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Goed stuk over Pacific Media Group.
Bron: https://theathletic.com/2479880/2021/04/03/from-barnsley-to-belgium-the-club-owners-taking-on-the-elite-with-data-pressing-and-young-players/
From Barnsley to Belgium, the club owners taking on the elite with data, pressing and young players
Sheikh Mansour has piped more than £1 billion into City Football Group, 10 clubs in 10 countries, including Manchester City, the mothership. Austrian drinks company Red Bull has poured hundreds of millions into clubs in Austria, Brazil, Germany and the United States. Even Matthew Benham, the physicist turned gambler, has more than £100 million staked in Brentford and Midtjylland.
Owning one club is usually a good way to turn a big fortune into a smaller one, so owning several sounds like a dare or a punishment.
Of course, the owners of these multi-club groups, which are multiplying like rabbits, will tell you they are long-term investments or sophisticated branding exercises and we should not sweat the small stuff like annual losses.
But there is one group that has been put together on a budget of just over £40 million and does worry about balancing the books. They are pushing for Europe in Belgium and chasing promotion in Denmark, England, France and Switzerland. Their clubs have a distinctive playing style and a commitment to youth, on and off the pitch, but have not lost their individual identities.
They are Barnsley, Esbjerg, Nancy, Oostende and Thun, the Pacific Media Group gang, a Poundland Red Bull, and this is how they have done it.
When asked by The Athletic what his personal experience of playing, coaching and watching football was before he started buying clubs, Paul Conway replies with five sentences that waste no words but are packed with information. Most conversations with the 51-year-old American are like this.
He started playing the game at school because his dad, who went to college on a soccer scholarship, told him “you can’t just play one sport and sit around for nine months — you are going to play soccer, too”.
He was a left-footed central defender, something he notes is a “black swan on the recruiting front” these days, but his playing career lasted long enough to learn his fortune lay elsewhere.
There was also a stint as a coach of a youth team while still at high school. He decided this was not for him when he was shown a red card. And the first game he remembers going to see was a North American Soccer League fixture in the late 1970s involving the Philadelphia Fury.
So, from those bare biographical details, we can see that a young Conway learned how to spot an unsustainable business model, that there might be some benefits to kicking a ball about and he is a bad loser.
If we fast forward to 2010, we find Conway moving to China to restructure a company he had just bought for a wealthy client of the investment bank he worked for.
This company was SearchMedia Holdings and for “restructure”, read fire people — a ballsy move for somebody who did not speak the language. As part of this process, he shut down down a subsidiary that almost literally fought back. Claiming it was owed money by the parent firm, it hired goons to follow Conway around. It did not work. He hired some muscle of his own.
SearchMedia became Tiger Media, a profitable business Conway ran until 2013, when he set up a hedge fund with Chien Lee, a US-based Chinese entrepreneur who owned a successful hotel chain. By this point, Conway had been helping Chinese firms do business in America, and vice-versa, for years, so the next logical step was his own company, Pacific Media Group (PMG), which he set up with Hong Kong-based businesswoman Grace Hung in 2014.
Conway, Lee and Hung: three investors who united to make money in the Asian entertainment sector but who would go on to form half the boards at football clubs in Barnsley and beyond.
PMG’s first moves were investments in films such as The Martian and X-Men Apocalypse. It also built up a portfolio of cartoons for the Chinese market, as well as investments in computer games and merchandising spin-offs.
But in June 2016, it teamed up with Lee, another Chinese hotelier called Alex Zheng and Elliot Hayes, an American banker, to buy 80 per cent of OGC Nice. At first, this looked like just another Chinese-led investment in European football, something that had long stopped being unusual, but it did not take long for this lot to separate themselves from the herd.
First, they were immediately successful, as Nice finished third in 2017, earning a place in the Champions League. And second, Nice was just the beginning.
In the 18 months after that purchase, Lee’s NewCity Capital investment firm and PMG tried to buy Hull City, Middlesbrough and Partick Thistle, before finally agreeing a deal to buy 80 per cent of Barnsley for £6.3 million in December 2017. This was a very different proposition to Nice.
Barnsley had been well run since 2003, when local businessman Patrick Cryne saved them from bankruptcy. Under his watch, the South Yorkshire side were twice promoted to the Championship, relegated once, reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, won the Football League Trophy and built a reputation for developing talent.
But their turnover as a Championship team was about a quarter of Nice’s and when Conway, Lee and new partners — Indian investor Neerav Parekh and Oakland Athletics’ executive vice-president Billy “Moneyball” Beane (by far the most famous of the evolving ownership groups PMG have put together but only a silent partner at one club) — took over in December 2017, Barnsley were sinking.
It was a difficult time. Paul Heckingbottom, the manager who got them promoted in 2016 and led them to a mid-table finish in 2017, quit the club in the February to become Leeds United boss, taking his backroom staff with him. He was replaced by Jose Morais but the Portuguese coach could not turn the team’s form around and they were relegated in May.
But there was worse news off the pitch. Cryne had put the club on the market after he was diagnosed with cancer. Three months before the sale was completed, he told fans he was “living on borrowed time”. That time ran out a month after the takeover.
He was replaced on the board by his son James but Barnsley would be starting the 2018-19 season in League One with new owners, a new manager and a 30-year-old chief executive from France called Gauthier Ganaye.
“I remember when I went to the first interview, I told my wife I wasn’t even sure if I wanted the job,” recalls Ganaye. “But after meeting Patrick I called her to say, ‘I want it now!’.
“I liked the way he talked about the club, what it meant to him and the town. I’m very grateful to him for giving me the chance: he changed my life.”
Ganaye got his first job in football, head of legal at Ligue 2 side RC Lens, in 2013 when he was only 25. Him being “only” a certain age is something he still gets, despite having more experience than half the executives in European football.
He got that job because he was the best-qualified person for the role. For his business law degree at the Universite Catholique de Lille, he wrote a dissertation on how French clubs could improve their competitiveness. He then completed his studies at one of France’s top business schools. Two years after joining Lens, he became their club secretary, taking on a marketing role, as well.
He wanted more responsibility, though, and he thought French football might be too conservative to appoint a 29-year-old as chief executive, so he sent his CV to Nolan Partners, a global recruitment agency. A few months later, he was heading to a hotel in Manchester to meet Cryne. Two interviews later, he had the job.
The night before he was named as the club’s new boss in June 2017, Cryne invited Ganaye for dinner at his house and told him two things: Cryne was dying and he needed Ganaye to sell the club.
Given the fact that new owners usually replace chief executives, this was a lot to dump on a new employee, particularly as his wife was at home in France six months pregnant. Ganaye need not have worried. As far as Conway and Co were concerned, Ganaye was one of the assets they had acquired.
Initially, he thought he might live in Leeds, a more cosmopolitan city he knew from his student days, but he decided he had to be in Barnsley.
“You could see Oakwell from the balcony of my apartment,” he says. “(Former Barnsley manager) Gerhard Struber inherited it from me and I think (current manager) Valerien Ismael is in there now!
“Barnsley seemed very British to me but it also reminded me of northern France. It has found it hard to transform its economy from mining but the people are humble and hard-working. My family felt very at home and I was a little bit sorry to leave when I did because everything we had put in place was starting to click.”
Ganaye left on February 1, 2019, because Conway and Lee offered him the chance to run Nice. It was too good an opportunity to decline. But he did not want to go until the transfer window had closed and he had done everything he could to give Daniel Stendel, the manager hired to replace Morais, the tools needed to get Barnsley back to the Championship.
So, the window shut and a taxi picked him up two hours later to take him to Heathrow. He arrived for work at Nice at 8am. “There are 24 hours in a day” is how Ganaye describes his work ethic, something he shares with others in the group.
Stendel was a classic PMG appointment. Unknown in England, the 44-year-old German had been out of work for a year since his sacking by Hannover 96. In fact, the former youth-team coach had only taken charge of 34 senior matches. But in those games, his team had pressed opponents high up the pitch and scored lots of goals.
“It’s fair to say things didn’t initially go to plan,” says Carlo van de Watering, from The Reds Report podcast. “The Jose Morais appointment was hasty but his dismissal allowed the owners to find someone that fitted their plan.
“Step forward, Daniel Stendel, and he got Barnsley back to the Championship at the first time of asking. Faith restored in the credibility but also the integrity of the board.
“Since then, all appointments, staff and players, have fitted the long-term vision. Academy products are coming through and being sold for profit, player recruitment has been spot on and the fans are on board with the plan: sustainability through clever recruitment and a playing style that represents the town and its heritage.
“The owners have also been true to their word in making the fans’ experience better with a fan zone. OK, we do not see or hear from them that often but when you’re flying in the Championship, fans aren’t too bothered.
“We’re in with a realistic shout for the play-offs and then, perhaps, the promised land of the Premier League. Once the doors to Oakwell are open again, the majority of fans will want to show their thanks to the board for sticking to their plan and giving Barnsley a renewed feeling of pride and optimism.”
That was the mission Ganaye wanted to achieve at Nice but seven months after arriving, he was out. For the second job in a row, he had joined a club that was open to offers and a £90 million one from British billionaire Sir Jim Radcliffe was too good to turn down.
“They couldn’t say no,” says Ganaye. “But I regret not getting a chance to get started at Nice. There is unfinished business there.”
Out of work, Ganaye stayed busy. Conway and Lee were now certain their data-led, youth-oriented, high-pressing approach worked, they had money to reinvest and new investors in the group, American financiers Randy Frankel and Michael Kalt, co-owners of the Tampa Bay Rays, who reached the World Series last season with one of the lowest budgets in baseball.
Lee and PMG already had a deal in the pipeline to buy a stake in Swiss second-tier team FC Thun, which was completed in November 2019, but Ganaye was now assisting the search for clubs in new markets. They looked at several in Scotland but the Scottish FA’s rules on dual-ownership made that difficult, so they returned their attention to France, where Toulouse were available, and Belgium, perhaps the most open league in Europe to multi-club ownership.
By May, they had found their next reclamation project.
Thorsten Theys owns an accountancy firm in Ostend and one of his biggest clients in recent years has been KV Oostende, the Belgian city’s football team.
By 2019, they were, as Theys puts it, “in a terrible mess”. Belgian pharmaceuticals billionaire Marc Coucke, the club’s majority shareholder since 2013, had handed them over to his family investment firm in 2017 when he traded up to buy Anderlecht, one of Belgium’s biggest clubs.
That left Oostende adrift and they were second from bottom of the country’s top division when the season was halted and then cancelled because of COVID-19. By that point, they were £9 million in debt but worse was to come when the Belgian football federation withdrew the club’s licence, without which they could not continue.
Theys had been brought in almost full time to help with the licence application, come up with a business plan and find fresh investment. In six months, he received offers from 18 different parties, most of them who were agents trying to gain control of a club so they could use it as a shop window.
