Chapter 645: Chapter 644 The Most Expensive and Cheapest Tickets in the Premier League
The gossip about Deng Kai and Real Madrid really was blockbuster material.
But that’s all it was—gossip.
After clarifications from Deng Kai, Zidane, and others, Manchester City fans once again deeply realized Deng Kai’s value.
When you have it, you don’t cherish it.
No Manchester City fan would dislike Deng Kai.
But if you say just how much Deng Kai means to everyone, they wouldn’t understand.
Or rather, they hadn’t thought about it in detail.
To use an inappropriate analogy, only when competitors appear would they know... Deng Kai playing for Manchester City truly was a "blessing" for the fans!
Because Real Madrid was even willing to offer the world’s highest salary to invite Deng Kai to join them.
Don’t doubt Real Madrid’s ability.
On the surface, Deng Kai’s salary might be in the same bracket as Ronaldo’s, seven or eight million Euros.
But Real Madrid absolutely had the ability to ensure Deng Kai’s actual salary income exceeded ten million Euros, which wouldn’t be less than what he made at Manchester City.
Compared to Real Madrid, Manchester City really had no competition.
So, Manchester City fans supported Deng Kai even more fanatically.
On August 23rd, in the second round of the Premier League.
Deng Kai returned to the team’s starting lineup.
At the same time, Manchester City would also host a match at the new stadium "Etihad Stadium" for the first time.
This was the inaugural use of their home ground.
The original capacity of Etihad Stadium was only 55,000.
It was first built for the 2000 Summer Olympics.
But after Manchester’s bid failed, it became the venue for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Later, it became Manchester City’s home ground.
But with Mansour’s acquisition of Manchester City, the club undertook bold renovations to the stadium, adding nearly thirty thousand seats.
The maximum capacity surpassed eighty thousand people!
It became the second-largest stadium in England, second only to Wembley.
And since Wembley was currently undergoing renovations, the Etihad Stadium became, in effect, the largest stadium in England at the time.
Regarding the "brutal expansion" of Etihad Stadium, many media initially criticized it.
Because the quality of the additional thirty thousand seats was far inferior to the original ones.
Not to mention how far and high they were, the comfort configuration was also inadequate.
The media thought Manchester City’s approach was unsightly.
Because everyone knew Manchester City had the power to fill all eighty thousand seats.
At least last season, Manchester City had the highest average attendance in the Premier League.
Their home ground was nearly full every match, reaching the full capacity of Maine Road Stadium.
That made the other teams envious.
And Manchester United also benefited from it.
Although Manchester United’s attendance was already good, after Manchester City rose to prominence, United’s attendance also saw a significant boost, only slightly less than City’s last season.
The city of Manchester was truly raking it in.
But as Manchester City announced the ticket pricing for the new season at their home ground, the media fell silent.
Because of the move to the new stadium, Manchester City’s ticket prices generally increased.
Especially for the prime viewing areas, the ticket prices soared to the highest in the Premier League.
They outpriced several teams from the Greater London area.
However, correspondingly, the tickets for the newly added thirty thousand seats at Manchester City were shockingly cheap!
They were much more affordable than the Maine Road Stadium’s ticket prices from last season.
In response to this, team captain Deng Kai also made a statement, "The pricing for those thirty thousand tickets was something Mr. Mansour and I worked out together."
"To boast a little, folks, I managed to drive down the price of Premier League’s most thrilling matches’ home tickets!"
"For these thirty thousand tickets, Manchester City won’t make a profit, in fact, we lose money with every ticket sold."
"The team’s department responsible for stadium operations completely disagreed. But after Mr. Mansour and I reached a consensus, we directly overruled their objections."
"To give back to the fans who support us, we at Manchester City have decided to take a loss on this!"
"Some people ask why Manchester City doesn’t spend a fortune on buying many star players. We’ve certainly considered it, but we are truly short on funds. We do have substantial income, but our expenses are high, too."
"The expansion of Etihad Stadium, the development and construction of the youth training facility, the subsidies for the fans’ tickets, the welfare and reward allocation for the team."
"Looking just at the expenses, Manchester City is nothing extraordinary among global clubs. But aside from player transfers, no team has invested more than Manchester City over the past two summers."
"None!"
Manchester City loses money to let everyone watch the match!
Manchester City goes all out to deliver real benefits to the fans!
Manchester City is the pride of the Premier League!
These phrases have further cemented Manchester City’s label as a ’charitable team’."
But in fact, is Manchester City really losing money?
Of course not.
Cheap tickets still turn a profit.
However, they do indeed earn very little.
Compared to others who earn a lot more, they’re considered to be at a loss.
But the thing is, Manchester City also has some tickets that are incredibly expensive!
The most expensive in the Premier League!
A single premium seat ticket could buy three to five regular tickets, or even ten low-priced ones.
Overall, the income from tickets for Manchester City is going to be a lot more than last season.
With their 80,000-person attendance rate, the revenue from this aspect is quite formidable.
They’re truly managing to be both charitable and profitable.
And they’re managing it well.
...
At Etihad Stadium, all 85,000 fans have arrived.
The stadium is almost uniformly clad in light blue jerseys.
A truly devilish home ground.
This round, Manchester City’s opponent Portsmouth has only a small group of fans.
In the east stand of the stadium, Manchester City fans have pulled up a gigantic banner that almost covers the entire stand.
It’s a poster of Deng Kai wearing a crown sitting on a throne.
The original die-hard fan stand for Manchester City was the south stand.
But since this season, Manchester City officially announced the die-hard fans’ stand to now be the east stand.
The fans fully support this decision and speculate that the reason for the change is because the team captain Deng Kai is from the East and the club chairman is from the Middle East.
This is like bringing the East home.
"Okay, the match is about to start, let’s briefly introduce Manchester City’s lineup to everyone,"
"In fact, we’ve already heard that Manchester City is going to use several different formations to compete in various competitions this season."
"And today’s set should be their primary lineup, mainly for playing Premier League matches."
"Most of these players will also participate in the Europa League. But the League Cup and the FA Cup will probably see many other players with fewer chances to play."
"This is also an important promise Manchester City makes to attract these young players."
"On the front line, we have Baggio, Adriano, and Ribery."
"In midfield are Deng Kai, Essien, and Tu Lei."
"The defenders are Lahm, Chiellini, Desailly, and Maicon."
"Goalkeeper Cech."
With the whistle, the match officially begins.
As the first home match of the new season, Manchester City has no reason to play defensively.
In the second minute, Deng Kai did several step-overs before passing the ball to Ribery who was cutting in without the ball.
The latter attempted a long shot, which went wide of the post, causing the Portsmouth goalkeeper to break out in a cold sweat.
In the seventh minute, Deng Kai tried a long shot from six meters outside the arc.
But it was too straight, easily caught by the goalkeeper.
