Chapter 227: New journey begins

On the evening of May 18, 1997, the Millwall Club, which won the triple crown, celebrated with a bus parade in East London. Millwall fans gathered on both sides of the road and cheered enthusiastically.
Players in suits and leather suits feel the glory of the championship. For them, the season is over and the celebration at this time is part of enjoying life.
But for another protagonist who did not show up, the work continues.
Millwall Community, Aldridge Residence Apartments.
Ronaldinho, with a tissue in his nostril, sat cross-legged on the sofa holding half a watermelon, digging a watermelon with a spoon and sending it to his mouth. He stared intently at the football news on TV.
This afternoon, compared to Millwall's sensation of celebrating the Triple Crown, there was also news in the English football circle that became the focus.
Old Trafford King Cantona officially announced his retirement this afternoon!
The football superstar, who will turn 31 years old within a week, unexpectedly chose to say goodbye to the greenery field at this time, not only to make Fleet Street uproar, I am afraid that the Manchester United locker room and all Manchester United fans will be shocked.
Aldridge came down from the upstairs and followed two young men in work clothes, who carried a malfunctioning treadmill.
"We will take this treadmill back for inspection. If it is for quality reasons, we will replace it with a new one for you."
After the two boys finished speaking, they carried the treadmill and left Aldridge's apartment.
Aldridge closed the door and walked back to complain to Ronaldinho: "You are not heavy, how did you break my treadmill, then, the team is on holiday, you do not go to the first team celebration , If you want to exercise yourself, just go to the youth training base."
Ronaldinho didn't turn his head back: "The distance is a bit far, and I don't know if anyone is there. At first, your treadmill is too fragile. I ran for three minutes, but the machine stopped suddenly. It made me hit the wall directly, and my nose still hurts now."
Aldridge patted his head slightly helpless, Ronaldinho turned back and pointed at the TV and said: "They said Cantona is a superstar, why do I feel that he is not at all powerful? He played in England six In half a year, he scored less than Henrik played for Millwall for more than three years."
Aldrich scratched his head for a moment of silence, and then said: "Because you can't just think of him as a striker, he is not only the core player of Manchester United, but also the spiritual leader of Manchester United. His role includes goals and assists, including The impact on the morale of the team, er, this invisible effect is difficult to find through the data. Why is he a superstar? Because he is not only a star, but also helps his teammates become stars."
For a superstar like Cantona, the efficiency of scoring cannot reflect his value. The value of this player's team is more intuitively reflected: he is not on the court and the team's record is ups and downs.
There is also such a player in Millwall. Nedved is that his fighting spirit infects his teammates, so that his teammates will not give up in adversity, giving others the belief in fighting tenaciously. This intangible spirit is the most valuable.
Therefore, Manchester United have more stars than Cantona in scoring more efficiently, and players with longer playing time have also grabbed a lot. In terms of status, the King of Old Trafford is not worthy of fame.
Ronaldinho put down the watermelon in his arms and stood up to stretch himself. He could understand the literal meaning of Aldridge, but he didn't understand the meaning.
What is "not only a star, but also helping teammates become stars?"
Ronaldinho didn't think about it either. This wasn't something he should worry about, just asked casually just now.
He picked up his travel bag on the other end of the sofa and waved to Aldridge: "Boss, I'm gone, don't think about me."
Aldridge gave him a thumbs up and encouraged: "Go to the national team and perform well."
Ronaldinho stepped out of the door and waved his hand without looking back, saying, "Relax, you won't be ashamed of Millwall."
Aldridge laughed dumbly and embarrassed? To lose is also to lose Brazil's face.
Ronaldinho was recruited by the Brazilian national team to participate in the World Youth Championships held in the summer.
There will also be a World Youth Championship in the summer. Aldrich’s colleagues have already moved to watch the game and collect good seedlings, but he does not plan to watch the game because it is too far, one in Africa and one in Asia. Even the Confederations Cup is held in Saudi Arabia, and Aldridge’s plan for this summer is to be in Europe.
Back to the gym to sort it out, especially when Ronaldinho had a nosebleed on the wall and his nose bleeds from the wall. Aldridge was busy for a long time before cleaning up. At dinner time, he went downstairs to open the refrigerator and searched around with his eyes. After closing the refrigerator door helplessly, he sighed, "Ronaldinho, you are a thief!"
The fruit juice squeezed at noon was placed in the refrigerator to refrigerate, but when it was ready to be eaten, the juice bottle was missing.
Ronaldinho sneezed the juice bottle into the trash can at the airport, and then took the travel bag to board the plane, still thinking: the juice prepared by the head was really delicious, come back and go again Taste at his house.
Aldridge rested at home for two days, and then quickly entered a working state.
Although the door of the transfer market has not yet been opened, as long as the club has no personnel changes, the team has begun to recruit.
Following the glorious Triple Crown last season, Millwall updated the player's contract renewal news every day on the official website. This is a means of propaganda that keeps the team constantly exposed to the news.