“Paul (Conway’s) group was the clear winner,” explains Theys, who, like Ganaye, was somebody PMG wanted to keep.
“He said he’d like me to become chief operating officer. Well, what he really said was ’90 per cent of Belgians are corrupt or incompetent, and many are both, but I like you’.
“Paul is very direct. I’ve heard his sales pitch a few times now — as he’s looking for other clubs — and it’s always the same. He tells it like it is. In business, you don’t achieve anything by always trying to be the nice guy. He’s already scared the local council by threatening to move to a new ground — he did the same thing in Barnsley.
“He’s not interested in trying to please people, he’s interested in results. What you see is what you get but he’s actually very funny.
“About 75 per cent of the club’s staff start panicking when Paul visits. There’s a saying here about wanting to see how the sun is shining upon someone before you approach them. He reminds me of my father in that way. But then they see the two of us eating sandwiches and laughing about South Park and know everything is OK.”
And everything is OK.
First, Ganaye was installed as president. Then Oostende got their licence back, enabling them to start the new season in the Pro League’s Division A. Then, having lost their first two games, they started winning.
How? The same way they started winning at Nice, Barnsley and Thun. They got younger, they hired a counter-pressing specialist from RB Leipzig’s academy to coach the side and they blitzed teams with double their budget.
That coach, Alexander Blessin, is now in the frame to replace Chris Wilder at Sheffield United. If he is offered the job, his bosses are unlikely to stand in his way.
Just as they did when Struber left Barnsley for the New York Red Bulls last year (the two organisations seem to trade coaches), they will bank the compensation and unearth another gem. They will already know who the next best counter-pressing teams are in European football, that is how they found Struber’s replacement Ismael at Austrian side LASK.
“All PMG sides try to take the ball in your half and do something in the chaos,” says Theys. “This works better against the better teams, though, and not so well against teams that park the bus.
“But look, I’m an accountant: I’m happy when debit and credit are in balance. I know nothing about football. I watch it in the same way my mother watches it.”
Oostende are fourth in the table. Club Brugge are champions, 16 points clear, with three to play. Antwerp are second, five points ahead of Oostende, Genk third, one ahead, and Anderlecht fifth, level on points but behind Oostende because they have won fewer games. The top two qualify for the Champions League, the third-placed team goes to the Europa League and fourth and fifth will play in the inaugural Europa Conference League.
Leuven and Beerschot, four and five points back, could still spoil the party, particularly Beerschot, who Oostende play next weekend. Their two other games, though, are against the bottom two sides, hence Theys’ remark about parked buses. But whatever happens over the next fortnight, Oostende’s season is a minor miracle.
“The club was heading for relegation or even worse,” says Theys. “Anybody taking over would have been treated like a saviour and they were. But then fans and the media saw that Barnsley and Thun had made bad starts to the season and started to ask if these guys knew what they were doing.
“I remember telling sponsors we were going to play this high-press style, with an inexperienced coach who knew nothing about Belgium and a load of young guys we’d found using data — to say they were sceptical is an understatement.
“Now, they’re talking about Nobel prizes. Everybody can feel the positivity: fans, sponsors, staff, players, the city. We thought with COVID we might struggle on the commercial side but it’s been the opposite. We’ve done more renewals and we’ve signed another lead sponsor.
“And we’re getting lots of publicity. There’s a documentary coming out here next month about us (Kustboys: Make Oostende Great Again). It will be like Sunderland ‘Til I Die. So, it’s been the worst year for Belgian football since World War II but a good year for us.
“The media are ready to crown Alex coach of the year and everyone is looking at our young stars, (Senegalese striker Makhtar) Gueye, (Zambian striker Fashion) Sakala, (Belgian defender Artur) Theate. Gauthier is on the Pro League assembly and they listen when we speak.
“You know those pictures you see on Twitter? How it started and how it’s going? It’s like that. This is a resurrection.”
But do not just take his word for it.
“The financial problems were huge. We were almost bankrupt,” says Peter Van Nuffel, president of Kustboys, the supporters’ federation. “We had already started a crowdfunding scheme to save the club.
“We knew a bit about Barnsley but they weren’t a huge success at the time. I met Mr Conway when PMG bought the club and he explained their data system. I believed in the process.
“At the beginning of the season we were favourites to be relegated but we soon became appreciated for the way we play. The fans are delighted. We are alive, there is a good vibe between club and supporters and we play attractive football.”
Michel Platini won two French player of the year awards with AS Nancy in the 1970s, scoring the only goal when they claimed their greatest prize, the Coupe de France in 1978. But by the end of last year, those memories were almost the only thing the club’s fans had left.
“We had been in a difficult position for years, on and off the field,” explains Juliette Schang, editor of the Fans of Nancy website.
“The president, Jacques Rousselot, wanted to sell the club but couldn’t — we had big financial difficulties and the French soccer authorities demoted us in 2019. The president had to put four million euros in to save us.
“Many Nancy fans were grateful to Rousselot, because without him there would be no soccer in Nancy. He was in charge for 25 years, so the fact he sold the club scared a lot of fans.
“I didn’t know Pacific Media well, so I wasn’t happy or worried when they took over. My attitude was wait and see.”
PMG, Lee, Kalt and Krishen Sud, a Connecticut-based investor in the healthcare sector, bought AS Nancy on December 31, when Nancy were 17th in Ligue 2 and on a nine-game winless run.
In the three months since, they have lost just twice in 14 games and are now eighth in the table. With only eight games to play, they are 15 points behind third-placed Toulouse, the team PMG looked at in 2019. Too much to do this year but Schang has seen enough to believe Nancy could go up next season.
“If you started the season in January, we would be top,” she says. “We press more, it shows. The team hasn’t got much younger yet because only one player joined us in January.
“Yes, there are some fans who are concerned about being considered a satellite club but I’m waiting to see what happens this summer. Gauthier Ganaye seems to be involved in the life of the club, so I expect movement from the investors.”
You can take that for granted, Juliette.
Ganaye was speaking to The Athletic as he drove to work at Nancy’s Stade Marcel Picot. He is now in charge of Oostende and Nancy but what some would see as an impossible task, he believes is the group’s competitive advantage.
“We make decisions in minutes that other clubs spend days thinking about,” he explains. “Our dedication to data, our recruitment, our style of play, they are almost automatic now.
“But if you ask me what the difference is between us and other clubs, it is the speed of our decision-making. Me, Paul (Conway), Chien (Lee), Michael (Kalt), it’s not a lot of people.”
Conway, who is never in one place for long, agrees.
“Our model has a sound prospectus and we’re pretty ruthless,” he says. “We are a small team and it was inevitable there would be pushback to what we wanted to do at first at Nice and Barnsley.
“But we’re three years in now and Barnsley are humming. Whatever happens in the run-in, we’ll be competitive again next season. Apart from one player, we own the whole squad and they’re young.
“The need for change in Belgium was more dramatic because they were in a worse shape. But the plan was the same: youth, high press, a coach who knows the system. The whole league thought we’d be a joke but we’ve proved our point.
“There wasn’t much we could do at Nancy this season but we’ve shown the coach (the highly experienced Jean-Louis Garcia) our data. We asked him why he was playing all these guys aged 30 or over, who account for 40 per cent of the wage bill. He said, ‘Because they’re our best-paid players’. We said, ‘How’s that working out?’.
“We had a France under-17 international (Warren Bondo) in the youth team. We said, ‘The kid’s got to play, he’s our best prospect, don’t hide him’.
“If you have a strategy, stick with it. There’s so much noise in football and people just don’t have the balls to stick to their guns. We got a call from an English club recently because they were thinking about hiring a German coach who didn’t know the EFL. What did they do? They went with an English guy. They didn’t have the guts to do it.
“It’s the same with agents. When we want to sell a player, we have a good idea of who might need him. So, we call them up and ask if they want to make us an offer — 90 per cent of clubs don’t do this. They leave it to agents. Oostende’s income was about seven million euros last year but they paid out 2.5 million euros to agents.”
Under PMG, Oostende’s entire transfer spend has been less than €400,000.
Conway, as you would imagine, is evangelical about the benefits of multi-club models. Savings in the back office and gains to be made in player development, recruitment and trading.
As an example, earlier this week Oostende got a six-figure sum from Swedish side IFK Norkkoping for 33-year-old Icelandic international Ari Skulason.
“Most clubs don’t care and wouldn’t even know the Swedish transfer window was still open,” says Conway. “We were able to sell a player with three months left on his contract and it opens up minutes for our 20-year-old left-back.”
Conway believes it is PMG’s presence in so many markets, and the direct relationships it is making, that enable the group to make moves like this.
And there are benefits to being part of something bigger for the players themselves.
A £990,000 signing from Luton in the summer of 2017, Cameron McGeehan, finished last season on loan from Barnsley at Portsmouth. At 25, he knew he was older than the players Ismael would be basing his Barnsley side on this season and he was in the last year of his contract.
“I didn’t really fit into the new manager’s plans,” says McGeehan. “But I had stayed in touch with Gauthier and he knew I was interested in playing abroad.
“So, when he took over at Oostende, he gave me a call and I jumped at the chance to do something different. I didn’t know much about Belgium or the Belgian league but it’s been great. The standard is high, the facilities are good and you’ve got some really big clubs like Brugge and Anderlecht.
“As I’m a bit older than their typical player, I think they thought I’d be one of the leaders.”
That plan was working well until mid-January, when the Northern Ireland youth international picked up an ankle injury. But he will back next season and he is convinced Oostende will be even stronger.
“Barnsley were using ‘Moneyball’ ideas before the Americans bought them — I think that’s one of the reasons why they chose Barnsley, because they shared a philosophy,” he says.
“It’s why Barnsley bought me from Luton. They were looking for players who were a bit undervalued. I don’t completely understand the system they use but Gauthier has told me a little bit about it. They look for certain characteristics. For a midfielder, I had a high goal expectancy. Barnsley saw that and thought the goals would come if I got the right opportunities.
“Young players and German coaches. It’s basically the gegenpressing system that Jurgen Klopp has made famous. They get players from clubs and leagues you’ve never heard of and you sometimes wonder how that’s going to work, but it does.
“Paul Conway has talked about young players being hungry. I’m not saying older players aren’t motivated but when you get a group of young players together you do get a lot of energy and desire.”
Is it also because they run further?
“Not really,” he says. “I’ve heard Klopp talk about this, too. We try to win the ball higher up the pitch and that should save us some running.
“There is an emphasis on sprinting and reacting quickly, though. There are slight differences between the managers, too. I haven’t played for him but the boys at Barnsley tell me the new manager wants a really aggressive press. He says if one goes, we all go.
“Stendel was a bit like that. He used clips of birds migrating to show us how they all go together as one. Struber was a bit more strategic. He wanted us to pick our moments. Blessin, the manager at Oostende, is more like that.”
