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00:00Actually, like, you know, I'm super pumped as well, as well as you guys, because you guys are doing an amazing job, obviously.
00:05And then promoting, not just promoting, actually, like, you know, in a way, transforming Polish football to North America and also Mexico and et cetera.
00:20So it's quite an important task that you guys have.
00:23So I'm really being humbled to be part of it.
00:25Thank you for watching Pogon Stachin and being sports and North America, being humbled to be part of it.
00:33But coming back to me, it's just, yes, I'm fortunate to born into football.
00:39You know, my father is a football player and my mother is a gymnast, national gymnast.
00:44But I grew up with my father, you know, playing for multiple teams and national team as well.
00:51So he's also the mentor, someone who I look up to.
00:55He later on became the coach, a pro license holder, had a short career due to his name, you know, like health.
01:03It affected me, kind of molded me into the football.
01:06But I decided not to play football because, in my opinion, he was way better than me.
01:13He wanted me to be the first university graduate from our family, entire family, figure out a way to study and play basketball at the same time and get his blessing.
01:27And that's how it started.
01:28So I've, you know, played basketball for my entire high school career, then got recruited.
01:35One of the schools that were interested was Kane University.
01:39They were third division, but they were one of the biggest and strongest division for point guards in Eastern, you know, conference.
01:48Eastern conference, which covers New York, you know, Boston and New England and Baltimore, all the way to Pennsylvania.
01:57So the coach of Kane University, Bruce Hamburger, he's a lifelong friend now.
02:04He had seen me in the Olympic team squad and then decided to give me an academic scholarship called International Student Scholarship.
02:14Therefore, my journey began.
02:16And I was playing for BeÅŸiktaÅŸ at the time, signed a pro contract to be confirmed.
02:22And then I had to just like, you know, terminate my contract and take this opportunity to go to US because obviously you couldn't play as a professional coming back to college level.
02:35So I've really asked the club to forfeit the contract for me so that I can take that journey for a basketball program.
02:43So I'm looking forward to it.
02:47Believe it or not, I haven't been back in US for over over two and a half years because of the whole journey and then coming to Poland.
02:55So this is the this is going to be the first summer with the World Cup.
02:59I'm going to take the family and then go visit my my, you know, my school and then my college mates.
03:05To be honest with you, it didn't transform the way I want it immediately.
03:08Not that I didn't want it, but it just it took time after I graduated from Cain.
03:17I've started to work in finance because of my bachelor was international business and finance.
03:22But I've always wanted to be part of sports environment, you know, sports industry.
03:26And it was so hard in US to break in.
03:28Then I realized these MA in sports business courses were just starting and becoming popular.
03:36But I also wanted to do it in the best of the best.
03:40So it's Columbia.
03:41It was, you know, NYU.
03:43It was, you know, Marquette.
03:45Some of the ones that at the time that I can remember, not the promote.
03:48But I was fortunate enough to get admitted to NYU and realize that that this is not only the education, but the city was is your is your campus.
03:58So I got I've gotten to meet a lot of people, a lot of, you know, sports related executives, C-levels or entrepreneurs.
04:07So it gave me a full perspective of of how to be successful in sports environment or industry.
04:17But while I was doing that, my my my dream was to be to be working for NBA international office.
04:25And and like, interestingly enough, they decided at that time to to focus on Asia.
04:31So my profile didn't fit after realizing a 15 minute interview.
04:36So my my journey ended immediately.
04:39And then honestly, like I went back to class and one of the right after it.
04:45And then my classmate said, listen, I work for MLS and I really think you are a perfect candidate for the MLS.
04:55And at the time, it was just literally 80 people working for MLS.
04:58I was such a small office and and and and then she recommended me to operations department.
05:04And I started in MLS as an intern first and then been, you know, worked afterwards.
05:11But my journey was was too short.
05:13Why I'm explaining to you this is is that then I got recruited by Turkish national team as a youngest executive,
05:20administrative executive and had planned the the the the the the four years of World Cup and Euro qualification period,
05:29whether from the football strategic point of view and also business point of view, commercial point of view.
05:37So I had to go back to Turkey.
05:39In fact, the tournament, Euro tournament, if you remember, it was in Poland.
