Cambridge United will reassemble on June 27th to begin preparations for the new season. At this point, there is still more than a week until the team's vacation ends.
Huang Hao simply decided to relax for once. After assigning tasks to the scout team led by Evans, he took an unprecedented vacation for himself!
Lin Kexin had just finished her last acupuncture class and was patiently answering questions from the doctors at St. Mark's Hospital when her phone, which was in her pocket, vibrated.
Upon seeing the caller ID, Lin Kexin's eyes immediately softened and brightened with happiness. "Coach, why did you suddenly think of me!"
Lin Kexin's cheerful voice always made Huang Hao forget his worries and instantly relax.
"Haha, no matter how important work is, I can't neglect my Nightingale goddess!"
Hearing Huang Hao's compliment, Lin Kexin laughed nonstop.
"So, what instructions does the sweet-talking Coach have?"
"Are you free recently? I'm planning to take a week off, and we could go out and relax together." Lin Kexin never expected that Huang Hao, the workaholic, would actually take a vacation! She was overjoyed!
"That's great! I just finished this training course! Why don't you come back to China with me? I happen to have something to do!"
Return to China? Hearing Lin Kexin's idea, Huang Hao was startled. However, after thinking it over, in the three years he had been coaching Cambridge United, he had almost put all his energy into the team, and it had indeed been a long time since he had returned to China.
So Huang Hao readily agreed, then immediately contacted Li Jianqin and Ouyang Bing, and the four of them hit it off.
Huang Hao, who hadn't returned to China in three years, was even more excited about this trip. After a 12-hour long-haul flight, the plane slowly landed at Guangzhou's Baiyun Airport.
The temperature in Guangzhou in June had already reached over 30 degrees Celsius. After walking out of the airport, the oncoming heatwave did not cause Huang Hao much discomfort; instead, it felt very familiar.
Listening to the familiar Chinese language around him and the Chinese characters visible everywhere, it felt great to be back in his homeland!
As soon as the four of them left the airport, Lin Kexin led them to an authentic Cantonese rice noodle roll shop, where they transformed into foodies.
Li Jianqin slurped a bite of rice noodle roll on his left and a bite of stir-fried beef noodles on his right, exclaiming how enjoyable it was!
Huang Hao looked at Li Jianqin, who was eating heartily, and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"You're a rich second generation, how can you be so conquered by a single bite of beef noodles!"
Li Jianqin didn't even bother to respond, quickly finished a bowl of noodles, let out a satisfied burp, and then comfortably replied, "You don't understand, this is what life is about! It's so satisfying! Damn it, how long has it been since I had such authentic beef noodles in England."
"Alright, alright, you understand life the best! What are your plans for the next few days?"
This spontaneous trip for them didn't have a very specific plan, and they were only just thinking about discussing it now.
"Sigh, ever since I got on this pirate ship with you, there's been no rest!"
"I'm planning to go to Shanghai with Ouyang tomorrow. There are a few companies that wanted to sponsor the team before, and I'll see if we can make it happen this time."
"Then I'll go to Beijing to talk to some media about the operation of our official accounts."
"Earning cabbage money, but worrying about white flour!"
Li Jianqin took the opportunity to complain.
"Go drink your double-skin milk! The club will cover all expenses for you and Ouyang on this trip. Isn't that great!"
"Traveling on the company's dime, with a beautiful woman accompanying you, how wonderful!"
Lin Kexin echoed.
"Alright, alright, you two are something else, you're like Zhou Bapi!"
Li Jianqin feigned a bitter expression, which made the others burst into laughter.
"Ouyang, what is the current valuation of the club?"
Following Li Jianqin's topic, Huang Hao suddenly thought of this question and asked Ouyang Bing.
"This season, over 4,500 season tickets have already been sold. If there are no issues, it should be very difficult to buy tickets for our home games this season."
Ouyang Bing's first sentence made everyone's eyes widen.
"That exaggerated! Full house every game?!"
Li Jianqin was still a bit disbelieving.
"There's no other way. Abbey Stadium only has just over 8,000 seats. Next season, you'll probably have to consider expansion issues. The current stadium is almost the minimum requirement for the EFL Championship."