Theys has had to bring in an associate partner to run his accountancy firm now, as “120 per cent” of his time is taken up by Oostende.
“Next year will be the big challenge,” he says. “We have to confirm this to prove we didn’t just win the lottery this year. I’m sure we will because I know Gauthier has his targets and if we make five, six, seven million in player sales, it will all get reinvested in making the squad even more valuable.”
Some will say Barnsley won the lottery last season when they narrowly avoided relegation. They finished one point clear of Charlton and two ahead of Wigan but the Lancashire side were docked 12 points for going into an administration when their Chinese owners stunned everyone by simply withdrawing all funding with half a dozen games to play.
There is no disputing that Wigan’s fate was harsh but if any Championship club deserved a break last season it was Barnsley. They had the lowest budget and the youngest side in the division, and were bottom of the table when the pandemic halted the season in March.
But Conway told The Athletic at the time he thought they would be better equipped than most for Project Restart’s congested calendar and he was right. The last nine games brought four wins and two draws, including victories over Nottingham Forest and play-off bound Brentford on the last day of the season.
Never one to miss an opportunity, though, it is no surprise that Conway, Ganaye and Kalt were among the first to contact Wigan’s administrators about buying the club. They could not agree a deal but they are still looking to add to their portfolio, with clubs in Austria, England, the Netherlands and further afield on their radar.
In February, they bought Danish second-tier side Esbjerg FB. With 10 games of the regular season to play, they are a point off second place.
As Theys puts it: “When you’re an entrepreneur, the real achievement is to do it again. It’s the same with great writers. You can’t just write one good book, you’ve got to write 10.”
Bron: https://theathletic.com/2479880/2021/04/03/from-barnsley-to-belgium-the-club-owners-taking-on-the-elite-with-data-pressing-and-young-players/
From Barnsley to Belgium, the club owners taking on the elite with data, pressing and young players
Sheikh Mansour has piped more than £1 billion into City Football Group, 10 clubs in 10 countries, including Manchester City, the mothership. Austrian drinks company Red Bull has poured hundreds of millions into clubs in Austria, Brazil, Germany and the United States. Even Matthew Benham, the physicist turned gambler, has more than £100 million staked in Brentford and Midtjylland.
Owning one club is usually a good way to turn a big fortune into a smaller one, so owning several sounds like a dare or a punishment.
Of course, the owners of these multi-club groups, which are multiplying like rabbits, will tell you they are long-term investments or sophisticated branding exercises and we should not sweat the small stuff like annual losses.
But there is one group that has been put together on a budget of just over £40 million and does worry about balancing the books. They are pushing for Europe in Belgium and chasing promotion in Denmark, England, France and Switzerland. Their clubs have a distinctive playing style and a commitment to youth, on and off the pitch, but have not lost their individual identities.
They are Barnsley, Esbjerg, Nancy, Oostende and Thun, the Pacific Media Group gang, a Poundland Red Bull, and this is how they have done it.
When asked by The Athletic what his personal experience of playing, coaching and watching football was before he started buying clubs, Paul Conway replies with five sentences that waste no words but are packed with information. Most conversations with the 51-year-old American are like this.
He started playing the game at school because his dad, who went to college on a soccer scholarship, told him “you can’t just play one sport and sit around for nine months — you are going to play soccer, too”.
He was a left-footed central defender, something he notes is a “black swan on the recruiting front” these days, but his playing career lasted long enough to learn his fortune lay elsewhere.
There was also a stint as a coach of a youth team while still at high school. He decided this was not for him when he was shown a red card. And the first game he remembers going to see was a North American Soccer League fixture in the late 1970s involving the Philadelphia Fury.
So, from those bare biographical details, we can see that a young Conway learned how to spot an unsustainable business model, that there might be some benefits to kicking a ball about and he is a bad loser.
If we fast forward to 2010, we find Conway moving to China to restructure a company he had just bought for a wealthy client of the investment bank he worked for.
This company was SearchMedia Holdings and for “restructure”, read fire people — a ballsy move for somebody who did not speak the language. As part of this process, he shut down down a subsidiary that almost literally fought back. Claiming it was owed money by the parent firm, it hired goons to follow Conway around. It did not work. He hired some muscle of his own.
SearchMedia became Tiger Media, a profitable business Conway ran until 2013, when he set up a hedge fund with Chien Lee, a US-based Chinese entrepreneur who owned a successful hotel chain. By this point, Conway had been helping Chinese firms do business in America, and vice-versa, for years, so the next logical step was his own company, Pacific Media Group (PMG), which he set up with Hong Kong-based businesswoman Grace Hung in 2014.
Conway, Lee and Hung: three investors who united to make money in the Asian entertainment sector but who would go on to form half the boards at football clubs in Barnsley and beyond.
PMG’s first moves were investments in films such as The Martian and X-Men Apocalypse. It also built up a portfolio of cartoons for the Chinese market, as well as investments in computer games and merchandising spin-offs.
But in June 2016, it teamed up with Lee, another Chinese hotelier called Alex Zheng and Elliot Hayes, an American banker, to buy 80 per cent of OGC Nice. At first, this looked like just another Chinese-led investment in European football, something that had long stopped being unusual, but it did not take long for this lot to separate themselves from the herd.
First, they were immediately successful, as Nice finished third in 2017, earning a place in the Champions League. And second, Nice was just the beginning.
In the 18 months after that purchase, Lee’s NewCity Capital investment firm and PMG tried to buy Hull City, Middlesbrough and Partick Thistle, before finally agreeing a deal to buy 80 per cent of Barnsley for £6.3 million in December 2017. This was a very different proposition to Nice.
Barnsley had been well run since 2003, when local businessman Patrick Cryne saved them from bankruptcy. Under his watch, the South Yorkshire side were twice promoted to the Championship, relegated once, reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, won the Football League Trophy and built a reputation for developing talent.
But their turnover as a Championship team was about a quarter of Nice’s and when Conway, Lee and new partners — Indian investor Neerav Parekh and Oakland Athletics’ executive vice-president Billy “Moneyball” Beane (by far the most famous of the evolving ownership groups PMG have put together but only a silent partner at one club) — took over in December 2017, Barnsley were sinking.
It was a difficult time. Paul Heckingbottom, the manager who got them promoted in 2016 and led them to a mid-table finish in 2017, quit the club in the February to become Leeds United boss, taking his backroom staff with him. He was replaced by Jose Morais but the Portuguese coach could not turn the team’s form around and they were relegated in May.
But there was worse news off the pitch. Cryne had put the club on the market after he was diagnosed with cancer. Three months before the sale was completed, he told fans he was “living on borrowed time”. That time ran out a month after the takeover.
He was replaced on the board by his son James but Barnsley would be starting the 2018-19 season in League One with new owners, a new manager and a 30-year-old chief executive from France called Gauthier Ganaye.
“I remember when I went to the first interview, I told my wife I wasn’t even sure if I wanted the job,” recalls Ganaye. “But after meeting Patrick I called her to say, ‘I want it now!’.
“I liked the way he talked about the club, what it meant to him and the town. I’m very grateful to him for giving me the chance: he changed my life.”
Ganaye got his first job in football, head of legal at Ligue 2 side RC Lens, in 2013 when he was only 25. Him being “only” a certain age is something he still gets, despite having more experience than half the executives in European football.
He got that job because he was the best-qualified person for the role. For his business law degree at the Universite Catholique de Lille, he wrote a dissertation on how French clubs could improve their competitiveness. He then completed his studies at one of France’s top business schools. Two years after joining Lens, he became their club secretary, taking on a marketing role, as well.
He wanted more responsibility, though, and he thought French football might be too conservative to appoint a 29-year-old as chief executive, so he sent his CV to Nolan Partners, a global recruitment agency. A few months later, he was heading to a hotel in Manchester to meet Cryne. Two interviews later, he had the job.
The night before he was named as the club’s new boss in June 2017, Cryne invited Ganaye for dinner at his house and told him two things: Cryne was dying and he needed Ganaye to sell the club.
Given the fact that new owners usually replace chief executives, this was a lot to dump on a new employee, particularly as his wife was at home in France six months pregnant. Ganaye need not have worried. As far as Conway and Co were concerned, Ganaye was one of the assets they had acquired.
Initially, he thought he might live in Leeds, a more cosmopolitan city he knew from his student days, but he decided he had to be in Barnsley.
“You could see Oakwell from the balcony of my apartment,” he says. “(Former Barnsley manager) Gerhard Struber inherited it from me and I think (current manager) Valerien Ismael is in there now!
“Barnsley seemed very British to me but it also reminded me of northern France. It has found it hard to transform its economy from mining but the people are humble and hard-working. My family felt very at home and I was a little bit sorry to leave when I did because everything we had put in place was starting to click.”
Ganaye left on February 1, 2019, because Conway and Lee offered him the chance to run Nice. It was too good an opportunity to decline. But he did not want to go until the transfer window had closed and he had done everything he could to give Daniel Stendel, the manager hired to replace Morais, the tools needed to get Barnsley back to the Championship.
So, the window shut and a taxi picked him up two hours later to take him to Heathrow. He arrived for work at Nice at 8am. “There are 24 hours in a day” is how Ganaye describes his work ethic, something he shares with others in the group.
Stendel was a classic PMG appointment. Unknown in England, the 44-year-old German had been out of work for a year since his sacking by Hannover 96. In fact, the former youth-team coach had only taken charge of 34 senior matches. But in those games, his team had pressed opponents high up the pitch and scored lots of goals.
“It’s fair to say things didn’t initially go to plan,” says Carlo van de Watering, from The Reds Report podcast. “The Jose Morais appointment was hasty but his dismissal allowed the owners to find someone that fitted their plan.
“Step forward, Daniel Stendel, and he got Barnsley back to the Championship at the first time of asking. Faith restored in the credibility but also the integrity of the board.
“Since then, all appointments, staff and players, have fitted the long-term vision. Academy products are coming through and being sold for profit, player recruitment has been spot on and the fans are on board with the plan: sustainability through clever recruitment and a playing style that represents the town and its heritage.
“The owners have also been true to their word in making the fans’ experience better with a fan zone. OK, we do not see or hear from them that often but when you’re flying in the Championship, fans aren’t too bothered.
“We’re in with a realistic shout for the play-offs and then, perhaps, the promised land of the Premier League. Once the doors to Oakwell are open again, the majority of fans will want to show their thanks to the board for sticking to their plan and giving Barnsley a renewed feeling of pride and optimism.”
That was the mission Ganaye wanted to achieve at Nice but seven months after arriving, he was out. For the second job in a row, he had joined a club that was open to offers and a £90 million one from British billionaire Sir Jim Radcliffe was too good to turn down.
