Chapter 213 – German King Lands in England (3)

213

The explanation of the acting chairman, Muhammad Rashid Al Maktoum, was as follows.

14 years ago from now, on October 7, 2021, Newcastle United was eventually sold to PIE for 3 million pounds, about 500 billion Korean won, after an 18-month long takeover process.

PIE is a sovereign wealth fund managed by Saudi Arabia, and the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, known for its total assets of 320 billion dollars or about 392 trillion won.

Chelsea’s former owner, Roman, who was famous for being a billionaire owner, as well as Mansour, the owner of Manchester City and the UEA’s royal family, who is famous for being much richer, have an estimated fortune of 40 trillion, and PIE is 10 times that.

It is even bigger than the Qatari sovereign wealth fund that owns PSG, which is said to be the number one money money in the soccer version of oil money, and is a size worthy of the dignity of the world’s richest club owner.

Newcastle supporters were enthusiastic about the new owner of this overwhelming financial power that sprinkled money.
In the pre-acquisition vote, an approval rate of over 90% was expressed and expectations were expressed, and in fact, PIE met those expectations by declaring a large-scale investment after the acquisition of the club.

“We have big ambitions,” Newcastle co-owner PCP Capital’s Stavely told The Sun. In order to recruit world-class players, it is necessary to build an appropriate infrastructure. The Newcastle training ground is terrible and requires a lot of investment. Fortunately, facility investment is not limited by FFP, and we will invest heavily in various facilities, starting with our home stadium, to rise to the top of the Premier League,” He promised publicly.

PIE announced that it would invest 1.3 billion pounds (about 2 trillion won), which is the total amount of direct investment over the past 10 years since Mansour, the owner of Mansour, took over Man City in 2008, for five years, half of that amount. He proved his ambition by pouring over 600 billion won into investment alone.

The money rush of the wealthy owners did not stop at building infrastructure.
The transfer fund for player recruitment also received a large investment, so the amount spent over 3 years was a whopping 700 million euros (approximately 940 billion won).

From home stadiums to training facilities, youth facilities, connected networks, state-of-the-art training and medical equipment, various goods and amenities of good quality, and infrastructure such as coaches and players with world-class name values.

Newcastle’s future seemed full of hope, and it seemed that it would fly any moment – but Newcastle’s luck ended there.

The real owner of PIE, who holds most of the Newcastle club’s shares, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince bin Salman has died suddenly.

After the sudden death of Crown Prince bin Salman, Saudi Arabia was plunged into political turmoil, and PIE personnel who dominated the club were more focused on their own rapidly changing political and economic situation than the club’s situation.

The club was collapsing from within.
Confusion spread to the squad and Newcastle failed to qualify for the Champions League that season.

And destruction came.
Facility investment was out of FFP, but the transfer fee and huge annual salary spent on attracting players with high name value led to Newcastle’s financial collapse.

At the time of the acquisition of Newcastle, the British Daily Mail said that Newcastle could spend around £200 million (about 330 billion) over the next three seasons without violating financial fair play (FFP).

However, Newcastle spent about 800 million euros, four times that amount, on transfer fees and annual salaries. However, after the death of Crown Prince Bin Salman, everything collapsed.

Newcastle failed to avoid FFP regulations and were disqualified from qualifying for club competitions under UEFA.
Newcastle’s squad, which had even been deprived of the barely-obtained Europa qualifier, was scattered, and the tower of hard work built over three years collapsed as it was.

Here, Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations and controversy over unauthorized Premier League streaming in the country became the decisive blow.

The EPL Secretariat notified that PIE, which is in fact owned by the Saudi royal family, was rejected from the Owners and Directors qualification screening, saying that PIE was broadcasting illegally without signing a contract with Qatar’s Bain Sports, the exclusive broadcasting authority for the EPL.

In effect, PIE was banned from owning the Newcastle club.
As the situation progressed like this, the splendid emergency ended like a long-awaited dream, and the club was placed in the cold reality of being relegated to the second division.

And at this time, Dubai Investment Corporation ICD and Dubai United Development Investment Group DUG appeared.

