[Southern Metropolis Daily] Southern Metropolis Daily to the team with great wealth

Southern Metropolis Daily March 2, 2010 A26 Sports

Author: Tang Yuanpeng From Guangzhou

Abstract: There is a folk adage in Guangzhou that There is nobody who wants poor soil. But once somebody wants it, others will fight for it. Even after it was penalized to the Chinese series A league, Guangzhou Football Team was still hot.

Evergrande did not play the card according to general rules. They chose to get involved when Chinese football and Guangzhou Football Team were in downturn. Xu Jiayin said that Now I feel that the perspective of Chinese football will be pretty good.

The registered capital of the new club has increased from 20 million yuan to 100 million yuan.

Guangzhou Automobile is the title sponsor of the football team with the sponsorship amount of 2.5 million yuan for one year.

The newspaper news: There is a folk adage in Guangzhou that "There is nobody who wants poor soil. But once somebody wants it, others will fight for it." Even after it was penalized to the Chinese series A league, Guangzhou Football Team was still hot. Yesterday afternoon, there were huge crowds of people in the conference hall of Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sports.

The news briefing on Evergrande Group sponsoring Guangzhou Football Team with abundant capital was held in the conference hall. Xu Jiayin, the boss of Evergrande and the richest person in Mainland China, joined hands with Guangzhou Football Team in a high profile, which would become the important assistance for Guangzhou Football Team to return to the premier league this year.

Mr. Xu Ruisheng, vice mayor of Guangzhou, attended the news briefing. In the meeting, Guangzhou Football Development Center, Guangzhou Automobile Group, and Evergrande Real Estate Group respectively signed the title sponsorship agreement and share transfer agreement for the club. With the sudden and mighty involvement of Evergrande Real Estate, Guangzhou Automobile changed from the quasi-shareholder of Guangzhou Football Team to the present title sponsor, and Evergrande became the seventh investor of Guangzhou Football Team after Baiyunshan, Apollo, Xiangxue, Jili, Sunray Cave, and Guangzhou Pharmaceutical after wholly-owned acquisition of Guangzhou Football Team.

According to the introduction of Xu Jiayin, the chairman of the board of directors of the group, the investment way of Evergrande was to be 100% acquisition of the club. The original registered capital of Guangzhou Football Club was 20 million yuan. At present, it will be increased to 100 million yuan, and the share will be 100% owned by Evergrande.

After the formal approval of both parties in yesterday morning, Evergrande with great wealth immediately invested in the club with 20 million yuan. Xu Jiayin said that The first gift is that the company remitted an amount of 20 million yuan to the club at 10:00 am for paying the salaries and bonus to the players of the club as well as the outstanding costs first of all after the discussion of the Party Committee of Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sport and other procedures.

I put forward the suggestion to the president of the group that the internal and external arrears shall be paid up within several hours. The amount of arrears was about 15 million yuan. The second gift is that I clearly declared to the president that we shall increase the registered capital of the club from 20 million yuan to 100 million yuan.

Xu Jiayin said that In the downturn of Guangzhou Football Team, Evergrande Group has the responsibility and obligation to help Guangzhou Football Team return to the peak, to let the football market of Guangzhou become hot again, to build the team for Guangzhou football fans, and to make contribution for Chinese football for a new stage of development.

In the news conference, it was also announced that Guangzhou Automobile Group would be the title sponsor of Guangzhou Football Team with the contract term of one year and the amount of 25 million yuan. Mr. Zeng Qinghong, general manager of Guangzhou Automobile Group said that Guangzhou Football Team is now in the critical downturn.

As a large-scale state-owned enterprise in Guangdong province and Guangzhou city, Guangzhou Automobile Group shall perform the social responsibility of the enterprise, actively pay back the society, powerfully support the development of the public welfare of the society and the sports, support Guangzhou Football Team to start all over again, and promote the development of the football in Guangzhou.

From today, Guangzhou Football Team will play in the Chinese series A league this year in the name of Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club Guangzhou Automobile Team . After getting the support from different gods of wealth, Mr. Liu Jiangnan, the chief of Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sports, expressed the determination of the team to return to the premier league, and said that Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sport would continue to manage the club, We have appointed the vice president and the secretary general of the football association as the president of the club.

In addition, the persons for the general manager, staff and coaching group have also already been confirmed, and the framework has been put up."

Liu Jiangnan said that the management power for the club would return to Evergrande after a period of time.