“They couldn’t say no,” says Ganaye. “But I regret not getting a chance to get started at Nice. There is unfinished business there.”
Out of work, Ganaye stayed busy. Conway and Lee were now certain their data-led, youth-oriented, high-pressing approach worked, they had money to reinvest and new investors in the group, American financiers Randy Frankel and Michael Kalt, co-owners of the Tampa Bay Rays, who reached the World Series last season with one of the lowest budgets in baseball.
Lee and PMG already had a deal in the pipeline to buy a stake in Swiss second-tier team FC Thun, which was completed in November 2019, but Ganaye was now assisting the search for clubs in new markets. They looked at several in Scotland but the Scottish FA’s rules on dual-ownership made that difficult, so they returned their attention to France, where Toulouse were available, and Belgium, perhaps the most open league in Europe to multi-club ownership.
By May, they had found their next reclamation project.
Thorsten Theys owns an accountancy firm in Ostend and one of his biggest clients in recent years has been KV Oostende, the Belgian city’s football team.
By 2019, they were, as Theys puts it, “in a terrible mess”. Belgian pharmaceuticals billionaire Marc Coucke, the club’s majority shareholder since 2013, had handed them over to his family investment firm in 2017 when he traded up to buy Anderlecht, one of Belgium’s biggest clubs.
That left Oostende adrift and they were second from bottom of the country’s top division when the season was halted and then cancelled because of COVID-19. By that point, they were £9 million in debt but worse was to come when the Belgian football federation withdrew the club’s licence, without which they could not continue.
Theys had been brought in almost full time to help with the licence application, come up with a business plan and find fresh investment. In six months, he received offers from 18 different parties, most of them who were agents trying to gain control of a club so they could use it as a shop window.
“Paul (Conway’s) group was the clear winner,” explains Theys, who, like Ganaye, was somebody PMG wanted to keep.
“He said he’d like me to become chief operating officer. Well, what he really said was ’90 per cent of Belgians are corrupt or incompetent, and many are both, but I like you’.
“Paul is very direct. I’ve heard his sales pitch a few times now — as he’s looking for other clubs — and it’s always the same. He tells it like it is. In business, you don’t achieve anything by always trying to be the nice guy. He’s already scared the local council by threatening to move to a new ground — he did the same thing in Barnsley.
“He’s not interested in trying to please people, he’s interested in results. What you see is what you get but he’s actually very funny.
“About 75 per cent of the club’s staff start panicking when Paul visits. There’s a saying here about wanting to see how the sun is shining upon someone before you approach them. He reminds me of my father in that way. But then they see the two of us eating sandwiches and laughing about South Park and know everything is OK.”
And everything is OK.
First, Ganaye was installed as president. Then Oostende got their licence back, enabling them to start the new season in the Pro League’s Division A. Then, having lost their first two games, they started winning.
How? The same way they started winning at Nice, Barnsley and Thun. They got younger, they hired a counter-pressing specialist from RB Leipzig’s academy to coach the side and they blitzed teams with double their budget.
That coach, Alexander Blessin, is now in the frame to replace Chris Wilder at Sheffield United. If he is offered the job, his bosses are unlikely to stand in his way.
Just as they did when Struber left Barnsley for the New York Red Bulls last year (the two organisations seem to trade coaches), they will bank the compensation and unearth another gem. They will already know who the next best counter-pressing teams are in European football, that is how they found Struber’s replacement Ismael at Austrian side LASK.
“All PMG sides try to take the ball in your half and do something in the chaos,” says Theys. “This works better against the better teams, though, and not so well against teams that park the bus.
“But look, I’m an accountant: I’m happy when debit and credit are in balance. I know nothing about football. I watch it in the same way my mother watches it.”
Oostende are fourth in the table. Club Brugge are champions, 16 points clear, with three to play. Antwerp are second, five points ahead of Oostende, Genk third, one ahead, and Anderlecht fifth, level on points but behind Oostende because they have won fewer games. The top two qualify for the Champions League, the third-placed team goes to the Europa League and fourth and fifth will play in the inaugural Europa Conference League.
Leuven and Beerschot, four and five points back, could still spoil the party, particularly Beerschot, who Oostende play next weekend. Their two other games, though, are against the bottom two sides, hence Theys’ remark about parked buses. But whatever happens over the next fortnight, Oostende’s season is a minor miracle.
“The club was heading for relegation or even worse,” says Theys. “Anybody taking over would have been treated like a saviour and they were. But then fans and the media saw that Barnsley and Thun had made bad starts to the season and started to ask if these guys knew what they were doing.
“I remember telling sponsors we were going to play this high-press style, with an inexperienced coach who knew nothing about Belgium and a load of young guys we’d found using data — to say they were sceptical is an understatement.
“Now, they’re talking about Nobel prizes. Everybody can feel the positivity: fans, sponsors, staff, players, the city. We thought with COVID we might struggle on the commercial side but it’s been the opposite. We’ve done more renewals and we’ve signed another lead sponsor.
“And we’re getting lots of publicity. There’s a documentary coming out here next month about us (Kustboys: Make Oostende Great Again). It will be like Sunderland ‘Til I Die. So, it’s been the worst year for Belgian football since World War II but a good year for us.
“The media are ready to crown Alex coach of the year and everyone is looking at our young stars, (Senegalese striker Makhtar) Gueye, (Zambian striker Fashion) Sakala, (Belgian defender Artur) Theate. Gauthier is on the Pro League assembly and they listen when we speak.
“You know those pictures you see on Twitter? How it started and how it’s going? It’s like that. This is a resurrection.”
But do not just take his word for it.
“The financial problems were huge. We were almost bankrupt,” says Peter Van Nuffel, president of Kustboys, the supporters’ federation. “We had already started a crowdfunding scheme to save the club.
“We knew a bit about Barnsley but they weren’t a huge success at the time. I met Mr Conway when PMG bought the club and he explained their data system. I believed in the process.
“At the beginning of the season we were favourites to be relegated but we soon became appreciated for the way we play. The fans are delighted. We are alive, there is a good vibe between club and supporters and we play attractive football.”
Michel Platini won two French player of the year awards with AS Nancy in the 1970s, scoring the only goal when they claimed their greatest prize, the Coupe de France in 1978. But by the end of last year, those memories were almost the only thing the club’s fans had left.
“We had been in a difficult position for years, on and off the field,” explains Juliette Schang, editor of the Fans of Nancy website.
“The president, Jacques Rousselot, wanted to sell the club but couldn’t — we had big financial difficulties and the French soccer authorities demoted us in 2019. The president had to put four million euros in to save us.
“Many Nancy fans were grateful to Rousselot, because without him there would be no soccer in Nancy. He was in charge for 25 years, so the fact he sold the club scared a lot of fans.
“I didn’t know Pacific Media well, so I wasn’t happy or worried when they took over. My attitude was wait and see.”
PMG, Lee, Kalt and Krishen Sud, a Connecticut-based investor in the healthcare sector, bought AS Nancy on December 31, when Nancy were 17th in Ligue 2 and on a nine-game winless run.
In the three months since, they have lost just twice in 14 games and are now eighth in the table. With only eight games to play, they are 15 points behind third-placed Toulouse, the team PMG looked at in 2019. Too much to do this year but Schang has seen enough to believe Nancy could go up next season.
“If you started the season in January, we would be top,” she says. “We press more, it shows. The team hasn’t got much younger yet because only one player joined us in January.
“Yes, there are some fans who are concerned about being considered a satellite club but I’m waiting to see what happens this summer. Gauthier Ganaye seems to be involved in the life of the club, so I expect movement from the investors.”
You can take that for granted, Juliette.
Ganaye was speaking to The Athletic as he drove to work at Nancy’s Stade Marcel Picot. He is now in charge of Oostende and Nancy but what some would see as an impossible task, he believes is the group’s competitive advantage.
“We make decisions in minutes that other clubs spend days thinking about,” he explains. “Our dedication to data, our recruitment, our style of play, they are almost automatic now.
“But if you ask me what the difference is between us and other clubs, it is the speed of our decision-making. Me, Paul (Conway), Chien (Lee), Michael (Kalt), it’s not a lot of people.”
Conway, who is never in one place for long, agrees.
“Our model has a sound prospectus and we’re pretty ruthless,” he says. “We are a small team and it was inevitable there would be pushback to what we wanted to do at first at Nice and Barnsley.
“But we’re three years in now and Barnsley are humming. Whatever happens in the run-in, we’ll be competitive again next season. Apart from one player, we own the whole squad and they’re young.
“The need for change in Belgium was more dramatic because they were in a worse shape. But the plan was the same: youth, high press, a coach who knows the system. The whole league thought we’d be a joke but we’ve proved our point.
“There wasn’t much we could do at Nancy this season but we’ve shown the coach (the highly experienced Jean-Louis Garcia) our data. We asked him why he was playing all these guys aged 30 or over, who account for 40 per cent of the wage bill. He said, ‘Because they’re our best-paid players’. We said, ‘How’s that working out?’.
“We had a France under-17 international (Warren Bondo) in the youth team. We said, ‘The kid’s got to play, he’s our best prospect, don’t hide him’.
“If you have a strategy, stick with it. There’s so much noise in football and people just don’t have the balls to stick to their guns. We got a call from an English club recently because they were thinking about hiring a German coach who didn’t know the EFL. What did they do? They went with an English guy. They didn’t have the guts to do it.
“It’s the same with agents. When we want to sell a player, we have a good idea of who might need him. So, we call them up and ask if they want to make us an offer — 90 per cent of clubs don’t do this. They leave it to agents. Oostende’s income was about seven million euros last year but they paid out 2.5 million euros to agents.”
Under PMG, Oostende’s entire transfer spend has been less than €400,000.
Conway, as you would imagine, is evangelical about the benefits of multi-club models. Savings in the back office and gains to be made in player development, recruitment and trading.
As an example, earlier this week Oostende got a six-figure sum from Swedish side IFK Norkkoping for 33-year-old Icelandic international Ari Skulason.
“Most clubs don’t care and wouldn’t even know the Swedish transfer window was still open,” says Conway. “We were able to sell a player with three months left on his contract and it opens up minutes for our 20-year-old left-back.”
Conway believes it is PMG’s presence in so many markets, and the direct relationships it is making, that enable the group to make moves like this.
And there are benefits to being part of something bigger for the players themselves.
A £990,000 signing from Luton in the summer of 2017, Cameron McGeehan, finished last season on loan from Barnsley at Portsmouth. At 25, he knew he was older than the players Ismael would be basing his Barnsley side on this season and he was in the last year of his contract.
“I didn’t really fit into the new manager’s plans,” says McGeehan. “But I had stayed in touch with Gauthier and he knew I was interested in playing abroad.