In fact, the contracts of the players in the team have been renewed. Some players have five-year long contracts, such as Southgate, Larsen, Nedved, Schneider and other players, and some players are three to four. For the two-year contract, some players want to sign it, such as Shevchenko, but Aldridge directly refused, and after negotiation, the contract period is set to three years.
The two-year contract has almost no binding force. After one year, the player becomes a semi-free body. Aldrich will never wait for the player’s contract to be considered for renewal or sale. It will sell early, and to renew the contract, at least guarantee the safety of the contract for more than two years, because he looks at the overall situation and focuses on the team's construction in the next five years.
If a player proposes to renew the contract for less than three years, and the attitude is firm, Aldridge will immediately think about this player's replacement.
The authority of the head coach is to override the player, but the player is the role of the head coach to achieve the goal. In this way, the player is actually above the head coach.
The Millwall club sings and dances, but Aldridge can only hide in his heart about the future construction and the current situation. For example, he is already thinking about the future replacements of Trezeguet and Shevchenko.
Trezeguet was full of ambitions. When he renewed the contract in the summer, he was hesitant. The same was true for Shevchenko. When Aldridge introduced him, Shevchenko expressed at the time that the league he wanted to land was Serie A. .
In this era, the best players gather in Italy, and the appeal of Serie A is difficult to shake in a short time. This has nothing to do with Millwall's strength, but the league influence.
In comparison, Larson happily signed his name on the five-year long contract. The 26-year-old Swede is not without dreams, but he is more mature. He understands the strength of the team better than the fledgling newcomer. His goal rate was only average when he was in the Netherlands, but when he came to Millwall, he scored a huge leap in goal efficiency and started the peak of his career this season. He clearly placed himself in an excellent and suitable for himself The team is far more advantageous than rushing into the giants.
Stam moved to leave, Millwall earned 15 million pounds, the other players who are sure to leave in the summer are two, also two forward players, Phillips and Tony.
In the transfer of Phillips, Aldridge reached an agreement with Peter Reed by phone on the evening of the 17th FA Cup championship.
Although Sunderland was relegated, Reid's coaching position is still solid, so he has plenty of room to rebuild the team.
The teams interested in Phillips are not only Sunderland, there are many bids higher than Sunderland.
However, Aldridge finally persuaded Phillips to join Sunderland.
And explained the reason to him, Sunderland will use him as the core of tactics to build the team, his position is guaranteed, secondly, it is no problem to play the Premier League with his strength, but because Millwall is not the main force, this season He also played less games. Sunderland will give him time to join the team first, and other Premier League teams may not have the same patience. Don’t look at their bids higher than Sunderland, but the degree of importance is very different. .
In the end, Phillips joined Sunderland for £3 million.
Tony is the Leicester City team on loan to Martin O'Neill. The deal was announced early, allowing Tony to report to Leicester City in the summer.
At this point, Martin O'Neill appreciates Audridge, or does not make a deal, since it is done, it will be happy.
The head coaches most dislike the procrastinating trade in the summer, which not only affects preparations, but also makes people feel upset: do players come or not!
At the end of May, Aldridge listened to the management's financial report last season in the club.
Millwall's income from the Triple Crown was greatly increased last season, but because of the small stadium, the ticket income is a weakness. Fortunately, the broadcast income and bonuses have made their financial situation much better than last summer. Tam and Phillips earned 18 million pounds, directly making them more than 50 million pounds in the season.
But compared with the same period last year, Manchester United's operating income last season was the best in the world, with nearly 60 million pounds in operating income.
This is not to calculate the revenue and expenditure of the transfer market.
Simply talking about management, even if Millwall won the Triple Crown, Manchester United have no income, but the income is not even half of Manchester United!
Millwall's income will be more in the new season, because they ensure the qualification of the Champions League, and the Premier League will have a new broadcast contract to take effect.
The last rebroadcast contract was 191 million pounds in five years.
The new contract started in the summer of 1997 was £670 million in four years.
On average, each club has more than 8 million pounds of revenue per season, and Millwall can obtain a share of broadcasts second only to Manchester United due to record and team influence and live broadcasts. Manchester United has a higher income than Millwall. It is Manchester United's more fans, and its influence is even better. In the other two, the record and live broadcasts, Millwall did not fall.
In Aldrich's view, the financially toughest time for the team has passed. Next, besides not being able to introduce a large number of stars in the transfer market, it is no problem to live a stable life.
There are many reasons why he can’t bring in stars. The transfer fee is only one aspect, and the salary is also one of the costs. For example, if you buy a first-class star, the transfer fee may be between 5 million and 10 million pounds. This is a one-time payment. , But what about wages? According to the highest weekly salary of 25,000 pounds in the Millwall team, only three players can get this salary, then the introduced star is ranked second, with a weekly salary of 20,000 pounds. If you sign a contract for five years, during these five years, Just pay a salary of more than 5 million, including bonus, maybe more than 6.5 million.
Aldrich believes that instead of spending more than 10 million pounds on top stars, and there is no guarantee that the stars will be able to play for the team, he would rather invest the money in youth training and spend on the cost of training stars.
This summer, the club's transfer budget is 15 million pounds, Aldridge intends to use it all in youth training, and his European network talent journey has also begun.