“Welcome to the off-site”

"I'm Charlene Rahry"

Charlene Lahry was wearing a brown sweater, and the cuffs were pushed down on his elbows, revealing a bracelet on his left hand. His long blonde hair shawl looked very casual and intellectual.

"This is our first episode, so the guests we invited were also very substantial."

"Let's welcome, Southampton boss, and my good friend, Yang Huan"

Yang Huan really couldn't be too enthusiastic about the empty camera, so he could only sit there and nodded with a smile.

"Hello everyone"

Seeing him like this, Charlene Rahry asked with a smile: "Are you pretending to be cool?"

"No, I'm nervous." Yang Huan nodded.

"I have known you for so long, but I rarely see you nervous. Is the camera so scary?"

Yang Huan curled his lips, "The person who is not standing in front of the camera doesn't understand how terrifying the camera is."

After saying that, he couldn't help laughing.

Charlene Rahry was also smiling.

Compared to Yang Huan, she seemed much more at ease when dealing with the camera.

However, after such an opening remark, the atmosphere gradually turned to a little chat between the two.

Not to mention, Charlene Rahry obviously made a lot of effort in this area and made sufficient preparations. Every word of her was driving Yang Huan, allowing him to relax and even forget the existence of the camera.

That feeling is like conducting an exclusive interview face to face, or even chatting between friends, rather than talking in front of the camera.

"Although the name of our show is off-site, when you come, we can't talk to Southampton without talking."

"Yeah," Yang Huan nodded.

"Everyone who is familiar with football knows that Southampton is the fastest-rise and best-moving team in European football in the past two seasons, especially this season, which has performed very well. Many people believe that the Saints have such outstanding results because they have strong capital as their backing."

After hearing her say it, Yang Huan shook her head.

"I know you don't admit it, just say something," Charlene Rahry encouraged with a smile.

Yang Huan laughed, "Actually, only money can't be done, especially in the professional football circle, you have to understand the operating rules of this industry."

Charlene Lahry hummed, looked at Yang Huan with a smile, and listened.

“Since the professionalization of football, the industry has become no longer pure.”

"Yes" Charlene Rahry nodded.

"If you want to be professional, you have to support players, coaches, and staff, and you have to be rich."

Charlene Lahry still nodded, "Yes, many fans tend to ignore this point, they are too emotional."

"Yes," Yang Huan also nodded.

"In the early days, where did the money for professional teams come from? Tickets, stadium income, and later TV broadcasts emerged, professional football began to be promoted quickly, and more and more fans, advertising, sponsorship, and professional football began to be subtly influenced."

"Yes" Charlene Rahry nodded.

She knew that she should be a well-behaved listener now.

"There must be pros and cons in the world, and pros and cons are the same. You cannot just want the good side, not the bad side."

"When professional football develops to a certain level, with enough influence, capital will take a fancy to you. So over the years, more and more capital has entered professional football, started to acquire teams, and began to change the way of playing professional football."

"So we see that in the past so many years, Nottingham Forest, Ajax, and many old-fashioned families have all declined. It is because they can't keep up with this new gameplay, so they can only be eliminated because this is the general trend."

Charlene Lahry nodded constantly, "The survival of the fittest can only survive the fittest only by keeping pace with the times."

"Yes, many people criticize the current professional football, believing that being corrupted by money is a regression. In fact, I think it is completely unnecessary. The reason is very simple. If you calculate the size of employees of the previous professional team and then calculate the current team's employees, you can know how big the difference is now and the past."

"The team behind some top stars can even catch up with all the employees of a professional team in the past, and the clubs, management, head coaches, players, agents, and even all aspects of the industry and the entire society have gained huge benefits from it."

"In the past, stadium administrators worked voluntarily, but now, each team has at least one or two stadium administrators, and their salary is quite good. At least there is no problem in supporting a family, so they are more professional and are constantly improving."

"This is the change brought about by capital"

Charlene Lahry frowned when he heard it, "Then why are there still many fans dissatisfied?"

Yang Huan smiled slightly, "First of all, everyone has a different understanding of football. In the eyes of a thousand people, there are a thousand Hamlets. In the eyes of older people, the football they have been accustomed to since childhood was like this. Suddenly one day, it became like that, and they felt unacceptable and started criticizing.

"But for some young people, the football they have come into contact with since childhood is like that, and they take it for granted."

“Give an example, transfer.”

"Adam O Larana is the captain of Southampton. There are many Saints fans who are dissatisfied with his transfer. Some media hypes say that there is something wrong with us, but in fact, Adam O Larana often returns to Southampton and often contacts us. We have a good relationship. This is a personal relationship. But from the perspective of club operators, Chelsea offers attractive prices and players are well paid. We will not do anything because of losing Adam O Larana, so we accept it."