“So, when he took over at Oostende, he gave me a call and I jumped at the chance to do something different. I didn’t know much about Belgium or the Belgian league but it’s been great. The standard is high, the facilities are good and you’ve got some really big clubs like Brugge and Anderlecht.
“As I’m a bit older than their typical player, I think they thought I’d be one of the leaders.”
That plan was working well until mid-January, when the Northern Ireland youth international picked up an ankle injury. But he will back next season and he is convinced Oostende will be even stronger.
“Barnsley were using ‘Moneyball’ ideas before the Americans bought them — I think that’s one of the reasons why they chose Barnsley, because they shared a philosophy,” he says.
“It’s why Barnsley bought me from Luton. They were looking for players who were a bit undervalued. I don’t completely understand the system they use but Gauthier has told me a little bit about it. They look for certain characteristics. For a midfielder, I had a high goal expectancy. Barnsley saw that and thought the goals would come if I got the right opportunities.
“Young players and German coaches. It’s basically the gegenpressing system that Jurgen Klopp has made famous. They get players from clubs and leagues you’ve never heard of and you sometimes wonder how that’s going to work, but it does.
“Paul Conway has talked about young players being hungry. I’m not saying older players aren’t motivated but when you get a group of young players together you do get a lot of energy and desire.”
Is it also because they run further?
“Not really,” he says. “I’ve heard Klopp talk about this, too. We try to win the ball higher up the pitch and that should save us some running.
“There is an emphasis on sprinting and reacting quickly, though. There are slight differences between the managers, too. I haven’t played for him but the boys at Barnsley tell me the new manager wants a really aggressive press. He says if one goes, we all go.
“Stendel was a bit like that. He used clips of birds migrating to show us how they all go together as one. Struber was a bit more strategic. He wanted us to pick our moments. Blessin, the manager at Oostende, is more like that.”
Theys has had to bring in an associate partner to run his accountancy firm now, as “120 per cent” of his time is taken up by Oostende.
“Next year will be the big challenge,” he says. “We have to confirm this to prove we didn’t just win the lottery this year. I’m sure we will because I know Gauthier has his targets and if we make five, six, seven million in player sales, it will all get reinvested in making the squad even more valuable.”
Some will say Barnsley won the lottery last season when they narrowly avoided relegation. They finished one point clear of Charlton and two ahead of Wigan but the Lancashire side were docked 12 points for going into an administration when their Chinese owners stunned everyone by simply withdrawing all funding with half a dozen games to play.
There is no disputing that Wigan’s fate was harsh but if any Championship club deserved a break last season it was Barnsley. They had the lowest budget and the youngest side in the division, and were bottom of the table when the pandemic halted the season in March.
But Conway told The Athletic at the time he thought they would be better equipped than most for Project Restart’s congested calendar and he was right. The last nine games brought four wins and two draws, including victories over Nottingham Forest and play-off bound Brentford on the last day of the season.
Never one to miss an opportunity, though, it is no surprise that Conway, Ganaye and Kalt were among the first to contact Wigan’s administrators about buying the club. They could not agree a deal but they are still looking to add to their portfolio, with clubs in Austria, England, the Netherlands and further afield on their radar.
In February, they bought Danish second-tier side Esbjerg FB. With 10 games of the regular season to play, they are a point off second place.
As Theys puts it: “When you’re an entrepreneur, the real achievement is to do it again. It’s the same with great writers. You can’t just write one good book, you’ve got to write 10.”
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Donderdag 15 april 2021 om 00:11 uur |
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BLEISWIJK-1
De nieuwe Pogba? Artikel uit 2018
Dhoraso Moreo Klas wil slagen in Den Bosch: `Hopelijk zijn de kilometers het dubbel en dwars waard`
Alles heeft jongeling Dhoraso Moreo Klas ervoor over om te slagen bij FC Den Bosch. ,,Ik wil elke dag laten zien dat ik beter ben dan de rest."
Joris Smeur 13-09-18, 14
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Het traject tussen de stations Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA en `s-Hertogenbosch Centraal kan Dhoraso Moreo Klas (17) inmiddels dromen. Zo’n vier à vijf dagen in de week gaat zijn wekker in alle vroegte af, om vervolgens per spoor naar het zuiden des lands af te reizen. De tas met voetbalspullen heeft Klas de avond ervoor vaak al ingepakt.
Mijn ultieme wens om profvoetballer te worden bij FC Den Bosch.
Dhoraso Moreo Klas
Eerlijk en bescheiden als de Amsterdammer is, geeft hij toe dat zijn week soms best wat minder vol mag zitten. ,,Maar ik weet waar ik het voor doe. Mijn ultieme wens is om profvoetballer te worden bij FC Den Bosch. Elke keer als ik in de trein zit en daar aan denk, krijg ik vanzelf nieuwe energie", laat Klas glimlachend weten.
De aanvallend ingestelde middenvelder had afgelopen seizoen de op één na jongste debutant in de geschiedenis van FC Den Bosch kunnen worden. Tot een invalbeurt bij het eerste elftal kwam het uiteindelijk niet. ,,Ik heb drie competitiewedstrijden op de reservebank gezeten. Dan hoop je natuurlijk dat je op een gegeven moment mag gaan warmlopen en enkele speelminuten mee kunt pikken", blikt Klas terug op het afgelopen seizoen.
Stormachtig
Inmiddels is hij een volwaardig selectielid van Jong FC Den Bosch. Op basis van zijn leeftijd zou Klas normaal gesproken pas het eerste seizoen in het onder-19 team actief zijn. Dankzij zijn stormachtige ontwikkeling mocht het talent die lichting van FC Den Bosch overslaan.
Een nóg grotere stap omhoog leek deze zomer in de maak. Hoofdtrainer Wil Boessen wilde Klas tijdens de voorbereiding graag aan het werk zien. Vervolgens kwam er een hele zwik buitenlandse namen richting Den Bosch en zakte de middenvelder een aantal plaatsen in de pikorde. Opvallend genoeg put Klas daar kracht uit. ,,De concurrentie voor een plek bij het eerste elftal is nu groter dan ooit. Dat betekent dat ik extra hard moet werken om te laten zien dat ik een nieuwe kans verdien", zo spreekt de Amsterdammer opnieuw volwassen taal.
Gekscherend
Door zijn huidige ploeggenoten bij Jong FC Den Bosch werd hij al eens gekscherend vergeleken met Paul Pogba. ,,Qua type voetballer klopt dat een heel eind. Ik ben redelijk balvast en heb een goed schot in mijn rechterbeen. Je zult mij alleen niet met gekleurde haren of gekke voetbalschoenen zien. Ik ben gewoon Dhoraso Moreo Klas", klinkt het zelfbewust.
Wat ik nog steeds niet begrijp is dat de bussen bijna altijd te laat komen.
Dhoraso Moreo Klas
Hij reist overigens niet alleen naar Den Bosch om te voetballen. Tegenwoordig is Klas er ook student Sport en Recreatie aan het Koning Willem 1 College. Aan de Brabantse mentaliteit is de Amsterdammer naar eigen zeggen redelijk gewend geraakt. ,,Maar wat ik nog steeds niet begrijp is dat de bussen bijna altijd te laat komen. In Amsterdam gebeurt zoiets zelden”, lacht Klas hardop.
Gelukkig stopt lijndienst 158 meestal wel op tijd bij de halte `Stadion de Vliert`. Daar wacht voor het talent weer een nieuwe gelegenheid om trainer/coach Erik van der Ven van zijn kwaliteiten te overtuigen. Klas: ,,Hopelijk zijn de vele kilometers het straks dubbel en dwars waard."
Dhoraso Moreo Klas wil slagen in Den Bosch: `Hopelijk zijn de kilometers het dubbel en dwars waard`
Alles heeft jongeling Dhoraso Moreo Klas ervoor over om te slagen bij FC Den Bosch. ,,Ik wil elke dag laten zien dat ik beter ben dan de rest."
Joris Smeur 13-09-18, 14
0Het traject tussen de stations Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA en `s-Hertogenbosch Centraal kan Dhoraso Moreo Klas (17) inmiddels dromen. Zo’n vier à vijf dagen in de week gaat zijn wekker in alle vroegte af, om vervolgens per spoor naar het zuiden des lands af te reizen. De tas met voetbalspullen heeft Klas de avond ervoor vaak al ingepakt.
Mijn ultieme wens om profvoetballer te worden bij FC Den Bosch.
Dhoraso Moreo Klas
Eerlijk en bescheiden als de Amsterdammer is, geeft hij toe dat zijn week soms best wat minder vol mag zitten. ,,Maar ik weet waar ik het voor doe. Mijn ultieme wens is om profvoetballer te worden bij FC Den Bosch. Elke keer als ik in de trein zit en daar aan denk, krijg ik vanzelf nieuwe energie", laat Klas glimlachend weten.
De aanvallend ingestelde middenvelder had afgelopen seizoen de op één na jongste debutant in de geschiedenis van FC Den Bosch kunnen worden. Tot een invalbeurt bij het eerste elftal kwam het uiteindelijk niet. ,,Ik heb drie competitiewedstrijden op de reservebank gezeten. Dan hoop je natuurlijk dat je op een gegeven moment mag gaan warmlopen en enkele speelminuten mee kunt pikken", blikt Klas terug op het afgelopen seizoen.
Stormachtig
Inmiddels is hij een volwaardig selectielid van Jong FC Den Bosch. Op basis van zijn leeftijd zou Klas normaal gesproken pas het eerste seizoen in het onder-19 team actief zijn. Dankzij zijn stormachtige ontwikkeling mocht het talent die lichting van FC Den Bosch overslaan.
Een nóg grotere stap omhoog leek deze zomer in de maak. Hoofdtrainer Wil Boessen wilde Klas tijdens de voorbereiding graag aan het werk zien. Vervolgens kwam er een hele zwik buitenlandse namen richting Den Bosch en zakte de middenvelder een aantal plaatsen in de pikorde. Opvallend genoeg put Klas daar kracht uit. ,,De concurrentie voor een plek bij het eerste elftal is nu groter dan ooit. Dat betekent dat ik extra hard moet werken om te laten zien dat ik een nieuwe kans verdien", zo spreekt de Amsterdammer opnieuw volwassen taal.
Gekscherend
Door zijn huidige ploeggenoten bij Jong FC Den Bosch werd hij al eens gekscherend vergeleken met Paul Pogba. ,,Qua type voetballer klopt dat een heel eind. Ik ben redelijk balvast en heb een goed schot in mijn rechterbeen. Je zult mij alleen niet met gekleurde haren of gekke voetbalschoenen zien. Ik ben gewoon Dhoraso Moreo Klas", klinkt het zelfbewust.
Wat ik nog steeds niet begrijp is dat de bussen bijna altijd te laat komen.