05:43And so it's an interesting coincidence where I end up in Poland.
05:47But at that time, I had to come to Poland and plan everything and gotten to see, you know, this beautiful country.
05:55So for that four year period, I had no intentions of going back to or becoming an agent.
06:01Of course, everybody had their Jerry Maguire kind of moment.
06:06You want to be that way.
06:08But for me, it was always like, you know, doing something in a high performing environment.
06:13So national team tried to qualify for Euros with goose hitting.
06:17Then later on with Fatih Terim, legendary Turkish coach, the World Cup was more attractive.
06:23They didn't qualify at the time.
06:25So it was a massive experience.
06:26But in my life, I've always looked into developing projects, creating projects that leads me to a position or role.
06:35I'm not really good with inquiring, you know, a role.
06:40I just usually like create and then present and people buy into it and then ask me to participate to it or manage it or lead it.
06:49So, again, I've represented.
06:53Maybe your viewers would know.
06:55It's still playing, actually.
06:56I think he was in Cincinnati, just got traded.
06:59D'Andre Yedlin.
07:00Yeah, of course.
07:01Yeah, he was on Seattle.
07:02Yeah.
07:03I represented him in Turkey.
07:05So he was playing for Tottenham.
07:08So we completed his deal with his agent also in the U.S. to Galatasaray.
07:13And therefore, that's one of them.
07:17But I think the most important one was Loris Karius, where, sorry, a moment.
07:25Yeah, for which right after the year that he made this biggest mistake in the Champions League final, you know, I brought him to Besiktas the year after as kind of like fixing or revitalizing his career.
07:42So that was probably the one of the most, if not two of the most big deals that I was part of and managed.
07:51So, you know, I've always dreamed of coming back in the football family from the agency part as a sporting director or football director to implement my ideas, to implement my vision.
08:07At some point, I had been offered, you know, multiple times jobs to be the sporting directors, different Turkish clubs, different also like European operations.
08:19But I never found it, I never found it comfortable to jump back in because I was doing really good with the agency.
08:28However, my good friend at that time is like one of the most famous people in Turkey, if not the most famous, Ajun Ali Jala.
08:36But he's a media mogul.
08:40He also had a dream of, you know, owning a club in England.
08:44So and knowing my expertise and knowledge in English football, he, you know, he basically asked me to find a club for him in England.
08:53And then after all these, you know, kind of due diligence and searches and et cetera, we arrived to Hull City as the most healthiest and affordable club in England.
09:06So I then that's how it literally happened in when I when I basically did and did and oversee the due diligence periods for him and successfully helped him acquire the club.
09:18So he then asked me to stay in the club and then wanted me to be part of it.
09:22Like I said to you, you know, just what was it like and what did you learn and what did you what what what from that experience you were able to bring to Poland?
09:31Um, no, it's a great question, to be honest with you, going back to my my England days, it was exceptional because English football is so overly developed.
09:43So coming into coming into coming into like that's their national pride and national brand in it, per sec.
09:51So walking into English football, it was just like a luxurious experience.
09:58But in coming back to England, it was beautiful because, you know, the owner was was so passionate and he and I was more analytical.
10:09So it come together very well.
10:13But our first year was not easy.
10:15I would say this like like our like my period in Hull was more like learning, adapting and then performing.
10:24So that was the learning part where you say we were just almost relegated.
10:29It is true that we almost got relegated.
10:31But I know a lot of ownerships or a lot of like, you know, investments coming into England from U.S.
10:38And they all think that, you know, you can just come in, buy the club and invest and then just promote and get the big ticket to Premier League easily.
10:47It doesn't work like this.
10:48It's it's it's it's the championship, if not like most of the Premier League, it's been challenged, but still like, you know, I would say is the most regulated league in the world, probably, in my opinion.
11:01And they praise for it.
11:02So and I'm heavily supporting to it.
11:05So we had to take over the previous owner's business model, which was very small and financials.
11:12So even though if you wanted to invest money, we couldn't because of the, you know, the profit and sustainability regulations.
11:19So therefore, our budget was more to survive in the league.
11:24And then we followed we had to follow that the budget until the previous year.
