In the 1993-94 season, Fiorentina achieved double championships in the Italian League II and the Italian Cup. With the leadership of the General Manager Kenion, who is in charge of the club's commercial operations and spared no effort to promote, the gimmick of "Class B teams won the Italian Cup" to the greatest extent (at this time, the cup championships of various countries can participate in the European Cup Winners, and the championship quality is very high), which has made Fiorentina make great progress in market development and popularity.

The one-year sponsorship contracts signed by Fiorentina last summer have expired, and the more important sponsors during the Celticolie period, such as advertising sponsorship on the chest, also expired this summer. Therefore, before the World Cup began, Zhuang Mingge made Kenyon publicly open news: Fiorentina will openly bid for the team's sponsors next season at the club headquarters on July 31.

At the same time, Zhuang Mingge also asked Kenyon to classify the sponsored projects and set up a detailed list: from advertisements on the jersey chest, to billboards in the Frankie Stadium, to team cars and buses... there are more than 30 items in total.

Florence's move surprised the entire Italian football world, because the Italian clubs were not as commercial as later generations at this time. The methods used to win over team sponsors and suppliers are basically the habit of negotiating the sponsorship amount with the previous sponsors first, and then renewing the contract. They rarely take the initiative to change existing sponsors. Therefore, when they see Florence doing this behavior that is almost like a "money eye", they all secretly laugh at Florence's "materialism".

In the eyes of these people, Florence's behavior that is almost "looking forward" is tantamount to betraying the team's honor and dignity. Well-known companies will not choose to cooperate with such clubs for their own brand image.

Zhuang Mingge scoffed at this. The club's search for advertising sponsorship is a commercial act. Since the practice of open bidding can maximize the interests of Florence, why can't it be done? Do you have to wait until the Premier League teams surpass Serie A completely before Fiorentina can commercialize it? What logic! A bunch of conservative old antiques!

Not to mention Italy, which caused heated discussions due to Florence's behavior, in Tokyo, Japan at the same time, a group of vulgar old people sat around a conference table, seemingly arguing fiercely.

"Listen to me." An old man with gray hair in the middle of the conference table controlled the chaotic scene. "I have some ideas about the Italian affairs."

"Dear gentlemen, since Chairman Kawazune has spoken, let's listen to Mr. Chairman's opinions first."

This old man is Saburo Kawabuki, known as the "father of Japanese football", and Saburo Kawabuki, 58 years old. He still seems to retain his temperament when he played football. He participated in the Tokyo Olympics in the 1960s and won a valuable Olympic medal. He has successfully operated the J League for two years and was just promoted to chairman of the Japanese Football Association not long ago (previously vice chairman of the Japanese Football Association and chairman of the Japanese Professional League).

"Football was originally a very unattractive sport in Japan. Over the years, we have invested a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources to create a sense of momentum. Especially in the past two years, the Japanese companies represented by the representatives here have made a lot of contributions to this..."

"Mr. Kawazumi, we all admire your efforts for Japanese football... So, what do you think?" Since it has been discussed for a long time before, the person who had to interrupt Kawazumi Saburo's speech was a corporate representative of Honda.

Saburo Kawabuchi was very dissatisfied with someone interrupting his emotional speech, but he could not express it. After all, the current operation of Japanese football still depends on the investment of these big investors.

"Japan football is now in a bottleneck period. We need to let more young players and coaches learn from the advanced tactical systems and operating models in Europe. This public tender sponsor in Florence has just given us a very good opportunity."

"Dare you ask the Chairman, is there any connection between this tender in Florence and our overseas study plan?" A representative of the company sitting there obviously did not understand the mystery.

"Although Florence is just a new team, it has only been in the second division for a year. According to reliable information, its new boss has built a training base with a quality of no less than Milanello and medical facilities for the team. The training conditions must be first-class in Europe. At the same time, as a Serie A new team this season, Fiorentina can also strive for the European Cup Winners, so their competitive level can also be guaranteed." Saburo Kawabuchi patiently explained to the representatives of the company present. "You have had similar experience before, and you all know that those real European giant teams will not agree to help us train players now. Therefore, Fiorentina is our best choice at present. I think, since Fiorentina can even bid for public bidding, then their boss should not be indifferent to the high training fees we have given, right?"

"So that's it! Chairman Kawazuki is really far-sighted!" Although these representatives of Japanese companies do not understand football very well, they all have some enthusiasm for investing in football. After listening to the old man Kawazuki's explanation, they suddenly became enlightened and praised them.

"So, please select a few potential young players and discuss the specific training fee. I will fax the Florence Club in a few days."

...

So, on July 10, the Florence Club received a fax from Japan, which said that several large Japanese companies hope to arrange a Japanese player named Masato Masato to come to Florence for short-term training through cash sponsorship.

Several Japanese companies proposed a plan that Florence could arrange for the former Yuan Zhensheng to train with the team for three months, and they would pay a "training fee" of US$3 million. Regarding this interesting "training" plan, although Antonioni, who was in charge of the team's daily affairs, did not agree with this, but Kenyon, general manager in charge of marketing operations, showed a strong interest and directly took the fax to find Zhuang Mingge, who was still directing the "goal plan" at the manor in Little Groz at the time.

After reading this fax, Zhuang Mingge's idea was not that simple. He did not expect that his public bidding activity would lead to the "big fish" of Japanese football that was burning money everywhere.

However, seeing the desire of the Japanese to learn advanced football culture now, Zhuang Mingge doesn't mind because of the "generous" of the Japanese... Give them a few more opportunities to "generous".

"Haha, Manager Kenion, don't you think Japan only sends one player to Fiorentina for short-term training. Isn't it a bit too stingy? We can suggest that they send more potential players here to participate in the training. Hehe, then, you can tell the Japanese that it will not be a 3 million."

Kenyon deeply agrees with his boss's high opinion. Two men, one old and one young, smile, are full of longing for the future "money prospects" in order to find the same "hobby".

A day later, the Japanese received a fax from Florence. They were overjoyed and immediately replied that they accepted Zhuang Mingge's suggestion. Several major Japanese companies, Toyota, Sony, Mitsubishi, and Honda, who were spending money on a crazy future for Japanese football, sent their potential players to Florence for three months for training. They said that they would pay a total of US$10 million in training for four young players including Masasato, Kitazawa, Masayuki Okano, and Hiro Akira who participated in the short-term training.
Chapter completed!