Jiugu
Today (August 5) afternoon, the prologue to the second stage of the Chinese Super League officially kicked off, and the evening after tomorrow, Meizhou Hakka will host Wuhan Yangtze River, but the latter is facing the embarrassment of abandoning the game. Yesterday, the media exposed that because of the penalty for unpaid wages, the second stage of this year's registered players may not be able to participate, and the Wuhan Yangtze River team will "not be able to gather players".
The latest news, "the Chinese Football Association and the Hubei Provincial Sports Bureau are currently looking for the boss of Zall to do work, hoping to determine the future of Wuhan Yangtze River (club) as soon as possible." The report said that the operating pressure of the Wuhan Yangtze River Club was "unprecedentedly huge, and the owner Zall Group has been unable to bear any expenses". With maximum operational savings, much of the club's work is virtually at a standstill.
Some commentators here believe that the main responsibility for the situation of the Wuhan Yangtze River Club is the former national football coach.
This view, which is supported by a considerable number of netizens, said that the former national football coach had an annual salary of up to 30 million yuan during his tenure as the head coach, general manager and sports director of Wuhan Yangtze River (former Zhuoer), and the annual salary of his assistant coach was also 3 million, which was "short" the Wuhan Yangtze River team. Coupled with the traditional saying of the former national football coach "remote control command" of the club's employment and reinforcement work, foreign coach Jose's platoon even has to "air" to call him for instructions, as well as a large number of players who signed their own agency companies. Not only is it "miserable" Zhuoer, but it also discourages investors.
This statement is somewhat related to the content of the Wuhan Yangtze River Club in the article "There are reasons for the FA to suspend the ban on three clubs, and some plans are inconvenient to be made public" published by the famous reporter surnamed Ma on April 24 this year. "Wuhan Yangtze River Football Club was also involved in two old cases of (unpaid wages) last year, including the ruling of players and coaches on wage arrears and the transfer ruling with another club in China," the article said. At that time, the Wuhan Yangtze River Club made a clear commitment to the Chinese Football Association that it would pay the entire arrears by July 31 this year. If it cannot be fulfilled as promised, accept "any penalty" from the Chinese Football Association. It includes 3 main contents: First, new players registered during the original penalty period (Note: newly introduced players this season) will be banned from continuing to participate in the game; The second is to resume the implementation of the penalty decision of the Chinese Football Association; The third is to accept more severe disciplinary penalties from the Chinese Football Association, including league points deductions.
However, therefore, "blaming" the former national football coach, I personally think it is a bit unauthentic, or even objective.
On November 16, 2017, Wuhan Yangtze River Club (then known as Wuhan Zall) officially appointed the former national football coach of the club's general manager and sports director as head coach. In February 2020, there were media reports that the former national football coach had stepped down as the manager of the Zhuoer team.
That is to say, the former national football coach has only served in the Wuhan Yangtze River Club for 3 years, even if the annual salary is 30 million, the total salary is less than 100 million. Coupled with several assistant coaches (some of whom have joined one after another), it is about 150 million, not less than 200 million. And it is this 150 million or 200 million, until last year, or even July 31 this year, has not been paid, so that the rumors that the former national football coach threw a complaint to the Football Association, the latter only "restored" the punishment, so that the "inability to gather players" mentioned at the beginning of this article appeared.
Can a large group have "unprecedented pressure" and "can't afford any expenses (of the club)" because it is less than 200 million? Obviously, this is unreasonable.
So, what explanation is "reasonable", or that Wuhan Yangtze River Club faces the risk of abstaining from the 11th round of matches due to insufficient players (and some people think that this withdrawal from the Chinese Super League) is not ruled out?
Of course, there is no money, and there is no salary. But personally, I think this is only one aspect of the reason – although this reason is the most important. Another reason has a lot to do with the neutralization of club names. In the current environment, investing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in football, but not obtaining any advertising effect, under the epidemic, as an investor in a private enterprise, it is difficult to do and understand.
There is another reason, since the suspension of Jiangsu clubs the year before, Qingdao Huanghai and Chongqing Liangjiang Athletics have also followed in their footsteps. At present, the Guangzhou team, Guangzhou City, Hebei team, and even Shenhua are struggling to survive. It's hard to say if another team will announce its withdrawal one day.
Many people hope for "stock reform", in fact, putting all their hopes on the stock reform is a kind of "bet". From the current point of view, the so-called stock reform is only the majority of state-owned assets. Once the two partners cannot reach an agreement on historical debts, the share reform will basically be in vain. Even if the stock reform is successful, the future Chinese Super League clubs are all state-owned, and it is difficult to conclude whether the development of football is pros or cons. But a cruel fact is that if there is no state-owned investment now, most of the Chinese Super League clubs that owe wages may be living like years.
On December 18, 2020, the Chinese Football Association issued the "Several Measures of the Chinese Football Association on Further Promoting the Reform and Development of Football", which clearly pointed out that "by 2023, the Chinese Super League will be expanded to 18 participating teams, the Chinese League A will be expanded to 20 participating teams, and the Chinese Second League will be expanded to about 30 participating teams". However, the expansion of the Chinese Super League to 18 teams was achieved a year earlier in the 2022 season.
Now it seems that in addition to further promoting and implementing the "Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football" and the fact that the Chinese Super League has indeed met the basic conditions for expanding the participating teams, I personally believe that there is another very important reason. That is, the Chinese Football Association may have been very aware of the living conditions of Chinese Super League clubs, and therefore foresees that some clubs may stop operating.
Simply put, the expansion of the Chinese Super League a year in advance may be a "shuffle": eliminating clubs that have long been in arrears and cannot be repaid. While expanding the army, avoid the embarrassment of the few remaining clubs that do not owe wages – in fact, by the end of the 2021 season, the only Chinese Super League clubs that do not owe wages are said to be Shanghai Haigang, Shandong Taishan, Songshan Longmen and Changchun Yatai.
On the evening of August 4, Evergrande Group officially issued an announcement and signed a termination agreement with the transferee, according to which the original contract was terminated and the Group returned the land use right of Guangzhou Evergrande Football Stadium Block, thereby obtaining 5.52 billion yuan of the transfer fund and returning the treasury. But according to media reports, the money will not be invested in football at all, and the legendary 15 million football investment will be maintained during the year.
Others, Guangzhou City, the share reform was blocked by the 200 million yuan debt divergence; Hebei team, although the general manager Li Jun made a "promise" that "the group will definitely not give up the football career" at the club's first team meeting on July 30, no one knows what the final result will be. There are equally difficult ones, and perhaps Shanghai Shenhua...
In this sense, the Wuhan Yangtze River team is only the first to "explode the thunder", and the difficulties of the Chinese Super League may not have officially entered the "climax". By the end of the season, how many teams are left in the Chinese Super League, no one dares to pack tickets now. And this point, the leaders of the Football Association have long foreseen, and even "seen" - this is the conscience of the 2022 season of the Super League expansion.
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