“ICD and DUG took over 100% of Newcastle’s shares, which were demoted to the second division, and became new owners. Isn’t Mansour, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi already a member of the United Arab Emirates, taking over Man City and running it well? The EPL secretariat also easily allowed the takeover because they knew that Saudi Arabia and our UAE were different.”

While the general manager and Harin were reviewing the contract and arguing fiercely with each clause, I was receiving a Newcastle lecture from the acting chairman.

… Why?

“Well… So, ownership of Newcastle has moved from Saudi Arabia to Dubai.”
“I think I summarized it too briefly… I can see that.”
“Why?”
“Well?”

Listening to the explanation is a bit strange.
No matter how much you love soccer…

“Why are there two soccer teams… “

The deputy chairman, who had a puzzled look on my question, smiled bitterly belatedly.

“It is said that we are bound by the fence called UAE, but we are the federation first. The UAE is a country made up of seven emirates, and Abu Dhabi and Dubai are one of those seven emirates.”
“Different countries within the same country… What is this?”
“I guess so.”

Another country within the same country, what a contradictory explanation.
It’s difficult. It’s difficult.

“And we, Dubai, along with Abu Dhabi, are one of only two emirates that have a veto power to reject erroneous laws decided by the country’s federal council.”

I’m proud of myself with a proud expression… In a word, the two most popular places in the UAE are Abu Dhabi and Dubai, right?

“To be honest, Abu Dhabi holds the initiative in the UAE. Nearly 80% of the country is owned by Abu Dhabi, and the only oil producing area in the UAE is also in Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately, our land in Dubai is running out of oil. But our Dubai is the largest city in the UAE and a hub connecting Europe and Asia.”

When explaining the history of Newcastle, the gentleman is flattered, but when the story of Abu Dhabi comes up, he talks loudly. Apparently, Abu Dhabi has a strong sense of competition.

“We took over Newcastle in 2027. And unfortunately, we’re not in a position to make big investments like Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mansour. So we looked forward to the future. Still, the facilities invested by PIE are top-notch, so I focused on arranging the inside of the club and discovering promising players.”

At the same time, he shows pictures of the club’s facilities on his smartphone… It’s definitely not a flashy Frankfurt.

“Do you know what we first and most actively invested in after acquiring the club?”
“I do not know.”

You said you focused on finding promising players, so… I guess I just picked up a bunch of prospects.

“Investing in promising stocks?”
“The line of succession has changed. It’s a scouting team. We invested heavily in our scouting team and expanded it. Because we believed that our future depended on scouting.”

So you’re saying you followed the so-called giants of clubs like Porto, who pour huge amounts of money into their scouting department?

“Some of them are familiar to you. Scout Victor Showwell, who is called the ‘gem digger’, is the key talent for our project.”

Victor Showwell… Oh, I remembered.
Aren’t you the scout who came to observe my game?

I come so often that I even remember his face, but that man must have been a Newcastle scout.

“You can guess why he is called the ‘gem digger’? Since 2027, when we took over the club, we have consistently focused on excavating talented young players. As a result, they succeeded in promotion to the first division in 2031, and last season in 2034. We finished fourth in the league.”
“Fourth… Newcastle… “

Newcastle have secured a place in the Champions League in the Premier League, where the competition is said to be the fiercest.
He smiled proudly in pure admiration,

“The prospect policy is finally in full bloom. Do you understand? Our project… The Newcastle dynasty construction project is already half-successful.”

It definitely looks like that.
How well the hard-earned youngsters must have exploded, and a club that has been shattered and relegated can finish fourth in the Premier League in just eight years.

“And the other half is up to you. Minjun Hong. Won’t you be the center of building the Newcastle Dynasty?”
“Building a Dynasty….”

As I repeated the words that made a man’s heart beat, Muhammad Rashid Al Maktoum, acting chairman, introduced himself once again.

“Let me introduce myself again. Director of Dubai Investments Corporation ICD, Chairman of Dubai United Development Investments Group DUG, Crown Prince of Dubai Al Maktoum. And Newcastle president Muhammad Rashid Al Maktoum.”

… Crazy.
A steamed gold spoon, no, an oil spoon.

Somehow, booties, cuties, and radiance flowed from her face.

11:30 a.M. Local time on August 3rd, UK time.
Across the UK… No, there was an article that hit the whole world.

『The King of Germany Lands in England!』