Once football had long since beco a commodity, the combination of financial investnt and football was no longer rare.
In the past, there had been the stock-market listing boom among football clubs; in the future, there would also be frequent changes of ownership.
The financial ga of getting sothing for nothing was not as difficult to play as people imagined.
Just like the future Glazer family takeover of Manchester United: the collateral they offered to the bank was Manchester United's own assets.
Before that, the Glazer family had not even been the owners of Manchester United.
They first used United's assets as collateral, then borrowed a huge sum from the bank to complete the acquisition.
What Lynn was trying to do now was similar in thod.
He would not use his own money.
Instead, he would use the bank's money to build up the club, then use the club's assets as collateral for the bank loan.
In reality, this could be regarded as an investnt by the bank.
The only difference was that what the bank wanted was loan interest and the recovery of the principal, not the assets created by the club.
After Leonard figured out Lynn's plan, he had to admit that he was shocked by Lynn's idea.
He also admired the young man's mind.
Carter, sitting at the side, was secretly astonished as well.
She had not expected this wealthy young man to have such a business brain.
Even more surprisingly, for all those grand plans he had described, he was actually unwilling to spend a single penny of his own money.
Leonard said helplessly, "Your family has money. Why not use your own money? Are you worried about the risk?"
Lynn shook his head. "If the bank were willing to lend money to invest in the financial markets, I would put up my own money. But the bank won't do that. In other words, I'd rather pay interest to the bank every year and let the bank make money than put my own money into fixed assets and lose out on the huge profits available in the financial markets."
Leonard instantly understood.
A large part of the Lin family's investnts were in the financial markets.
Lynn's own rise in wealth over the past few years, and the explosive growth of his capital, were also tied to the financial markets.
But bank loans ca with restrictions.
Banks would not possibly lend Lynn a large sum of money and then watch him invest it in the financial markets.
The purpose of a large loan had to be very clear.
If Lynn took out his own money and invested it in the club's construction, then when the U.S. stock market entered a trough in the second half of the year, where would he raise the funds to invest in U.S. stocks?
He could raise capital, yes, but that would only an giving most of the profits to others.
A bank loan had interest, but that interest would never be higher than the massive returns of more than fifty percent annual growth that could be made in the U.S. stock market.
So the calculation was very simple.
Using the bank's money was far more cost-effective.
Seeing Leonard still hesitating, Lynn added more fuel to the fire.
"As I said to Green earlier, if our cooperation this ti goes smoothly, the next project I co to you with will be even bigger: Swansea City's new stadium."
Leonard smiled bitterly. "Can you not use the sa pie in the sky to tempt two different people?"
Lynn smiled. "There's no conflict. You two aren't competitors. Uncle Leonard, let's be straightforward. Give a favorable loan interest rate. You know my family's strength. Forty-five million pounds, principal and interest included — surely we can pay it off within ten years, right?"
After considering it for a mont, Leonard did not waste any more words.
He made the final decision.
"Fine. But we need to sign another agreent. If the Lin family sells Swansea City, the loan must be fully repaid before the club changes ownership."
Lynn nodded. "No problem!"
With one lunch, Lynn had solved the key issue in the club's reconstruction: funding.
....
After paying the bill and saying goodbye to Leonard and Green, Lynn got back into the car.
He looked at Carter in the front passenger seat and asked, "Were you satisfied with lunch?"
Carter smiled. "It was a very pleasant lunch."
Lynn smiled as well. "That's good. Where are you going?"
"If it's convenient, drop off at the company. You must know where the BBC building is."
"Of course."
He stopped the car on Garden Street.
The BBC building was less than three hundred tres away.
After Carter got out of the car, she turned and waved goodbye to Lynn.
Lynn said to her, "Miss Cath Carter, it was a pleasure eting you."
The corners of Carter's mouth rose slightly.
Narrowing her eyes with a smile, she said, "It was also a pleasure eting you. Of course, I would feel even better if you stopped secretly glancing at my chest."
Lynn was not embarrassed at all.
"That proves you're charming, doesn't it?"
Carter said nothing more and turned toward the BBC building.
Lynn had deliberately dropped her off on Garden Street.
Clearly, he did not want to cause trouble for either her or himself.
If he had driven directly downstairs to the BBC building to drop her off, it would undoubtedly have created gossip.
Lynn did not want to beco the subject of tabloid stories, and Carter certainly did not want to be caught up in rumours about attaching herself to a rich man.
All in all, Carter could sense Lynn's thoughtful side. In a good mood, she went back to work.
BBC Wales' sports team worked at full speed to produce a special program about Swansea City's reconstruction.
Carter not only provided a large amount of fild material, but also revealed to the outside world that Swansea City had obtained more than fifty million pounds in funding for the club's infrastructure developnt.
This would make the club much more attractive.