Dhoraso Moreo Klas
Hij reist overigens niet alleen naar Den Bosch om te voetballen. Tegenwoordig is Klas er ook student Sport en Recreatie aan het Koning Willem 1 College. Aan de Brabantse mentaliteit is de Amsterdammer naar eigen zeggen redelijk gewend geraakt. ,,Maar wat ik nog steeds niet begrijp is dat de bussen bijna altijd te laat komen. In Amsterdam gebeurt zoiets zelden”, lacht Klas hardop.
Gelukkig stopt lijndienst 158 meestal wel op tijd bij de halte `Stadion de Vliert`. Daar wacht voor het talent weer een nieuwe gelegenheid om trainer/coach Erik van der Ven van zijn kwaliteiten te overtuigen. Klas: ,,Hopelijk zijn de vele kilometers het straks dubbel en dwars waard."
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Woensdag 14 april 2021 om 19:52 uur |
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BLEISWIJK-1
Tommy schreef:
Nou denk alleen de laatste 2.
Gravenbergh loopt af bij sparta en zal de clubs ook niet voor het uitkiezen hebben.
Ik weet niet of de laatste 2 uit hun contract lopen anders vallen ze af.
En ik hoop dat ado de optie van pascu licht maar ik vrees het niet anders was dat al wel gedaan
Nou denk alleen de laatste 2.
Gravenbergh loopt af bij sparta en zal de clubs ook niet voor het uitkiezen hebben.
Ik weet niet of de laatste 2 uit hun contract lopen anders vallen ze af.
En ik hoop dat ado de optie van pascu licht maar ik vrees het niet anders was dat al wel gedaan
Van Mieghem en Gravenberch zijn transfervrij. En Duyvensteyn heeft een optie is zijn contract die nog niet gelicht is. Stel dat die gelicht wordt, dan nog kan je hem voor een ton overnemen. Die jongen heeft een Jumbo salaris bij Helmond Sport.
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Dinsdag 30 maart 2021 om 12:57 uur |
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BLEISWIJK-1
Mijn KKD wensenlijstje voor 1 april en het nieuwe seizoen.
Kishna - optie lichten
Pascu - optie lichten
Botermans - verlengen
V. Kleef - verlengen
Steyn - open breken en verlengen
Gravenberch (Sparta)
Duyvenstein (Helmond Sport), 9 goals en 3 assists
Van Mieghem (De Graafschap), 8 goals en 10 assists
Kishna - optie lichten
Pascu - optie lichten
Botermans - verlengen
V. Kleef - verlengen
Steyn - open breken en verlengen
Gravenberch (Sparta)
Duyvenstein (Helmond Sport), 9 goals en 3 assists
Van Mieghem (De Graafschap), 8 goals en 10 assists
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Dinsdag 30 maart 2021 om 10:37 uur |
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Aad
Tommy
Kees schreef:
Zie tt rtvw.
Zie tt rtvw.
DEN HAAG - Wat de reden is dat ADO Den Haag op stel en sprong verkocht lijkt te worden? De Chinese overheid wil niet langer dat bedrijven investeren in Europese clubs. Sterker nog, clubeigenaren die hun aandelen vervolgens met verlies verkopen belanden in de gevangenis. Dat scenario dreigt ook voor ADO-eigenaar Wang Hui.
Onderzoekscollectief Follow The Money heeft anderhalve maand lang onderzoek gedaan naar de situatie bij ADO Den Haag. Hun conclusie: nadat Chinese zakenmensen op voorspraak van de regering rond 2015 massaal gingen investeren in Europese voetbalclubs om China een zo hoog mogelijke klassering op de ranglijst van wereldvoetbalbond FIFA te bezorgen (ADO Den Haag werd in 2015 overgenomen door het Chinese bedrijf United Vansen, red.), wil president Xi Jinping nu dat bedrijven daar resoluut mee stoppen. En dat gebeurt dan ook.
`Naar de president moet een individu luisteren. Als je er geen gehoor aan geeft, dien je de staat niet. Dat kan hele grote consequenties hebben`, legt FTM-journalist Pepijn Keppel uit in de uitzending van Radio West Sport. Volgens Keppel vindt Xi Jinping dat investeringen binnen China moeten blijven. `Daarom worden clubs nu verkocht.` De Italiaanse topclub Internazionale zit in hetzelfde schuitje.
Onderzoekscollectief Follow The Money heeft anderhalve maand lang onderzoek gedaan naar de situatie bij ADO Den Haag. Hun conclusie: nadat Chinese zakenmensen op voorspraak van de regering rond 2015 massaal gingen investeren in Europese voetbalclubs om China een zo hoog mogelijke klassering op de ranglijst van wereldvoetbalbond FIFA te bezorgen (ADO Den Haag werd in 2015 overgenomen door het Chinese bedrijf United Vansen, red.), wil president Xi Jinping nu dat bedrijven daar resoluut mee stoppen. En dat gebeurt dan ook.
`Naar de president moet een individu luisteren. Als je er geen gehoor aan geeft, dien je de staat niet. Dat kan hele grote consequenties hebben`, legt FTM-journalist Pepijn Keppel uit in de uitzending van Radio West Sport. Volgens Keppel vindt Xi Jinping dat investeringen binnen China moeten blijven. `Daarom worden clubs nu verkocht.` De Italiaanse topclub Internazionale zit in hetzelfde schuitje.
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Zaterdag 27 maart 2021 om 17:45 uur |
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Advertentie
FFL
WAAROM WE DIT PUBLICEREN:
Waar gaat dit verhaal over?
Het Chinese bedrijf United Vansen, eigendom van Wang Hui, kocht ADO Den Haag in 2015. In zes jaar tijd investeerde de nieuwe eigenaar in totaal bijna 20 miljoen euro in de voetbalclub. Het was nooit een hartelijk huwelijk; het voelde eerder als een moetje. Nu zijn er bovendien financiële problemen: de club heeft een structureel begrotingstekort, een negatief eigen vermogen en dreigt deze zomer uit de eredivisie te degraderen. United Vansen wil van ADO af.
Waarom is dit van belang?
De eigenaar van ADO Den Haag, United Vansen, is gelieerd aan de Communistische Partij China, zo blijkt uit onderzoek van Follow the Money. Dat zou zowel de onverwachte aan- als verkoop van ADO Den Haag kunnen verklaren: rond 2015 was er een golf van Europese clubs die door Chinese investeerders werden opgekocht, en nu, vijf jaar later, proberen zij de clubs massaal te verkopen. Dat heeft alles te maken met het beleid van president Xi Jinping.
Hoe heeft FTM dit onderzocht?
Voor dit artikel is gebruikt gemaakt van open bronnenonderzoek, jaarverslagen, en interviews met betrokkenen die zitting hadden in de raad van commissarissen, of het bestuur van ADO Den Haag, of er trainer waren. Hun namen zijn bekend bij de redactie.
WAS DIT KADER NUTTIG?
Wang Hui draagt een zwart trainingsjasje met op zijn borst het groen-gele logo van ADO Den Haag. Hij loopt moeizaam door de hellende spelerstunnel het veld op. Het is 2 februari 2015. Wang doet mee aan de training – als enige met een muts op zijn hoofd. Eerst zwaait hij met de spelersgroep zijn hamstrings los. Het ene been de lucht in, de ander op de grond. Daarna aansluitpassen en een afsluitende rondo. Het voetenwerk van de Chinese eigenaar lijkt wat roestig.
Een week eerder kocht Wang de Haagse club voor grofweg 8,5 miljoen euro van de Nederlandse zakenman Mark van der Kallen. ADO werd daarmee de eerste Europese club met een Chinese eigenaar. Er heerst behoedzame opwinding in de hofstad. Wang wil dat ADO Den Haag ‘binnen vijf jaar een bekende club in Europa is’. Kapitaalinjecties van zijn Chinese bedrijf United Vansen, dat sportevenementen organiseert, moeten dat mogelijk maken. UVS, zoals het bedrijf door ingewijden wordt genoemd, heeft een behoorlijk track record. In 2008 hielp het de slotceremonie te organiseren van de Olympische Spelen in Beijing, tussen 2009 en 2015 organiseerde UVS Italiaanse, Engelse, Spaanse en Franse topwedstrijden in China.
Wat was hun plan? Waarom pakken ze nu plots hun biezen? En wie zijn de Chinezen achter ADO eigenlijk?
Nu, ruim zes jaar later, staat ADO Den Haag op de laatste plaats van de eredivisie. United Vansen wil van zijn aandelen af. De Haagse club werd inderdaad bekend in Europa – helaas niet vanwege uitzonderlijk sportieve prestaties, maar vanwege hun Chinese eigenaar. Ingewijden zeggen tegen Follow the Money ‘nooit te hebben begrepen waarom de Chinezen investeerden in de Haagse voetbalclub’. Wat was hun plan? Waarom pakken ze nu plots hun biezen? En wie zijn de Chinezen achter ADO eigenlijk?
Turbulente verstandhouding
In de eerste maanden van 2014 meldt de Chinese zakenman Chun Li zich bij Mark van der Kallen: hij treedt op als bemiddelaar voor United Vansen, dat ADO Den Haag wil sponsoren. Niet veel later vraagt Chun aan Van der Kallen of de club wellicht te koop is. In juni 2014 komen United Vansen en Van der Kallen tot een principeovereenkomst. Een kleine maand later stemt ook de gemeente Den Haag, die een prioriteitsaandeel bezit, met de overname in.
Het geld uit China laat lang op zich wachten. Tot drie keer toe verstrijkt de betalingstermijn, maar in januari 2015 wordt het geld eindelijk overgemaakt en komt ADO definitief in handen van Wang.
Daarna volgen turbulente jaren. In april 2015 maakt UVS 1,5 miljoen euro naar de Haagse club over, maar in december 2015 komt slechts de helft van de afgesproken 3,7 miljoen euro binnen. Opnieuw worden meerdere betalingstermijnen overschreden. ‘Ik heb spijt dat ik in december toen niet ben opgestapt,’ zegt toenmalig algemeen directeur Jan Willem Wigt tegen Follow the Money. ‘Ik ben blijven zitten in de hoop dat het goed zou komen. Maar het kwam niet goed.’
"Wang Terry bemoeit zich zelfs met de wedstrijdshirts van sponsor Errea. Hij wil die in China laten namaken – om de kosten te drukken"
Het uitblijven van het geld uit China brengt ADO financieel in de problemen. De kosten van de club stijgen, de omzet niet. Lucratieve transfers blijven eveneens uit. Sinds de komst van UVS schrijft ADO alleen nog maar rode cijfers. In 2018 zakt het eigen vermogen onder de nullijn. Het tekort wordt opgevangen met een achtergestelde lening van UVS, die in 2020 voor een groot gedeelte wordt omgezet in eigen vermogen.