11:30So the year two was more like educative.
11:32We try to convince a lot of like local talent.
11:35But we also like thankfully to the owner and my network, we brought in international talent as well.
11:42So we became very unpredictable team and then start creeping up to the mid-table.
11:48And then we finished in the mid-table with a brilliant coach.
11:51I mean, we recruited Liam Rosinha.
11:53He's in Strasbourg right now, probably the one of the candidates for Chelsea job in the future.
11:58So we finally start applying the football model that we liked.
12:05And then the following year, obviously, that we missed out by a point, by a win to the playoffs and probably the promotion,
12:15because we were the most exciting team in the league with the talent that we convinced to come in and play for us.
12:22And honestly, at that year, we had sold over 60 million worth of players' pounds.
12:28And the players that we loaned and developed got sold from their clubs to Chelsea's and elsewhere's and with total maybe over 100 million of pounds.
12:40So there was a knowledge, there was like a recipe in there that worked almost.
12:44Unfortunately, the following year where you mentioned that we, I think from my personal view, especially in England,
12:55it's very, the league, the football and the structure is very resilient towards quick changes.
13:03So we wanted to change a lot of things that didn't respond properly.
13:09And therefore, we had struggled the previous years, which, in my opinion, it was still a learning curve.
13:16But our like highlight moment was, was with, like I said to you, our year three with the club.
13:22And in fact, I think wherever you go, you need at least 18 months to implement your ideas.
13:28The level of football and quality of football, make it more entertaining, make it more attractive for younger generation to engage and come and play.
13:37Because I think it's going to be the biggest challenge.
13:39I keep saying it to everywhere.
13:41The biggest challenge is going to be whether it's in you're in Poland or elsewhere in the world,
13:44to maintain the younger generation's interest, engage them in 90 minutes and into the into the football game.
13:52So that's what I'm trying, actually.
13:53That's what I'm trying to transform it.
13:55Terrific, terrific.
13:56And piggyback on what you said about players leaving Hull and going elsewhere.
14:02One of them was Ruben Vinagr, who's in Legia Warsaw right now.
14:07I'm just curious.
14:08Did you compare notes with him prior to going to Ekstra Klasa?
14:14Actually, I haven't asked him.
14:16But, you know, recently against Legia, we played Legia.
14:21And then we finally, you know, met on the pitch and then, you know, hugged it out and talked about the good old days and how is his experience as a Legia player.
14:30I'm so proud to see him, you know, playing.
14:33And he's doing, for my opinion, he's doing well.
14:35And he's one of really one of the players that I wanted to bring in Hull due to his injuries.
14:42He didn't stay too long as a loan, but he's doing really well.
14:46So we've talked and I asked his opinion about, you know, Polish football as well.
14:52How did I come to Poland?
14:54Honestly, Alex Aditaji, you know, it's just I think I'm someone who's with, you know, I carry my emotions.
15:04I'm very emotional.
15:06When I'm committed, I'm committed.
15:08So I was quite reluctant after Hull because I wanted to spend some time with the family.
15:13My son was born in Hull.
15:14He was three years old.
15:16Didn't get to see him that often.
15:17And it was like, you know, as a family, we were struggling to spend time together.
15:21But during my last year, I met Alex Aditaji, who's a Canadian entrepreneur and financier.
15:28You know, he's became amazing friends for the most.
15:33And he always mentioned that there is a very good club in Poland that he would want to be part of or even own it at some point.
15:43And but he needed a football support.
15:48So and then he asked me to just support him again, the phone call in a way.
15:53So last December, I've decided, you know, to support him.
16:00I was quite, you know, unsure because to change, I had some opportunities in England that I was considering, some Middle East that I was thinking.
16:11And then Poland was just a little bit of caught me of surprise.
16:16And I honestly didn't know the development of extra class.
16:22I knew a lot of players.
16:23I knew a lot of coaches.
16:24I knew the national team level.
16:27However, I wasn't inside of extra class to understand how well extra class it was positioned.
16:35So I said, I said, OK, to Alex.
16:37And we flew last December to to to to to a session and to watch a game.
16:42And then I fell in love after that.