Zeng Qinghong and Xu Jiayin respected each other

The news briefing yesterday is a double new briefing about Evergrande sponsoring Guangzhou Football Club and Guangzhou Automobile Group title sponsoring Guangzhou Football Team. In the meeting, the master and the sponsor sat at the same table and respected each other. They both said that the other party was more powerful, and they had confidence to jointly develop Guangzhou Football Team.

The position of Guangzhou Automobile has changed to a large extent within one day. Since the end of last year, Guangzhou Automobile Group has been the hot candidate for the reform of the shareholding system of Guangzhou Football Club, and it got involved in Guangzhou Football Team in the form of a sponsor instead of a shareholder only because of Guangzhou Football Team s involvement in the football fraud.

Originally, the parties concerned hoped that Guangzhou Automobile could start as the sponsor of the team at the beginning and then become the real master of the club just like Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Company before. But because of the sudden involvement of Evergrande Group, Guangzhou Automobile suddenly became the sponsor from the quasi-shareholder.

However, in the news briefing yesterday, Zeng Qinghong, general manager of Guangzhou Automobile Group, said that: "I felt astonished first of all and then pleasantly surprised on hearing the news that Evergrande Group would become the boss of Guangzhou Football Team. It is proved that there is still someone supporting Guangzhou Football Team even when it is in calamity.

So I said that even if Evergrande had much money, the money of Guangzhou Automobile would be paid the same as the agreement. If Evergrande was also the title sponsor with abundant money, Guangzhou Automobile would also invest in Guangzhou Football Team even without the title. But I admire Evergrande that it could get involved when Guangzhou Football Team was most difficult.

It is reported that Guangzhou Automobile was really very astonished by the sudden mighty involvement in Guangzhou Football Team of Evergrande. Just in the afternoon of the day before yesterday, relevant personnel of Guangzhou Automobile were still inquiring about the matter that Evergrande would be the boss of Guangzhou Football Team. Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sport did not notify Guangzhou Automobile Group of this change until the evening of the day before yesterday.

Xu Jiayin, the president of Evergrande, looked very magnanimous for the respect of Mr. Zeng Qinghong. He said repeatedly that "we would listen to the advice of Mr. Zeng for developing Guangzhou Football Team." Both parties expressed the hope of sincere cooperation between two parties for the development of Guangzhou Football Team.

Evergrande has been well prepared for taking over Guangzhou Football Team

Evergrande has invited journalists from dozens of media from all parts of the country to be present. The meeting had already been made well known publicly as early as two days ago, but the agreement between Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sports and Evergrande had not been finally concluded. Xu Jiayin, the boss of Evergrande said that I have been thinking about this issue for many years, but there is no chance.

How the dream for years is finally realized?

As for the process of negotiation by both parties, the words of Mr. Liu Jiangnan, the chief of Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sport, was of great significance: the consultation process of both parties is both long and short. The word long means that Evergrande had expressed its wish to be the boss of Guangzhou Football Team to Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sports before the Chinese New Year.

As the richest enterprise in Mainland China, the strength of Evergrande is of course perfect. But at that time because Guangzhou Football Team got involved in football fraud, the future was unknown, and Evergrande hesitated to get involved. The word short means that Evergrande did not hesitate any longer after Chinese Football Association formally announced that Guangzhou Football Team would be degraded as the punishment on February 22, which made the situation changed suddenly.

It is reported that Xu Jiayin, the chairman of Evergrande, announced the news that Evergrande would be the boss of Guangzhou Football Team in the internal meeting of Evergrande after the Chinese New Year.

On the other hand, Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sports also felt bothered by the identity of Guangzhou Football Club. Yesterday, Liu Jiangnan spoke out the worry in his heart for so long, "the municipal bureau of sport and the football association are both the functional departments of the government or the institutions.

Their identities as the boss do not conform to relevant provisions of Chinese Football Association. We have been worrying for so long about being the trustee of the team." Strictly speaking, the original practice was not all right. We have especially reported to the Organization Office of the government and the Planning Commission of Guangzhou City.

There is a systematic obstacle in handling the matter. So Guangzhou Football Team is a hot sweet potato on our hands. We hoped that some company could take it over."

Because of the active involvement of Evergrande and the worry of Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sports for the organization system, both parties reached the unanimous goal, and Evergrande offered a price to which Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sport really could not refuse. But there was still a question.

Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sports worried that the involvement in the management of Evergrande without careful consideration and enough knowledge of football might disturb the preparation of the team for the league games. Liu Jiangnan said that we have been worrying about the enterprises taking over of the team.