Ouyang Bing pouted, stating the facts.
To encourage small and medium-sized clubs to join the English Championship League, the English Championship League limits the minimum capacity of stadiums to only 5,000 people, requiring 2,000 seats. In England, almost any decent stadium can meet this standard.
However, on the actual EFL Championship field, such stadium conditions are rarely seen; Cambridge United is truly unique.
"So, ticket revenue, based on last season, if we don't raise ticket prices, should be between 4 million and 5.5 million pounds, because other teams' stadiums are larger than ours, so we get a larger share of their ticket sales."
"Plus broadcasting fees, which are about 1 million, match day revenue is about 6-7.5 million pounds, sponsorship fees last season were 4 million pounds, if the Shanghai trip goes smoothly, it's estimated to reach 5 million pounds. Adding our current membership of over 60,000 people, membership fees are around 1.5 million pounds. So this season, Cambridge United will have close to 20 million pounds in revenue."
Hiss! 20 million! 160 million yuan!
"Currently, the club's stadium, base, and equipment should be around 3 million pounds."
"So, the current valuation of the team, at a minimum, should be above 23 million pounds."
"This doesn't even include the market value of our players."
Huang Hao thought for a moment and added.
"That's right, our players are currently worth at least 8-10 million pounds." Ouyang thought for a moment and gave a figure.
"So, without any premium, the team's valuation is already over 30 million pounds!"
Seeing Ouyang Bing confirm Li Jianqin's inference, everyone fell silent once again.
Unbeknownst to them, Cambridge United was already worth 250 million yuan!
"So, you now have 60% of the shares, which is 150 million yuan, and you're still telling me you're poor?"
"Shut up, I love Cambridge United, eat quickly, I have to go to work!"
Li Jianqin hastily used a second bowl of stir-fried beef noodles to block Huang Hao's questioning. After lunch, the four of them split up. Li Jianqin and Ouyang Bing returned directly to the airport to fly to Shanghai, beginning their company-funded trip.
Huang Hao didn't have much to do on this trip; his main purpose was to accompany Lin Kexin, so the two decided to take a stroll around Haizhu Bridge and Hubu Lane.
A gentle breeze blew across Haizhu Bridge in Guangzhou. Because it was an overcast day, it wasn't overly hot; instead, it was very comfortable.
Huang Hao held Lin Kexin's hand and walked leisurely by the bridge.
"Coach, so you're already a multimillionaire now!" Ever since they met, Lin Kexin had always liked to use this address for Huang Hao.
"Haha, after Ouyang calculated it today, it really is! But they're just virtual numbers. I didn't get a single penny from the last dividend."
"Hehe, are you afraid I'm eyeing your fortune?"
Lin Kexin tilted her head, her big eyes blinking as she stared at Huang Hao, asking deliberately.
"No, otherwise I'd let you be the club chairman!"
"I don't want to!"
After speaking, Lin Kexin happily bounced forward. "Oh, by the way, you still haven't said what you came back for this time."
Huang Hao suddenly remembered that Lin Kexin had never told him the purpose of her return this time.
"No rush, but there really is something tonight."
"Tonight, there's a high school classmate reunion. Everyone heard I was back, so they insisted I go, saying it's also a welcome party for me. I haven't gotten your permission yet, can you come with me?"
Looking at Lin Kexin's pleading and pitiful eyes, how could Huang Hao refuse? He readily nodded and agreed.
Lin Kexin was as happy as a child, skipping and bouncing all the way.
Soon, night fell, and Lin Kexin brought Huang Hao to an elegantly decorated old restaurant.
The antique Chinese style gave a sense of understated luxury.
Huang Hao wasn't particularly picky about food. When he was single, all his energy was on the team, so he cared even less about such things.
Entering the restaurant's lobby, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration and tease Lin Kexin, "Your classmates really care about appearances!"
"Hehe, the classmate hosting today is Li Feifei. She was particularly concerned about these things back in university, but she's actually a good person!"
Huang Hao didn't pay much attention and was soon led by a waiter to a private room.
