Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 197

Burnley had a tough loss against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, but they’re still doing well in the Premier League and are expected to move past the round of 16 in the Champions League.

Because of all this success, Helena was constantly bombarded with proposals for naming rights to New Turf Moor.

“…Nope, not this one either… What is this? A million pounds a year? Are they out of their minds?!”

She was muttering to herself, quickly skimming through the proposals, when her phone suddenly buzzed.

Annoyed, Helena picked it up, ready to decline the call, but a bright smile spread across her face when she saw the familiar name on the screen.

[…Samantha! What’s up? You wanna know if I’m free? Of course, I always have time for Samantha!]

She was trying to focus on work, but nothing was so pressing that she’d turn down a call from an old friend.

Actually, she just really didn’t want to look at those awful proposals anymore.

[…Well, you know, work as usual.]

Helena leaned back in her chair, swinging her legs as she talked.

[…Hey, I’m handling that just fine. Why don’t you try to find out, Samantha? Hehehe.]

Helena listened to Samantha talk for a while, then suddenly stiffened and jumped up from her seat.

[…Huh?! You’re coming to Burnley?!]

***

“Well, it’s good to see you looking so well.”

Helena chuckled at the woman sitting on her office sofa, looking around and admiring the place.

Samantha Brown, who had dropped out of high school and started as a factory worker, worked her way up to an office job, then became a factory manager, and finally the chairman and CEO of a global auto parts company, looked like an ordinary, unassuming middle-aged woman, just like her plain name suggested.

“I’m always doing well.”

Samantha Brown clicked her tongue and shook her head at Helena’s answer.

“Ahem… Helena always worries me because she doesn’t take care of herself, but it looks like she’s eating properly here since it’s a sports team. I was worried because you kept losing weight in Detroit.”

“Well…”

Helena paused, considering Samantha Brown’s comment, which casually dismissed the club restaurant at the Banfield Training Center—which employed a professional nutritionist with a doctorate, an inspector who checked all food ingredients received that day, and a professional chef and several cooks—as just a sports team that serves good food.

However, there was no point in arguing with Mrs. Brown, who was known for preparing a feast every evening that even Helena, a well-known glutton, couldn’t finish. Helena reminded herself that discretion is the better part of valor and changed the subject.

“How are Samantha? And Dick, Jason, and Team?”

Because her husband, a huge fan of DC Comics, shared a name with the billionaire hero who wore a mask and cape every night and beat up criminals in back alleys—Bruce—Samantha’s three sons were named after the hero’s three sidekicks.

Everyone in the know knew that Gotham City was actually a mix of New York and Detroit, so it seemed fitting. But most of all, it made it easy for people to remember the names of her three sons.

Until the three sons realized the truth and refused, every Halloween they all wore red shirts, green shorts, and yellow capes and went trick-or-treating with their dad, she heard.

“Well, my third daughter-in-law is pregnant again.”

“Oh, congratulations! How many grandchildren do you have now?”

“Five. Haa, diaper and formula prices have gone up a lot these days…”

Samantha Brown, who had raised her three sons in the heart of Detroit’s factory district after losing her husband, sighed, but Helena bit back a laugh.

Thanks to her mother’s nagging, who didn’t have a higher education, Dick, the eldest, didn’t have a carefree school life like the neighborhood kids, with truancy, drugs, and gangs. He’s a lawyer, the second, Jason, is a doctor, and the third, Team, works at a mega-investment bank right next to Cartwright Funds in New York.

Helena didn’t think they were at a level where they had to worry about diaper or formula costs, but the self-made middle-aged woman was serious.

“I told my daughters-in-law that if they ever run out of money while raising their babies, they should definitely talk to me. If women just rely on men, they become useless.”

“Hmm…”

Perhaps because she had jumped into the workforce and struggled to earn a living after her husband passed, Samantha Brown didn’t like the idea of women relying solely on their husbands for money.

Even the best spouse could die at any time, right?

It was a statement filled with the sadness and frustration of Samantha Brown, who lost her husband to a stray bullet that flew in from outside while he was sitting in their living room, but another thought occurred to Helena.

But all your daughters-in-law work in the same industry as their husbands, don’t they?

And more than that, the babies’ grandmother is the chairman of a mega-auto parts company that ranks in the top 50 in market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange?!

Helena’s face flushed as she struggled to hold back everything she wanted to say, but Samantha Brown clicked her tongue, noticing her expression.

“Ahem… Helena was born into a wealthy family, so she doesn’t know how hard it is to be broke when you have a baby…”

Well, there’s no arguing with that.

No matter how harshly her father treated her at home, as a third-generation Cartwright, she had no excuse, even if she was called a silver-spooner.

“So, what brings you to Burnley?”

Samantha Brown clicked her tongue again at Helena’s habit of abruptly changing the subject when it was disadvantageous, but she let it go because they were comrades who had revived a company on the brink of bankruptcy together.