"But some fans think that this is selling the core, selling the back-end soul, and even mocking the management for not understanding the ball, and these remarks themselves are problematic."

Charlene Lahry nodded constantly, "Then how do you view the past, present and future, the transformation of professional football?"

Soon, she added, "Stand from the perspective and position of your club boss."

"Well, I don't have much to say about this, I may not be able to explain it clearly."

Charlene Rahry smiled, "Then just say whatever you think, say whatever you think."

"I think professional football is definitely getting better and better and more prosperous. There is no doubt that because more and more capital is pouring into this field, which is proof that if they are not optimistic, they will not come in."

"From the perspective of a football club owner, I want to say that football itself is no longer the most attractive element to the fans."

"Why?"

"To give the simplest example, the earliest fans liked the team or players by watching the game on the spot. Their favorites were because of football games. Later, TV and media came in. Most fans liked the team or players through TV and media, but you have to admit that they were more interested in news outside the game."

When Charlene Rahry heard this, she suddenly realized and smiled.

"Well, they may discuss the stars' scandals, hairstyles, or discuss which star is more handsome."

This is also the inside story that almost most media are rushing to explore.

"Yes, especially with the advent of the Internet era, information spreads faster and faster. Fans living in the Internet era need not games, but entertainment, so they may not like watching football games at all, or just watch football games for the stars they like."

"Because football matches themselves cannot be considered a qualified entertainment product, because they will lose. Winning can certainly bring enjoyment and pleasure to fans, but losing will only make fans feel unhappy and even bring pain."

"So, when fans want to get entertainment from football, their focus will definitely shift from football games. This requires football entertainment products that can meet their needs, so football stars and star teams have emerged."

Charlene Lahry frowned when he heard it, "You mean, these fans are not watching the game to win or lose, but just to see the stars and teams they like and pay attention to?"

"Yang Huan nodded with certainty.

"Many fans don't even watch football games at all. They just look at the news and the results, but can you say they are not fans? Can you say, do they don't like football?"

Charlene Rahry couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

There are very, very many fans who don’t watch football games, and there may even be more fans who chase after football games.

"After all, this is a trend of progress in the times. In the past, you can't even tell the name of the star or the team if you don't watch the football live or watch live TV. But now you can still know it if you don't watch the football."

Charlene Lahry nodded, "What you said may be more about the younger generation of fans, that is, the pseudo-fans mentioned by many old fans."

Yang Huan smiled slightly, "Fans always get old. The first fans who went to watch football and support the team must look down on those who watched live TV because you didn't support the team, but they always ignored one thing: fans watch live TV and the TV station wants to pay the team for broadcasting fees, which is also considered support."

"Is it the same thing that people who watch live TV nowadays look down on those fans who don't watch live TV but only watch the news? These pseudo-fans they call have not contributed to the team?"

"Also, fans will grow old, and football is not of any kind. They are both old fans and new fans, but after all, the future belongs to this group of new fans."

"From the position of the team operator, you must have this forward-looking nature, and you must adjust and satisfy new fans as much as possible while stabilizing this group of old fans, because in the near future, they will be the core force among your supporters, just as if they will become the backbone of this era."

"If a professional team now abandons this group of old fans, his future will be the current declined giants such as Nottingham Forest and Ajax."

Charlene Rahry didn't expect that she could induce Yang Huan to reveal such a big news.

He believes that all Southampton fans will definitely be very interested.

Because there are too many things revealed here, some are even subversive.

"I seem to understand what you said, plus the controversial prosperity of the Premier League in recent years, but I don't understand. How do you view the Premier League? Southampton will also enter the Premier League next season."

Charlene Rahry asked with a smile.

"The Premier League has a unique advantage, that is, the loose capital operation space, so the capital likes the most is the Premier League, and the Premier League also does the best in terms of media use and the highest attention, which is very successful."

"But the problem in the Premier League is also very obvious. First of all, the restrictions on foreign players, star players, star teams, and form a star league. Your pattern must be big enough to attract the best star players in the world, not restriction."

"Since ancient times, no one can tell what the number of foreign players has to do with the level of local players, but if you don't have a big enough pattern, you will not be able to achieve the star league at all."

"Do you think there is a so-called star league in Europe?"

Yang Huan shook her head, "No, but the Premier League has the most potential"

"Where is the star team?"

"Barcelona and Real Madrid are the only two teams in the world."
Chapter completed!