16:44But I mean, the stadium is three years old, brand new and the fans so passionate and so supportive and realize, you know, city breeds lives for for the football, for the club.
17:01And and I saw also like the previous managed ownership had made some strategic decisions that affected their their their future in the club.
17:12So there was a huge potential to come in and change.
17:16But as as a as a as a as a not revolution, I guess, evolution, you know what I mean?
17:24And I realized that, you know, people in Poland, they're they're receptive.
17:28If they see you progressing, they support you.
17:31And so I realized it could be a benefit as well.
17:36Number one reason that I've realized that the extra class is strong business model was was was very promising.
17:44As you know, like it's due to be a new TV deal that they're expecting could make extra class one of the top eight leagues in the in in in the, you know, European region.
17:54And I saw that government is so supportive towards infrastructure, whether it's local government or central government.
18:02And I mean, it was very like as long as people were receptive, as long as, you know, you're genuine and you're honest and try to do something.
18:13Polish people were more more genuine towards it.
18:17And of course, it's just the football have really pleased me.
18:24Pogon, it was it was quite, you know, difficult financials to be managed and a lot of problems to be to be resolved.
18:32So, yes, we did have a plan like a year short term plan, three year plan and five year plan.
18:38But at the same time, there was also a daily plan that needed to be applied and, you know, help the club.
18:45I had said it in a couple of places that we had to save the club in a way.
18:50And thankfully, Alex had, you know, put in significant amount of his finances into this operation within a short period of time that needed.
19:01Otherwise, we wouldn't be getting an extra class of license or or, you know, we were at that one point, you know, right at the ownership change that there would be a game home home game to be played.
19:15So, again, thanks and credit to him.
19:17He had written a big check.
19:19But from my perspective, the plan was always this.
19:23We realized that the club is established in 1948.
19:27And since then, there's no title.
19:29So it's amazing because you could be history maker.
19:33So there's always that you can just progress because going into a club who has trophies in a lot of trophies, it could be another number and that you would be still in his story.
19:47But to be remembered as first, it does so much.
19:53And then our goal is obviously to at some point deliver that if we can, whether it's a cup title or league title.
20:02So that's one of the main goals.
20:05And another one is to be competitive in top four all the time and play European competitions.
20:11But having done that, maintain our sustainability and identity and play a specific way of football and be able to develop players and also sell players to bigger leagues.
20:23Why?
20:23Because that feeds the sustainably.
20:25Everybody talks about like selling players, player training.
20:30It's not that easy, you know.
20:32You have to have an identity.
20:35You have to have a coach that follows that and supports that.
20:38You have to have fans accepting that identity and philosophy.
20:42And you have to have players who can, you know, perform that.
20:46So we are trying to, you know, evolve our recipe into this, into six months into it.
20:54Are we doing it?
20:55I think this year, based on where we are in the league, still a struggle.
21:00But I'm hopeful and I can see that, you know, we're giving moments.
21:04We're still one of the most exciting teams in the league as far as the offensive contribution.
21:09We still play very attractive football, entertaining football.
21:14And, you know, today we are still the fourth biggest, you know, economy of extra-classed teams.
21:23Among the older teams, we are the fourth biggest economy.
21:26But talk to me a little bit about Benjamin Mandi.
21:28What does the signing mean to the club?
21:30Why did you bring him?
21:31And what do you think he can, how he can enhance the club, the culture, the organization?
21:38Benji is, like, someone who is a tremendous, tremendous addition to us.
21:45Like, for us, in regards to, like, you know, disregarding to what had happened and all that stuff.
21:54I don't want to get into it.
21:55And neither should anyone, because I think that's completely left behind.
22:01But we wanted, like, we realized there's a trauma that we need to fix.
22:09Because, like, being part of a club, you want to win a trophy.
22:13And the club hadn't won a trophy since 1948 and missed out last year on cup final.
22:20The couple of cup final, the year before cup final, dramatic cup final.
22:25So, we felt like, you know, we needed to bring someone who can influence the winning mentality.
22:34Because you can just talk about it so much.
22:36But someone who actually done it could be a great example for the younger.
22:40And we have a lot of young players, as we talked about.
22:43So, Mandi's main mission was to come in and, you know, like, kind of spread the winning spirit in a way.