Ondertussen bemoeit Wang Terry, de zoon van grootaandeelhouder Wang Hui, zich intensief met het reilen en zeilen van de club. Ook met het transferbeleid, zeggen meerdere betrokkenen. Terry weigert ADO-spits Michiel Kramer te verkopen en wil in 2015 dat de Hondurese speler Rubilio Castillo wordt aangetrokken, voor 800 duizend euro. Niemand bij ADO kent Castillo, maar dat maakt de grootaandeelhouder niets uit. Terry staat erop dat de Hondurese speler komt, daar dient naar geluisterd te worden. Castillo’s vliegticket naar Nederland is al bijna geboekt als de raad van commissarissen en algemeen directeur Wigt de deal laten afketsen.
Terry oppert voorts om Chinese spelers naar Den Haag te halen, die volgens ingewijden het niveau amper aan kunnen. Spelers van buiten de Europese Unie zijn bovendien een gevoelig punt in Den Haag, omdat zij minstens 150 procent van een gemiddeld eredivisie-salaris moeten verdienen. Zelfs ADO’s eigen topspelers verdienen dat niet. Terry bemoeit zich zelfs met de wedstrijdshirts van sponsor Errea, die hij op een bepaald moment in China wil laten namaken – om de kosten te drukken.
GELDSPOREN IN DE SPORT
Met (top)sport zijn grote financiële belangen gemoeid. Niet zelden leidt dat tot vuil spel.
Volg dit dossier en krijg een seintje bij een nieuw artikel.
INSCHRIJVEN
Op 19 april 2016 is de maat vol voor algemeen directeur Wigt. Hij stapt op, na nog geen jaar onder Chinees bewind. De grootaandeelhouder laat in een verklaring weten niet verder te willen met hem. Volgens Wigt klopt daar niets van. ‘Ik zou eigenlijk maar een seizoen als directeur werkzaam zijn, maar ik was het he-le-maal zat om aan het lijntje gehouden te worden.’
Een dag later wordt Mattijs Manders aangesteld als interim-directeur. Omdat de betalingen van de Chinese eigenaren aan ADO uitblijven, sleept de club zijn grootaandeelhouder in 2017 voor de rechter. De club wordt in het gelijk gesteld: United Vansen moet 2,48 miljoen euro betalen en de aandelen worden onder toezicht van de Ondernemingskamer geplaatst.
Na de rechtsgang bloeit de relatie tussen United Vansen en ADO Den Haag tijdelijk op. De betalingen worden min of meer op tijd voldaan, en de proflicentie van de KNVB wordt niet afgenomen. ADO Den Haag gaat in 2017 zelfs op trainingskamp in China.
Niemand weet precies hoe de geldstromen lopen: de Chinese grootaandeelhouder is daar niet transparant over
Wel zijn er zorgen over de zuiverheid van het geld, omdat de betalingen doorgaans niet afkomstig zijn van de rekening van United Vansen. Ingewijden zeggen dat het geld wordt overgemaakt via een entiteit in Hong Kong: ‘Omdat de betalingen vanuit China naar Nederland niet werden goedgekeurd. Via Hong Kong was dat wel mogelijk.’ De Rabobank, een partner van ADO Den Haag, is er niet gerust op. Daarom laat de club onderzoek uitvoeren door advocatenkantoor Dentons. Dat duurt een jaar, maar het geld blijkt koosjer. Toch is de twijfel niet helemaal uit de lucht. Niemand weet precies hoe de geldstromen lopen, omdat de Chinese grootaandeelhouder daar niet transparant over is.
Tot in mei 2019 Mattijs Manders besluit te vertrekken en de raad van commissarissen op zoek moet naar een nieuwe algemeen directeur. Volgens John van Ringelenstein, ex-voorzitter van ADO Den Haag en destijds lid van de rvc, had de grootaandeelhouder al iemand gevonden. De rvc staat buitenspel. Daardoor wordt het opnieuw onrustig bij de Haagse voetbalclub, en in oktober besluiten zowel Van Ringelenstein als rvc-voorzitter Ad Melkert op te stappen.
Tot dusver heeft de Chinese grootaandeelhouder 11 miljoen euro in de club gepompt, exclusief de 8,5 miljoen die aan ex-eigenaar Van der Kallen is betaald. Toch zit ADO Den Haag momenteel in de financiële problemen. United Vansen zou volgens Voetbal International opnieuw een betalingsachterstand van enkele miljoenen hebben opgebouwd en niet van plan zijn nog in de club te investeren.
Waar gaat dit verhaal over?
Het Chinese bedrijf United Vansen, eigendom van Wang Hui, kocht ADO Den Haag in 2015. In zes jaar tijd investeerde de nieuwe eigenaar in totaal bijna 20 miljoen euro in de voetbalclub. Het was nooit een hartelijk huwelijk; het voelde eerder als een moetje. Nu zijn er bovendien financiële problemen: de club heeft een structureel begrotingstekort, een negatief eigen vermogen en dreigt deze zomer uit de eredivisie te degraderen. United Vansen wil van ADO af.
Waarom is dit van belang?
De eigenaar van ADO Den Haag, United Vansen, is gelieerd aan de Communistische Partij China, zo blijkt uit onderzoek van Follow the Money. Dat zou zowel de onverwachte aan- als verkoop van ADO Den Haag kunnen verklaren: rond 2015 was er een golf van Europese clubs die door Chinese investeerders werden opgekocht, en nu, vijf jaar later, proberen zij de clubs massaal te verkopen. Dat heeft alles te maken met het beleid van president Xi Jinping.
Hoe heeft FTM dit onderzocht?
Voor dit artikel is gebruikt gemaakt van open bronnenonderzoek, jaarverslagen, en interviews met betrokkenen die zitting hadden in de raad van commissarissen, of het bestuur van ADO Den Haag, of er trainer waren. Hun namen zijn bekend bij de redactie.
WAS DIT KADER NUTTIG?
Wang Hui draagt een zwart trainingsjasje met op zijn borst het groen-gele logo van ADO Den Haag. Hij loopt moeizaam door de hellende spelerstunnel het veld op. Het is 2 februari 2015. Wang doet mee aan de training – als enige met een muts op zijn hoofd. Eerst zwaait hij met de spelersgroep zijn hamstrings los. Het ene been de lucht in, de ander op de grond. Daarna aansluitpassen en een afsluitende rondo. Het voetenwerk van de Chinese eigenaar lijkt wat roestig.
Een week eerder kocht Wang de Haagse club voor grofweg 8,5 miljoen euro van de Nederlandse zakenman Mark van der Kallen. ADO werd daarmee de eerste Europese club met een Chinese eigenaar. Er heerst behoedzame opwinding in de hofstad. Wang wil dat ADO Den Haag ‘binnen vijf jaar een bekende club in Europa is’. Kapitaalinjecties van zijn Chinese bedrijf United Vansen, dat sportevenementen organiseert, moeten dat mogelijk maken. UVS, zoals het bedrijf door ingewijden wordt genoemd, heeft een behoorlijk track record. In 2008 hielp het de slotceremonie te organiseren van de Olympische Spelen in Beijing, tussen 2009 en 2015 organiseerde UVS Italiaanse, Engelse, Spaanse en Franse topwedstrijden in China.
Wat was hun plan? Waarom pakken ze nu plots hun biezen? En wie zijn de Chinezen achter ADO eigenlijk?
Nu, ruim zes jaar later, staat ADO Den Haag op de laatste plaats van de eredivisie. United Vansen wil van zijn aandelen af. De Haagse club werd inderdaad bekend in Europa – helaas niet vanwege uitzonderlijk sportieve prestaties, maar vanwege hun Chinese eigenaar. Ingewijden zeggen tegen Follow the Money ‘nooit te hebben begrepen waarom de Chinezen investeerden in de Haagse voetbalclub’. Wat was hun plan? Waarom pakken ze nu plots hun biezen? En wie zijn de Chinezen achter ADO eigenlijk?
Turbulente verstandhouding
In de eerste maanden van 2014 meldt de Chinese zakenman Chun Li zich bij Mark van der Kallen: hij treedt op als bemiddelaar voor United Vansen, dat ADO Den Haag wil sponsoren. Niet veel later vraagt Chun aan Van der Kallen of de club wellicht te koop is. In juni 2014 komen United Vansen en Van der Kallen tot een principeovereenkomst. Een kleine maand later stemt ook de gemeente Den Haag, die een prioriteitsaandeel bezit, met de overname in.
Het geld uit China laat lang op zich wachten. Tot drie keer toe verstrijkt de betalingstermijn, maar in januari 2015 wordt het geld eindelijk overgemaakt en komt ADO definitief in handen van Wang.
Daarna volgen turbulente jaren. In april 2015 maakt UVS 1,5 miljoen euro naar de Haagse club over, maar in december 2015 komt slechts de helft van de afgesproken 3,7 miljoen euro binnen. Opnieuw worden meerdere betalingstermijnen overschreden. ‘Ik heb spijt dat ik in december toen niet ben opgestapt,’ zegt toenmalig algemeen directeur Jan Willem Wigt tegen Follow the Money. ‘Ik ben blijven zitten in de hoop dat het goed zou komen. Maar het kwam niet goed.’
"Wang Terry bemoeit zich zelfs met de wedstrijdshirts van sponsor Errea. Hij wil die in China laten namaken – om de kosten te drukken"
Het uitblijven van het geld uit China brengt ADO financieel in de problemen. De kosten van de club stijgen, de omzet niet. Lucratieve transfers blijven eveneens uit. Sinds de komst van UVS schrijft ADO alleen nog maar rode cijfers. In 2018 zakt het eigen vermogen onder de nullijn. Het tekort wordt opgevangen met een achtergestelde lening van UVS, die in 2020 voor een groot gedeelte wordt omgezet in eigen vermogen.
Ondertussen bemoeit Wang Terry, de zoon van grootaandeelhouder Wang Hui, zich intensief met het reilen en zeilen van de club. Ook met het transferbeleid, zeggen meerdere betrokkenen. Terry weigert ADO-spits Michiel Kramer te verkopen en wil in 2015 dat de Hondurese speler Rubilio Castillo wordt aangetrokken, voor 800 duizend euro. Niemand bij ADO kent Castillo, maar dat maakt de grootaandeelhouder niets uit. Terry staat erop dat de Hondurese speler komt, daar dient naar geluisterd te worden. Castillo’s vliegticket naar Nederland is al bijna geboekt als de raad van commissarissen en algemeen directeur Wigt de deal laten afketsen.
Terry oppert voorts om Chinese spelers naar Den Haag te halen, die volgens ingewijden het niveau amper aan kunnen. Spelers van buiten de Europese Unie zijn bovendien een gevoelig punt in Den Haag, omdat zij minstens 150 procent van een gemiddeld eredivisie-salaris moeten verdienen. Zelfs ADO’s eigen topspelers verdienen dat niet. Terry bemoeit zich zelfs met de wedstrijdshirts van sponsor Errea, die hij op een bepaald moment in China wil laten namaken – om de kosten te drukken.