The reason Lynn had taken her to lunch, discussed business with Green and Leonard in front of her, and not minded her listening from the side, was actually also to send her a signal.
He allowed her to learn so inside information about Swansea, then waited to see how she would handle it.
Would she report it positively, or would she reveal everything?
Carter was a smart woman.
If a Football League Third Division club had the courage to invest more than fifty million pounds into infrastructure and developnt, then that club definitely had a future.
It had talking points.
It would beco a focus of attention.
If she wanted to maintain a long-term relationship with Lynn, then she first had to learn how to write selectively.
She did not tell the public in her report that Swansea had beco the most indebted club in England outside the Premier League.
Overnight, Swansea City had fallen forty-five million pounds into debt.
Although such a matter would be exposed sooner or later, she still chose to conceal it for now.
This could be considered a gesture of courtesy in return to Lynn.
...
That very sa day, Lynn completed the signing of the agreents with the British Investnt Group and Green's Green Properties.
That evening, after watching BBC Wales' sports program, he could not help smiling as he murmured to himself, "Now that's my good girl."
Carter had not disappointed him.
When working with intelligent people, sotis there was no need for blunt verbal communication at all.
Everyone understood each other without saying it outright and handled things beautifully.
Each side took what they needed, and both sides benefited.
When Swansea City's supporters learned that the club would be carrying out large-scale infrastructure developnt, they were naturally very excited.
Their hostility toward Lynn began to noticeably decrease.
Work at Swansea City proceeded in an orderly manner.
Before Lynn's scouting network could begin to play its role, he first needed to uncover potential from inside the club.
Based on the player list recorded by Swansea City's scouting departnt, Lynn found seven players who caught his eye.
In truth, many people had football talent.
But having talent and having ability were two different concepts.
For example, Frank Lampard was an excellent footballer, but he also had a very high IQ.
Still, he was only a player, not a scientist.
Before studying profound scientific knowledge, no matter how high his IQ was, he was rely a highly intelligent talent buried among ordinary people.
Another example was how people outside China often wondered: with a population of over one billion, how could China not produce football stars capable of standing on the world stage?
Even in Africa, where so countries had much smaller populations, outstanding footballers could still erge.
So why not China?
In terms of talent, China definitely had it.
But playing football was not seen, according to traditional thinking, as a career with a future.
Parents would not let their children play football.
They would let their children study Olympiad mathematics, learn piano, learn painting, and learn foreign languages, but they absolutely would not let their children pursue football.
On top of that, Chinese football was chaotic and corrupt, lacking a systematic training structure and advanced coaching standards.
Even children who had dread of playing football since childhood could not be properly guided, so their talent would naturally be worn away.
This phenonon could not be said to be entirely absent in Europe, but at least it was not taken to such an extre.
Not every famous footballer necessarily had exceptionally high talent, and not every ordinary person who never entered the sport could be denied the possibility of having football talent.
It was simply that everyone chose a different path in their growth and developnt.
Among the nas listed in Swansea City's scouting records, the seven players Lynn had his eye on included only three who were still at the club.
The first was substitute goalkeeper Owen Glendower, who had only just been promoted to the first team last season.
The second was Arthur Wellesley, a left-back in the youth team who was about to turn seventeen.
The third was Robert Badenberg, a striker in the reserve team who was about to turn eighteen.
As for the remaining four players Lynn had his eye on, so had left the club after the end of last season, which ant they had given up football.
Others had been released by the previous club managent after last season, having been misjudged as players with no future.
There were also so who had once only stayed briefly at Swansea.
...
After arriving at the club in the morning, the first thing Lynn did was ask Mo Yuan to sign new contracts with Owen Glendower, Arthur Wellesley, and Robert Badenberg.
Their wages were raised, and at the sa ti, they were told to end their holidays and return to the club for training.
Naturally, the three players were overjoyed to receive new contracts.
As for ending their holidays, that was not much of a problem.
They did not have the physical need for rest caused by long-term accumulated fatigue from constant matches.
Besides, once they returned to the club for training, they would be paid according to in-season standards.
If they could earn money, why would they refuse?
However, when the three of them arrived at the first-team training pitch, there were only the three of them there, while the coaching staff was fully assembled.
Assistant manager, fitness coach, goalkeeping coach, possession coach, tactical coach, defensive coach, attacking coach, and shooting coach — a total coaching team of eight people.
The sight was sowhat terrifying to them.
It felt as though the three of them were about to undergo special training, and hellish special training at that.
But they had misunderstood.
The other players with no future had either been converted to permanent staff, while those who were still passable had been placed in the reserves.
Those who were not yet old enough went to the youth team.
Lynn had very high standards for the first team.
He would not allow anyone to make up the numbers.
Before he completed his transfer recruitnt, however many players he had would be the number of players training.
This was also done with another consideration in mind: to allow the coaches at every level to accumulate experience, so that the coaching staff could grow quickly.
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