22:54And I truly believe that he still has long years to go for football in him.
22:59So, we were convinced.
23:01But the most important thing was, unlike Zurich, like last year, we didn't want to bring him when he's not 100% ready.
23:10Then it would be a bad example than a good example.
23:12So, he's been working, like, very hard individually and with the team.
23:19So, we didn't rush.
23:21We wanted to make sure that he's prepared.
23:23He's fully ready and fit.
23:28And then, it's actually, while he was getting ready, we realized that he's in love.
23:34Like, you know, with the environment.
23:37He fell in love with the fans.
23:39He loved the city.
23:40Because, like, our city is pretty much designed by an engineer, city planner who designed Paris.
23:49So, he finds some kind of a resilience, like resemblance from that.
23:54And then, so, he kind of finds an identity for himself.
23:59And he compares our fans to the fans of Marseille.
24:03And so, he feels like, you know, he's an ambassador of us, of our club.
24:09So, he's going to appear in the moments that we need him significantly.
24:14I truly believe it.
24:15And being with him is great, great, because he helps the players.
24:20He's in every fundraising, every, you know, community event.
24:27The city loves him.
24:28Honestly, like, the other day, you know, our media department, you know, informed me that he put a post from Zabka.
24:36And the entire city was crushed from Zabka, you know.
24:40So, he's like one of us.
24:42He drives a scooter to, right now, not possible because of the weather.
24:47But before, in the springtime, summertime, he was just driving a scooter to the training.
24:53And it said he wanted to explore every bits of the city.
24:56So, that's something that tells me that, you know, as extra class in Poland, we need some of these type of players.
25:05We cannot just be so domestic oriented.
25:07We have to have some players like, you know, Sam Greenwood or like Benjamin Mendy type still want to give something back to football and make Polish football more globally well-known.
25:21I don't know if, you know, I don't mind mentioning it.
25:25When we signed him, I think it was just over 100 million views throughout the world that our club got recognized.
25:35So, I think this is important also for moving forward on the commercial side of golf.
25:40Huge opportunity in MLS because a lot of teams had already disclosed their release list and then players that they're not going to be continuing.
25:50So, that could be a benefit for most of the Polish clubs as well as us.
25:54And I think, you know, the league in U.S. is growing significantly.
26:01And from our perspective, we just don't look at the transfers just on-pitch performance.
26:07It has to do like a 360 contribution.
26:10So, that's why the majority of the recruitment is about on-pitch and the coach has the final say.
26:21But also, the commercial aspect of it is so important for me and Alex because Alex values the North American sports mentality, sports business strategies.
26:32And I'm from, you know, like from that kind of a culture and knowing it very well.
26:38So, I'm trying to combine it all together.
26:39Well, as from the fans' perspective, if they want to see an entertaining football, an amazing fan experience with, you know, with typhus and choreographies.
26:54And if they want to be part of a brand new stadium with light shows similar to what they have, what they see in U.S., but has more identity, more freedom of expression on the pitch and off the pitch.
27:10I think this is the place to be, but if you look at it from the investors and from business perspective, I think it's a no-brainer because the league has such a strong business model and then also growing.
27:24And the teams are already have a strong financials and so the promising financials.
27:34So, it could be an amazing opportunity to get yourself into European competitions.
27:40I think trophy is more important for us, but of course, for our longevity and because we, as thanks to, again, Alex is someone who doesn't want to take the money out of the business, rather keep the money in the business.
27:55So, every time that we qualify, we do something, you know, like something, a new project that brings us, whether it's a player sale or LED development that, you know, generates more advertisement revenues for us or qualifying to European competitions.
28:13To win a trophy is connected to our European competition because of this, because the more we compete, like, you know, compete, the revenue that we're going to get from that competition is going to be kept in the club and used in the club's future.
28:30So, I think it's connected to each other and today, one, are we going to get it? Are we going to win a trophy and trophy?
28:37I'm ambitious. I'm a dreamer. So, as Alex, we dream big.
28:42It's not in my own hands. It's a teamwork we have to have as a city, as fans, players, management, ownership, the staff, employees all come together to be able to deliver that and it takes time.
28:55Yeah.
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