“You know our factory acquired a few tire-making shops this time, right?”

“I know it well.”

Perhaps because she had been saying it for decades, Samantha Brown still called the company a factory.

And Helena was well aware that those so-called tire-making shops had swept up seven of the top 10 global tire makers, excluding Michelin of France, Bridgestone of Japan, and Hankook Tire of Korea.

Samantha Brown, who casually dismissed venerable tire brands like Continental, Dunlop, Goodyear, and Pirelli as a few shops, nodded and continued.

“So the marketing people said it would be good to integrate them all into one brand. I don’t want to spend money on rebranding, but if we combine the brands, it’ll save on advertising costs later, or so they say?”

“Hmm…”

Helena leaned back on the sofa, propped her chin on her hand, and pondered.

Even when Helena was leading the reconstruction of Andrils Automotive, it was already expected that Michelin and Bridgestone would overwhelmingly increase their market share in the tire industry, and the remaining tire companies would form alliances.

She had planned to jump into that unstable market and easily increase sales by adding tires to the parts sales network that Andrils Automotive was already supplying to finished vehicle manufacturers, and at the same time, sell them to the general public, but she couldn’t proceed due to various circumstances.

But after she left, it seemed that this tenacious chairman from Detroit had pushed it through.

“You want to do branding, and you need a stage that can be marketed globally, so in terms of sports, it would be Formula One and soccer [football].”

Not being interested in sports is different from looking at sports as a business opportunity.

And from a marketing perspective, where you can reach viewers the fastest, Helena had a strong understanding of sports.

Of course, she had also gained a lot of knowledge about other sports and industries while being at Burnley Football Club for the past two and a half years.

Samantha Brown nodded at her former colleague’s accurate assessment.

“We’ve decided to acquire a portion of McLaren’s shares in Formula One. Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari all refused outside investment. From next year, the team name will be changed to Andrils-McLaren.”

“Gasp!”

Helena gasped in surprise.

Samantha Brown was saying it casually, but Formula One is a mega-sport watched by over 400 million people worldwide.

Among them, McLaren was the only team with the technology and power to aim for the podium without the backing of a mega-sponsor.

Maybe Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari refused to have their team names changed to Andrils-Red Bull, Andrils-Mercedes, or Andrils-Ferrari.

Yeah, this middle-aged woman was the type to go all-in once she committed.

It was a temperament that suited the Cartwright family’s style well.

Helena, who had finally figured out the reason for the sudden visit, leaned back on the plush sofa as if sinking into it, crossed her legs, and folded her arms.

“How much are you thinking?”

How much research have you done?

At the question from her former colleague, who had entered full-fledged negotiation mode, Samantha Brown leaned forward, bared her white teeth, and smiled.

“How much will you give it to me for?”

The negotiation begins now.

***

“…It was fun, Helena.”

“Me too.”

The two women, who had arrived in the morning and negotiated fiercely while ordering lunch and dinner, exchanged satisfied smiles and shook hands over the table littered with meal remnants and notepads.

Certainly, the best ally is the most troublesome when they become an enemy.

However, because they knew each other so well, they were able to focus on finding appropriate value for each other rather than resorting to tricks or stubbornness.

Thanks to this, the Burnley Football Club employees at the Banfield Training Center and the marketing team at Andrils Automotive’s headquarters in Detroit were bombarded with questions and data requests.

£10 million per year for the next 10 years.

It was a bit far from the $35 million per year that the LA Lakers received or the €35 million per year that Real Madrid was estimated to receive, but it wasn’t a bad deal for Burnley, who had only really started making a name for themselves on the European stage last season.

Burnley is providing the stadium naming rights, currently valued at around £5 million per year, at a high price of £10 million per year, but in return, they won’t receive any additional revenue for 10 years, even if the value of the naming rights increases.

Conversely, Andrils Automotive is buying the stadium naming rights at a higher price than the assessed price right now, but they can lock in the naming rights to Burnley’s home stadium, which is expected to be successful in the future, for a long period.

“How about it, are you staying overnight in Manchester?”

Helena asked, looking at the darkened sky, but Samantha Brown shook her head.

“No. I have another appointment. My private jet is already waiting at Manchester Airport.”

No matter how simply she lives, the schedule of the chairman of a global company is packed.

In fact, it doesn’t make sense for the chairman to fly in person for a deal that only invests £100 million over 10 years.

Considering the size of Andrils Automotive, the annual budget that the marketing team leader can approve on their own would exceed £10 million.

Samantha Brown must have made the effort to fly in because she wanted to see Helena after a long time.

And since she spent a precious day here, she’ll have to sleep on the plane while flying to the next meeting.

Helena, with a mixed expression of apology and regret, shook her head as if trying to clear it.

“Then would you like to take a look around the Banfield Training Center before you leave?”

“That’s okay.”

Samantha Brown grinned.