Gao Shen had clearly underestimated the passion of Leeds United fans.
When Fernando Lucas officially launched the 20-year ticket buyback plan, the vast majority of fans who held these packages were highly supportive. After speaking with Lucas, Eddie Gray, and others, they understood that the buyback was in the best long-term interest of the club and readily agreed.
Most of them stated on the spot that they would not take advantage of the club. They had already watched seven seasons' worth of matches, and the club only wanted to refund the remaining amount after deducting the corresponding value of the seasons used.
As for the few remaining fans, once they learned that the club was willing to refund the full original price, they too agreed immediately.
In the end, the entire process went exceptionally smoothly.
Thinking about it, it was not all that surprising. Back in 2004, these people were willing to spend thousands of pounds to support Leeds United, claiming it was for 20 years of season tickets. But everyone knew full well the money could go to waste at any moment.
These fans shared one thing in common: they were from well-off families, had financial freedom, and above all, were extremely loyal to Leeds United.
Fernando Lucas handled the matter admirably. He distributed generous gifts and took meticulous care to ensure every loyal fan felt the warmth and sincerity of the new club leadership—something they never felt under the previous regime.
At the same time, Lucas quickly invited all major fan organizations and local media to Elland Road to express the club's gratitude to these loyal fans and to announce its new major ticketing policy.
These five to six hundred die-hard fans had been generous to the club, and now the club would return the favor.
Leeds United promised that for the next three years, even if they were promoted to the Premier League, ticket prices would not increase.
This was undoubtedly a rare gesture of goodwill.
Why?
The current average price for a Leeds United season ticket was £349. If this price held into the Premier League, it would rank among the lowest.
Just look—after promotion to the Premier League this season, Norwich immediately raised their season ticket price to £471. Swansea went up to £427. Queens Park Rangers raised theirs by 10%, reaching £499.
If Leeds United did succeed in promotion, this pricing promise alone would hugely benefit the fans.
Even if they failed to get promoted and remained in the Championship, their pricing would still only be considered mid-range.
But Leeds United didn't stop there.
Lucas also announced the launch of a special rewards program for season ticket holders. If the club won promotion to the Premier League this season, every season ticket holder would receive a refund of up to 50% of their ticket cost.
Of course, this refund could only be used toward next season's season ticket or stadium purchases.
This announcement once again stunned the media and fan organization representatives present.
Though specific details were still pending, they could already sense the bold and decisive leadership of the new board.
A three-year price freeze was already a bold move. Now they were offering refunds?
Even with conditions, it was still impressive.
At this point, why would anyone bother waiting around for discounted single-match tickets?
Fan representatives reacted with overwhelming enthusiasm. They began asking detailed questions about pricing tiers, refund percentages, and more.
In fact, the club had meticulously planned all of this.
For example, season tickets would be divided into three tiers: A, B, and C. Tier A had the highest price but also the highest refund percentage, especially since the number of tickets in that tier was limited. Conversely, Tier C had the largest quantity but a refund cap of just 30%.
Still, it was more than attractive enough.
In England, attending football matches was a necessity for many, and fans had been putting up with expensive tickets for years.
Take Manchester United for example. Since the Glazer family took over, the price for both season and single-match tickets had been nearly the same. It was absurd.
But could anyone resist?
Manchester United still sold 50,000 season tickets annually, pulling in nearly £30 million.
Leeds United, on the other hand, not only froze prices but offered rebates after promotion. That was true generosity.
Following coverage and analysis by the Yorkshire Post, a storm of season ticket sales swept across the region.
Over 2,000 season tickets were sold on the first day. As word spread and excitement grew, more fans joined in. At its peak, 5,000 tickets were sold in one day.
Half a month later, as more and more fans caught on, they discovered something shocking—Leeds United's season tickets had sold out.
Elland Road, with a maximum capacity of 39,000, had sold 25,000 season tickets—far exceeding the expectations of Lucas and his team.
They scrambled to release an additional 5,000 tickets, and they sold out too. In total, 30,000 season tickets were sold.
The remaining 9,000 or so tickets could not be sold. They had to be reserved for away fans, flex seating, and those who preferred to buy individual match tickets.
Thirty thousand season tickets brought in more than £10 million in revenue, which astonished everyone.
