Tottenham 10-Year Plan - Ronaldo
As ever Tottenham Hotspur Blog News (THBN) is going to make you think again.
Spurs are poor at marketing themselves online, indeed most football clubs are, the Internet is a vast wallet waiting to be opened and we all know money = trophies.
I could turn this into a post about how the club should market online and that would be a long-term project in itself at a low level, although a specific online project is the way to a fortune, but my vision on that is probably greater than even our board members.
Anyway, we are not going into that today, no today I have another project, another idea, to use of the greatest untapped assets in the game today, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo, love him or hate him, has been one of the best players on the planet in the last 20 years and even last season he was still banging in the goals for Manchester United, he scored a hat-trick against Spurs.
The Portuguese has no future at United, he has made that clear and at 37 (38 next February) Sporting CP are said to want to bring him home, however, he is currently on £500,000 a week.
Imagine for a moment that he left United in January, or the summer and agreed to drop his salary by at least 50%.
Would you sign him for a season or a season and a half as cover for Harry Kane or even until the end of the season?
But that isn't really what I'm talking about here, there is a bigger picture for the larger-than-life character.
His interview with Piers Morgan confirmed, if anyone didn't know already, his ego is important, so why don't we play on that, why don't Spurs map out a 10-year project that he fronts, that he is the centre-piece of?
Developing the next generation of footballers worldwide.
Finish his career at Tottenham and be a Tottenham figure developing this clubs global awareness.
The Tottenham 10-Year Plan would involve him on-the-field initially.
The worlds media attention would be on him and on Tottenham with all the commercial opportunities that brings.
Ronaldo knows how to finish, goals would be a given, he can score direct from free-kicks, he has big club experience, winning experience, he has a winning mentality and what a boost for the youth and development players at the club.
There are plenty of footballing plusses.
With the injuries Spurs have had, Antonio Conte could have played Ronaldo as the main striker and Kane as a second striker, had he been here.
That's one element.
Another is the long-term off-the-field element.
Don't just dump a phenomenon like him on the scrapheap or consigned to the media and wheeled out as an Ambassador.
He is the biggest marketing pull on the planet.
Someone needs to take advantage of that, someone needs to innovate.
Shirt sales would go through the roof, worldwide media attention would go through the roof, worldwide followers of the club would increase.
Why not put a 10-year project to Ronaldo.
Couple Ronaldo and his brand image with the untapped potential of the Internet
I would suggest there are only two players who could pull a 10-year project off to the level I envisage, Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, but Messi has no history with the Premier League and is simply playing exhibition football in France.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, has conquered England, Italy and Spain, making him, I feel, a more marketable asset.
The aim would be severalfold.
1. Develop a 'complete' training program, How to Become a Professional Footballer covering every on-the-field, off-the-field, developmental and mental facet.
This could spawn multiple training programs, like mental training, education, nutrition, fitness, skills, dedication, conduct, really teaching children how to behave and bring themselves up.
2. Increasing Spurs' worldwide image, fanbase, and commercial income.
3. Turning Spurs into a club on a par with Barcelona, Real Madrid etc and having that pull for the next generation and beyond.
Obviously, he needs to play in games and come on as a substitute regularly. His goals and his following will transfer affection to us and promote the Tottenham name.
That footballing series should be a huge series the club makes and Ronaldo travels the world to market it, it would sell 100 million plus copies or if a part of Spurs TV, massively increase monthly subscriptions.
The has to be available via the Internet to reach everyone and priced so we deal in volume of numbers, rather than total eyes on revenue.
Commercial revenue is a by-product of building a fanbase to market to.
Every kid would want access to a 'How To' series by one of the best players of all time, with great marketing.
This is a guy who was a decent player at Manchester United but wanted to work one-on-one with a coach to become great and boy did his determination work out.
I would join him up with Gareth Bale, at one time the third-best player on the planet and left-footed to Ronaldo's right.
Stop and think about it.
Ronaldo and Bale marketing football, marketing Tottenham Hotspur to the world.
If you want to be the best you act like the best until you achieve it (within the confines of affordability obviously).
Imagine.
You'd make Tottenham one of the biggest names in the game and with that comes following and with that comes commercial cash and with that comes success.
Spurs would not be looking at a short-term objective here but this should go on for 5-10 years at least.
If you want to be big you have to think big.
Could Ronaldo be the catalyst for Spurs to make the next jump to a financial powerhouse and thus be able to afford the best players on the planet?
Couple this with the mentality program I propose to attract and develop the best young players on the planet and Spurs would hold a unique place in the game.
At first glance, with his wages, I wouldn't sign Ronaldo when he becomes available, but with vision, there is a unique opportunity here to turn Spurs into a money-spinning cash cow and a pull for the very best players in the world.
No club uses former players to their advantage much, there is an untapped market there for people with vision.
Sell Cristian Ronaldo a project for the next 10 years that plays on his ego, that has him as the centre of attention, that portrays him as the Pied Piper for a generation of children worldwide and I think he would snap it up.
Use it to our advantage.
Ronaldo is a unique talent, a one-off in his generation, someone needs to use his name for their benefit, so why not Spurs.
You have to think outside the box how to harness his name, his media attention worldwide and his international following.
Ronaldo offers an opportunity to someone, it would be a waste to just let him drift off into the sunset.
Couple that with the mentality program I have previously suggested, there is another opportunity to use Ronaldo and a project to make Spurs the richest club in the world in 2 years using the Internet and this club could be immense, the biggest name in the game worldwide.
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Now that is how an owner thinks, that is how an entrepreneur thinks, that is how a chairman thinks, it isn't how fans think, thus they don't see the bigger picture, hence don't support the way they should.
To Dare Is To Do.
1,318 words
COYS
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1 comment
I do like your thinking Clive. Bold. If ego is, as certainly seems clear, Ronaldo's biggest weakness, then why NOT turn it to an equally massive advantage.
I very clearly remember how we thrashed United 0-2 only for CR7 to pop up over & over again to draw them back and eventually win 3-2. I felt no shame for Spurs. They were simply up against a phenomenon. Even then he was already in his late thirties. He's earned his world renown.
COYS!!