazzi, Richards, Stam, Southgate, Elguera, Rio Ferdinand, Capdevilla, Zambrotta, Neil (seriously injured for one year, returned in March '97 and did not play all season.) ）

Midfielders: Makellele, Gattuso, Pirlo, Lampard, Nedved, Ballack.

Forwards: Larsson, Trezeguet, Shevchenko, Phillips, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Glen Shial, Toney.

A total of 27 people. (To be continued......)