At this time, several classmates had already arrived in the private room. Upon seeing Lin Kexin, they immediately greeted her enthusiastically. The few gentlemen, however, seemed a bit dejected, and their gazes at Huang Hao were rather cold, appearing to resent him for taking their goddess away.
The girls quickly started chatting, listening to Lin Kexin recount her experiences in London, occasionally glancing at Huang Hao, probably because it concerned him. Huang Hao pretended not to notice and casually flipped through the menu.
Just then, Li Feifei walked into the room, arm in arm with her boyfriend. She immediately caught everyone's attention, and they all greeted her.
The man accompanying Li Feifei was about 180cm tall and quite muscular. Huang Hao couldn't help but glance at him a few more times; his coaching intuition told him this should be an athlete.
After everyone was seated, Li Feifei naturally became the center of attention. Being very skilled at socializing, she frequently exchanged pleasantries with her classmates, not paying much attention to Huang Hao, who was wearing a tracksuit.
After a while, Li Feifei finally turned her gaze to Lin Kexin. In terms of looks, although Li Feifei was heavily made up, she was clearly inferior to Lin Kexin. This was probably why she deliberately gave Lin Kexin the cold shoulder, but no matter how Huang Hao looked at it, he couldn't see this as the behavior of good sisters.
"Lin Kexin, you really are something, you just quietly went off to England to enjoy yourself, and now we sisters can't find you for our usual gatherings!"
After speaking, Li Feifei even glanced at Huang Hao out of the corner of her eye, clearly not very friendly.
"Hehe, my parents arranged it, and I didn't have time to tell you all."
Lin Kexin still replied gracefully.
"But you're also something else. I heard English men are super handsome and gentlemanly, why didn't you bring one back!"
"Oh, oh, oh, no, no, this must be your boyfriend, I completely forgot about that! Really! Really!"
Huang Hao smiled faintly. Although he felt a little uncomfortable, he didn't say anything for Lin Kexin's sake.
"I still prefer Chinese people."
Lin Kexin was still smiling, not overly bothered by Li Feifei's teasing.
"You too, you haven't introduced this handsome guy yet!"
"Oh, I forgot again! I'm sorry, husband! Come, let me introduce everyone, this is Li Shuai, my husband. He currently plays for Wuhan Team, and he just signed a new contract a few days ago, with an annual salary of over 1 million, super impressive!"
After speaking, Li Feifei clung to her boyfriend like a small bird.
This time, Huang Hao dropped his smile. Li Feifei's aggressiveness made him very unhappy.
After a round of compliments from everyone, Li Feifei finally looked at Huang Hao,
"Handsome, what do you do?"
Clearly, Li Feifei wanted to gain the upper hand and suppress Lin Kexin with her boyfriend.
"What a coincidence, I'm also in the football circle, but I'm a Head Coach."
"No wonder, when you said football, it startled me. I thought the conditions for foreign football players were so low!"
"Well, I really can't play football, I can only direct others to play."
Huang Hao became interested. When it comes to verbal sparring, Li Feifei, you're still a bit green.
Huang Hao's words clearly provoked Li Feifei. Relentless in her advantage, she immediately pressed, "Oh! It sounds like being a Head Coach is very impressive. So, how much money can a Head Coach make? Tell us so we can be envious!"
"A Head Coach in the English Championship League, at the lower end, probably earns an annual salary of over 600,000 pounds, which converts to about 5 million RMB."
"But I don't have that much; I hardly get any salary."
Seeing Li Feifei's mouth agape in surprise, Huang Hao decided to tease her.
"Hey, you scared me! I thought Lin Kexin had latched onto a rich guy! 5 million, that's shocking!"
Before Li Feifei could prepare to smirk, Huang Hao spoke again:
"Because the team is mine. I just calculated it today, it's not much, just over 200 million."
At these words, the private room fell silent. Li Feifei's mouth once again couldn't close.
Li Shuai, who had been somewhat arrogant, now stared directly at Huang Hao. After a long moment, he asked very politely,
"You are the Head Coach of Cambridge United?"
"That's right, Cambridge United's Head Coach, Huang Hao."
Huang Hao smiled faintly again.