Team Spirit

Chapter 58 (Additional Update) Sky-high Sponsorship, Successful Acquisition

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"Hello, Brother Anqi."

An Qi turned around and saw Lu Kai coming over with a player.

"Lu..." An Qi didn't know how to address Lu Kai for a moment.

"Just call me by my name." Lu Kai quickly introduced An Qi, "This is the team's new player, Sergei Makov, a member of the Premier League team's youth training camp."

"Makof, this is our team's goalkeeper, An Qi. He's from the largest football club in China and he's quite talented."

The two shook hands in a friendly manner.

Since they were all new players, they were assigned to the same dormitory (container room).

Regarding Sergi Makovo, fans who like to play football managers should be familiar with this player.

This is the garbage that Lu Kai picked up from Wimbledon, the "crazy gang" that had just been relegated from the Premier League.

He is a "random player" with top statistics, dribbling skills, and no fixed position. He could be a striker, a defender, or even a goalkeeper.

Lu Kai actually found this player at Wimbledon.

He currently plays as a right-back, but in fact he can play on both sides of the wing, including center-back. No wonder he looks so random in the game.

This "all-around player" means that he has no fixed position in the youth team.

This is basically what Ashley Young looked like if he stayed in Watford's youth system.

The reason why Macov was willing to join Dartford was because after Dartford acquired Gravesend, it set off a new wave of traffic frenzy in England.

Makovo hopes to be seen by more senior clubs during his time at Dartford and return to the professional game.

……

A few days later, the team took its final photos.

This is not a traditional project for Dartford, but in the new season they have received sponsorship from Daniel Sports, a small clothing factory in London, and have obtained customized jerseys.

Daniel Sports will provide Dartford with all the jerseys, shorts and socks they need this season, and will also give Dartford a substantial share of the jersey sales.

This is a huge commercial success for the team.

Not to mention the seventh level, even in the fifth level, not all teams have jersey sponsorship.

In a game, it is common to see players from the same team wearing socks with all kinds of strange logos.

In terms of football shoes, Adidas provides Dartford with a number of training and competition shoes. Their dominance in European football is deeply rooted.

There are corresponding standards for when to provide free sneakers, when to pay sponsorship fees, when to sign stars, and when to release customized sneakers.

Dartford's current huge traffic volume meets their minimum requirements.

In addition, the team also sold chest and back ads.

The sponsor of the chest advertisement was a local cannery in Kent, which offered £70,000.

This was double their initial bid.

The difference between the eighth level and the seventh level is reflected here.

The sponsor for the back advertisement was a small medical device parts factory near London, which offered £40,000.

The total amount is £110,000.

This is significantly higher than the sponsorship income of seventh-tier teams, as most teams in this level do not have chest advertising sponsors.

However, both clubs were only willing to sign a one-year contract with Dartford.

In addition, the team is also trying to sell advertising space in the stadium, etc. The total amount of funds on the books is approaching the 200,000 pounds mark.

Dartford's success in attracting investment has also aroused the collective envy of lower-level teams in England.

But no matter how jealous we are, a favorite like Dartford actually appears every few years.

It could be a coincidence or the FA is manipulating it behind the scenes.

The purpose is to give hope to the bottom of English football and to provide a goal for the little fish in the pond.

It is precisely such grassroots legends that maintain the vitality of English grassroots football, which allows a steady stream of talents to emerge from it and enter the top arena.

The rising stars and football stars in England that are well-known to the public, no matter how bad they are, are essentially geniuses and strong players who have emerged from here.

Players who can actually come back through lower-level competitions after being eliminated are actually rarer than peerless geniuses!
Therefore, many people know that Dartford may only be able to make so much profit this season.

If virtue is not matched, there will be disasters.

This season, Dartford was promoted to the seventh-tier league by acquiring a team, which was not a promotion method, but it does not have the strength to match it, and relegation is a foregone conclusion.

When their magic is gone and people's attention fades, who will care about the low-level teams?

This is also the reason why Dartford only signed the two advertising and jersey sponsorship contracts for one year.

Capital is never stupid and greed is endless.

……

Dartford and the Kent Football Association went through three rounds of negotiations on the acquisition of Gravesend.

Lu Kai only took part in the final round.

In order to facilitate this acquisition, the Kent County Football Association spent a lot of time and made many promises.

The first is to provide Dartford with a loan of £200,000 for three years, interest-free!
Gravesend also required repayment of at least £200,000 of the £500,000 debt he owed in the first year.

Combined with Dartford's own business operations, it can last at least two seasons.

If you can hold on, it's like picking up a seventh-level qualification + a year's time + a seventh-level club's worth of scrap metal for free.

If it can't hold on, it will become the next Gravesend, facing bankruptcy, waiting to be disbanded or acquired.

The second is to provide policy support to Dartford together with Kent County Government.

Provide certain support to Dartford in terms of infrastructure, starting with simple things like bus routes and street light maintenance.

Although Europe is almost a developed country, its infrastructure level is not high because it started too early and the new generation of capital is addicted to financial games and detached from real production.

The third is about the site selection and land allocation for Dartford’s new stadium.

Thanks to Lu Kai's efforts, Dartford obtained a special agreement.

Within three years they could acquire a large piece of land from the Kent County Government at a low price.

The land is not located in Dartford city and is in a remote area, but it is close to Park Road Stadium, the home of Welling United in southeast London.

If Dartford develops a stadium here, it can form a linkage with the other party's venue resources.

However, Kent County also put forward a requirement, that is, the validity period is only three years.

If construction on Dartford's new stadium does not start within three years, the agreement will be invalid.

This is called "football resources, football utilization", ensuring that Kent football industry benefits.

In addition, since Gravesend's stadium had been sold and Dartford's pond stadium did not meet the seventh-level competition requirements, the Kent Football Association applied for special competition qualifications for Dartford and gave them the green light.

(End of this chapter)