But the most dissatisfied were Leeds United fans themselves, complaining that the stadium's capacity was too small to meet demand.
Fans called the club and wrote letters to newspapers, urging the club to increase the number of season tickets available and to place stadium expansion at the top of the agenda to meet growing demand.
How could 39,000 seats be enough for nearly 800,000 residents of Leeds?
Not to mention, Leeds United was the only Premier League-caliber club in all of Yorkshire.
Under pressure from fans and media, Leeds United responded publicly, confirming that season tickets were indeed sold out. As for stadium expansion, that was a more complex issue.
As early as the start of the century, Leeds United had considered expanding the stadium.
Elland Road had already undergone multiple renovations. Otherwise, it wouldn't have reached its current capacity of nearly 40,000.
But the stadium was originally built in 1897. That's right—over a century ago.
So now the question was: should Leeds United continue expanding and patching up Elland Road, or should they bite the bullet and build a new stadium from scratch?
This was a debate worth exploring.
Gao Shen and his management team were being very cautious. The club currently lacked the financial capacity to make that kind of move. They would revisit the issue at the appropriate time in the future.
To put it simply: if they had money, they'd rebuild. If not, they'd renovate.
But fans weren't happy.
If you don't act quickly, how are we supposed to buy tickets?
No money? Then sell more tickets to raise it! Expand the stands first!
All the club could do was offer an apologetic smile.
This quickly became an amusing story throughout British and even European football.
While most lower-league clubs were racking their brains trying to sell tickets, Leeds United had to limit supply—and even triggered a fan "riot."
Other clubs quickly followed suit, launching similar reward schemes in an attempt to stimulate sales. But none achieved the success of Leeds United.
First, Leeds had a massive and loyal fan base. Second, the club had done a great deal of preparation before announcing its policy. Third, the team's transfer activity had shown real ambition to push for promotion.
If a smaller, struggling club suddenly claimed it was aiming for the Premier League, who would believe it?
…
When Gao Shen heard about the ticket sales, he was leading Manchester City's preseason training in the United States.
He was very pleased with the result, which further boosted his confidence in Leeds United's future.
If nothing else, these fans alone were worth every bit of effort.
Meanwhile, Su Qing and Fernando Lucas were making smooth progress with investment efforts in China.
In recent years, many Chinese brands had looked to expand overseas and had shown strong interest in sports sponsorship—particularly in sectors like home appliances, solar energy, communications, and personal electronics.
Su Qing and her team were actively in talks with companies in those industries and were making good headway.
Of course, expectations regarding the sponsorship fee should be modest.
Knowing that things were going well at Leeds United, Gao Shen could focus more on Manchester City.
This time, Manchester City was in North America for preseason, invited to take part in the World Football Challenge, the predecessor to the International Champions Cup.
This was the second edition.
It was a money-making tournament. Appearance fees were generous and highly attractive. All participating teams were giants from major leagues: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Juventus, and Manchester City.
For City, the trip was part of their plan to develop the North American market.
Although the club had only sold players and not made any major signings this summer, there was still a long way to go before achieving full financial health.
With Paris Saint-Germain's sudden rise, Bayern Munich chairman and UEFA Club Association president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge publicly called on UEFA to launch a financial investigation into all clubs, particularly focusing on Manchester City and PSG.
Clearly, the traditional giants had begun to feel threatened by the Middle Eastern billionaires.
And that threat would only grow.
Who could blame them? PSG could spend over €200 million in a single summer without even flinching. That was terrifying.
Not even Bayern or Real Madrid could do that.
It went far beyond the scope of a traditional football club.
Under Gao Shen's leadership, Manchester City had become Champions League winners in just two years. Rumors were swirling that PSG also wanted to bring Gao Shen on board. If he joined them and won titles there too?
European football would be turned on its head.
That's why UEFA wanted to audit their finances and investigate any financial tricks used to bypass Financial Fair Play regulations. Their goal was to maintain a level playing field.
But everyone knew it was wishful thinking.
Especially Gao Shen. He knew better than anyone that this was just the beginning.
PSG was a super-rich club capable of triggering Neymar's €222 million buyout clause. More and more billionaires would enter the football world in the coming years.
This trend could not be stopped.
(To be continued.)