They don t have enough knowledge of the development rules of football, and it is easy for them to have problems. This is a profound history s lesson. We require that Evergrande as the boss of the team temporarily does not change the coaching group of the team and the framework of the club for a period of time.

As to this, both parties have meticulously and patiently talked with each other and finally Evergrande approved the requirement from Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sport. Xu Jiayin described the present situation as a shareholder system, Evergrande is the shareholder of Guangzhou Football Club and will not intervene in the management.

So both parties concluded the agreement on all details in the evening of Feb. 28, and it became the reality that Evergrande became the boss of Guangzhou Football Team.

As for the future of the club, Xu Jiayin, whose wish has been fulfilled, said that Evergrande as the boss of Guangzhou Football Team will fully support the team, and the team will independently manage itself. One of the present main goals of Evergrande Football Club is to perform well in the games of Chinese series A league, and try to return to the Chinese Premier League as early as possible. The second goal is to build the youth team and the teenager team with long-term consideration, namely, to build the second and third teams in the echelon formation.

It is not enough that you have a lot of money. You shall also know how to reasonably spend the money.

Guangzhou Football Team suddenly had a huge sum of money. The present on first meeting of Evergrande Group is 20 million yuan in cash and the registered capital of the club has increased from 20 million yuan to 100 million yuan. The title sponsorship of Guangzhou Automobile is 25 million yuan this might be the time when Guangzhou Football Team is the richest since its setup Evergrande Group under Xu Jiayin, the richest person in Mainland China, became the boss, and Guangzhou Automobile Group, the enterprise that ranks No.

1 in comprehensive competitiveness in Guangdong Province became the main title sponsor of the club. The solid business background makes Guangzhou Football Team become the most powerful team in Guangzhou even in the whole Chinese football circle. But the question also emerges at once Can money solve all problems? Can Guangzhou Football Team certainly return to the premier league with a lot of money?

First of all, as Guangzhou Football Team was degraded, it has lost the best chance to employ domestic aid players in this year. After the players Xu Liang, Bai Lei, and Zhou Lin left, Guangzhou Football Team was gainless in the domestic market. This condition made the strength of the team suffer from serious loss. Even the fact that Evergrande with great wealth becomes the boss of the team cannot change the lack of domestic aid players. The team has to wait for the second change of clubs in the next summer for enriching the blood .

Secondly, money may not necessarily solve the important problem of returning to the premier league. In 2006, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Company also took the lead to become the boss of Guangzhou Football Team with powerful economic strength. But the economic strength did not turn into the advantage for returning to the premier league, and even led to the scandal of football fraud with money.

The folk adage that money makes the mare go has been changed to the confession for atoning for the wrongdoing. Now, Guangzhou Football Team came to this crossroad again. Even with a lot of money, the team has to know how to spend the money at the key points in the right way.

Now Evergrande and Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sports adopt the mode of shareholder + professional manager. Within a period of time, Evergrande will delegate the power to the municipal bureau of sports for management. This mode is similar to the mode of Apollo at that time. At that time, the functional department of the government had the right to speak over major issues of the club. This mode brought the second place of Guangzhou Football Team in games of Chinese series A league at that time. But is this mode the regress in the history or following the precedent of success in the history?

Although Guangzhou Football Team has a lot of money, the advantage of it cannot be immediately seen. Moreover, there is the disadvantage that tall trees catch the wind. In the news briefing yesterday, journalists of main media from all parts of the country got together. It seemed that it was hotter than the news briefing for Beijing Guoan winning the champion of Chinese premier league. Loftiest trees most dread the thunder. The lessons drawn from previous mistakes in 2006 are in sight. Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Sports and Evergrande have to make prevention.

Evergrande created the miracle within one year after being the boss of Evergrande Women s Volleyball Team

Last year, Evergrande Group set up Evergrande Women Volleyball Team, and built the fist professional women volleyball club in the country. It spared no money in inviting Lang Ping, an international coach, to train the team, employing several players of the golden generation in the volleyball circle of China, and even employing foreign aid players from the USA.

In the very year, the team was upgraded to Chinese series A league from series B league, creating the Evergrande miracle . This series of master stroke of Evergrande has brought good demonstration effect to the volleyball circle, and certainly brought enormous propaganda effect to itself.

When being asked whether there would be any major action of Evergrande Group in the introduction of foreign aid players including coaches, Xu Jiayin said: our regular style of work is to be the best.