GELDSPOREN IN DE SPORT
Met (top)sport zijn grote financiële belangen gemoeid. Niet zelden leidt dat tot vuil spel.
Volg dit dossier en krijg een seintje bij een nieuw artikel.
INSCHRIJVEN
Op 19 april 2016 is de maat vol voor algemeen directeur Wigt. Hij stapt op, na nog geen jaar onder Chinees bewind. De grootaandeelhouder laat in een verklaring weten niet verder te willen met hem. Volgens Wigt klopt daar niets van. ‘Ik zou eigenlijk maar een seizoen als directeur werkzaam zijn, maar ik was het he-le-maal zat om aan het lijntje gehouden te worden.’
Een dag later wordt Mattijs Manders aangesteld als interim-directeur. Omdat de betalingen van de Chinese eigenaren aan ADO uitblijven, sleept de club zijn grootaandeelhouder in 2017 voor de rechter. De club wordt in het gelijk gesteld: United Vansen moet 2,48 miljoen euro betalen en de aandelen worden onder toezicht van de Ondernemingskamer geplaatst.
Na de rechtsgang bloeit de relatie tussen United Vansen en ADO Den Haag tijdelijk op. De betalingen worden min of meer op tijd voldaan, en de proflicentie van de KNVB wordt niet afgenomen. ADO Den Haag gaat in 2017 zelfs op trainingskamp in China.
Niemand weet precies hoe de geldstromen lopen: de Chinese grootaandeelhouder is daar niet transparant over
Wel zijn er zorgen over de zuiverheid van het geld, omdat de betalingen doorgaans niet afkomstig zijn van de rekening van United Vansen. Ingewijden zeggen dat het geld wordt overgemaakt via een entiteit in Hong Kong: ‘Omdat de betalingen vanuit China naar Nederland niet werden goedgekeurd. Via Hong Kong was dat wel mogelijk.’ De Rabobank, een partner van ADO Den Haag, is er niet gerust op. Daarom laat de club onderzoek uitvoeren door advocatenkantoor Dentons. Dat duurt een jaar, maar het geld blijkt koosjer. Toch is de twijfel niet helemaal uit de lucht. Niemand weet precies hoe de geldstromen lopen, omdat de Chinese grootaandeelhouder daar niet transparant over is.
Tot in mei 2019 Mattijs Manders besluit te vertrekken en de raad van commissarissen op zoek moet naar een nieuwe algemeen directeur. Volgens John van Ringelenstein, ex-voorzitter van ADO Den Haag en destijds lid van de rvc, had de grootaandeelhouder al iemand gevonden. De rvc staat buitenspel. Daardoor wordt het opnieuw onrustig bij de Haagse voetbalclub, en in oktober besluiten zowel Van Ringelenstein als rvc-voorzitter Ad Melkert op te stappen.
Tot dusver heeft de Chinese grootaandeelhouder 11 miljoen euro in de club gepompt, exclusief de 8,5 miljoen die aan ex-eigenaar Van der Kallen is betaald. Toch zit ADO Den Haag momenteel in de financiële problemen. United Vansen zou volgens Voetbal International opnieuw een betalingsachterstand van enkele miljoenen hebben opgebouwd en niet van plan zijn nog in de club te investeren.
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Vrijdag 26 maart 2021 om 08:25 uur |
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Renearmand56
Riskeert ADO-baas Wang net als andere voormalig clubeigenaren celstraf in China?
Dat Wang Hui eigenaar is van ADO Den Haag, kan niet los worden gezien van zijn band met de Communistische Partij van de Chinese president Xi Jinping, blijkt uit onderzoek van Follow The Money. Maar nu hij de club met verlies dreigt te verkopen, loopt zijn familie een groot risico.
Marijn Abbenhuijs 26-03-21, 065
Dat ADO Den Haag begin 2015 werd overgenomen door het Chinese bedrijf United Vansen (UVS), heeft veel te maken met plannen die de Chinese president Xi Jinping in die periode had. Onderzoekscollectief Follow The Money (FTM) heeft de oorsprong van de aanwezigheid van UVS bij ADO onderzocht en stuitte op een duidelijke link met de Communistische Partij van de president. UVS, het bedrijf van Wang Hui, is voor 51 procent in bezit van de Jiahua East Holdings Group van Wang Yihui, de zwager van Wang Hui. Zij gingen beiden naar de Eerste Augustus School in Beijing, een communistische eliteschool waar ook Jinping zijn opleiding volgde.
Rond 2015 gingen Chinese zakenlui massaal investeren in Europese voetbalclubs. In het onderzoek van FTM zegt Simon Chadwick, hoogleraar Eurasian Sport aan de Emlyon Business School in het Franse Lyon, dat Jinping op deze manier het pad wilde effenen voor een hoge klassering voor China op de FIFA-wereldranglijst.
Wat de Chinese overheid niet wil, is dat er verlies wordt gemaakt bij de verkoop van ADO.
Maar in december 2016 draait dat volledig om. De Chinese overheid waarschuwde in People’s Daily, de belangrijkste krant van de Communistische Partij, ineens voor riskante investeringen in voetbalclubs. Kort daarna verkochten Chinese investeerders onder meer Atlético Madrid en Wolverhampton Wanderers. Vervolgens belandden voormalig clubeigenaren in China soms zelfs achter de tralies, omdat ze het land economische schade zouden hebben toegebracht, valt in het onderzoek van FTM te lezen.
In 2020 benadrukt de Chinese overheid opnieuw bezorgd te zijn over riskante buitenlandse investeringen. En dus probeert ook United Vansen van de aandelen van ADO Den Haag af te komen. Maar wat de Chinese overheid niet wil, is dat er verlies wordt gemaakt bij de verkoop. En dat gaat UVS simpelweg niet kunnen voorkomen, is duidelijk nu de verkoop aanstaande is.
Hoe dan ook, moet ook de familie Wang vrezen voor de gevolgen. Of daarbij hun vrijheid ook op het spel staat, hangt volgens Chadwick af van hun politieke status. ,,De positie van de ex-eigenaar van Wolverhampton Wanderers is bijvoorbeeld redelijk. Hij heeft in 2015 en in 2017 vastgezeten. Maar momenteel lijkt hij veilig, omdat zijn bedrijf een rol speelt bij de ontwikkeling van een coronavaccin. Strategisch en politiek is hij belangrijk. Dat zal ook het lot van de familie Wang bepalen.”
Dat Wang Hui eigenaar is van ADO Den Haag, kan niet los worden gezien van zijn band met de Communistische Partij van de Chinese president Xi Jinping, blijkt uit onderzoek van Follow The Money. Maar nu hij de club met verlies dreigt te verkopen, loopt zijn familie een groot risico.
Marijn Abbenhuijs 26-03-21, 06
5Dat ADO Den Haag begin 2015 werd overgenomen door het Chinese bedrijf United Vansen (UVS), heeft veel te maken met plannen die de Chinese president Xi Jinping in die periode had. Onderzoekscollectief Follow The Money (FTM) heeft de oorsprong van de aanwezigheid van UVS bij ADO onderzocht en stuitte op een duidelijke link met de Communistische Partij van de president. UVS, het bedrijf van Wang Hui, is voor 51 procent in bezit van de Jiahua East Holdings Group van Wang Yihui, de zwager van Wang Hui. Zij gingen beiden naar de Eerste Augustus School in Beijing, een communistische eliteschool waar ook Jinping zijn opleiding volgde.
Rond 2015 gingen Chinese zakenlui massaal investeren in Europese voetbalclubs. In het onderzoek van FTM zegt Simon Chadwick, hoogleraar Eurasian Sport aan de Emlyon Business School in het Franse Lyon, dat Jinping op deze manier het pad wilde effenen voor een hoge klassering voor China op de FIFA-wereldranglijst.
Wat de Chinese overheid niet wil, is dat er verlies wordt gemaakt bij de verkoop van ADO.
Maar in december 2016 draait dat volledig om. De Chinese overheid waarschuwde in People’s Daily, de belangrijkste krant van de Communistische Partij, ineens voor riskante investeringen in voetbalclubs. Kort daarna verkochten Chinese investeerders onder meer Atlético Madrid en Wolverhampton Wanderers. Vervolgens belandden voormalig clubeigenaren in China soms zelfs achter de tralies, omdat ze het land economische schade zouden hebben toegebracht, valt in het onderzoek van FTM te lezen.
In 2020 benadrukt de Chinese overheid opnieuw bezorgd te zijn over riskante buitenlandse investeringen. En dus probeert ook United Vansen van de aandelen van ADO Den Haag af te komen. Maar wat de Chinese overheid niet wil, is dat er verlies wordt gemaakt bij de verkoop. En dat gaat UVS simpelweg niet kunnen voorkomen, is duidelijk nu de verkoop aanstaande is.
Hoe dan ook, moet ook de familie Wang vrezen voor de gevolgen. Of daarbij hun vrijheid ook op het spel staat, hangt volgens Chadwick af van hun politieke status. ,,De positie van de ex-eigenaar van Wolverhampton Wanderers is bijvoorbeeld redelijk. Hij heeft in 2015 en in 2017 vastgezeten. Maar momenteel lijkt hij veilig, omdat zijn bedrijf een rol speelt bij de ontwikkeling van een coronavaccin. Strategisch en politiek is hij belangrijk. Dat zal ook het lot van de familie Wang bepalen.”
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Vrijdag 26 maart 2021 om 08:01 uur |
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ADODENHAAG
Het is weer een nachtmerrie geweest, het Chinese tijdperk. En eigenlijk zat het er vanaf het begin al niet in dat het met ze ging werken, ik denk dat ze zelf al snel spijt hebben gehad. Investeren in een voetbalclub blijft een andere tak van sport, en je moet het vooral niet doen als je geld wilt verdienen.
Ben benieuwd of we vooruit mogen denken nu.. te beginnen met terugpromoveren naar de Eredivisie.
Ben benieuwd of we vooruit mogen denken nu.. te beginnen met terugpromoveren naar de Eredivisie.
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Donderdag 25 maart 2021 om 14:14 uur |
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KR96
Dennis72 schreef:
Dat is een D H supporter ?
Die krijgt een vlek.omdat die iets van Ajax ziet
Dat is een D H supporter ?
Die krijgt een vlek.omdat die iets van Ajax ziet
Dat deze vent Ajax promoot in de VS en daarmee naam opbouwt in de sport vind ik niet bepaald tegen hem pleiten. Al redelijk bekend dus met Nederlandse manier van zakendoen, netwerk in de VS. Zie weinig verkeerds.
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Maandag 22 maart 2021 om 22:58 uur |
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