When the Abu Dhabi United Group purchased 90% of Manchester City’s shareholdings in
September 2008 for a princely sum of 210 million pounds
it transformed the Blues overnight into the richest football club in the world.
The fabulously wealthy investment company – owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan,
a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family – had
long been keen to expand their interests into English
football and, after briefly considering Newcastle United and Everton, in City they found a club
primed for success after years of relegations and underachievement.
With limitless funding avai lable a spree of marquee signings were undertaken as City
strove to make a quantum leap from mediocrity into becoming one of Europe’s very elite.
Two Premier League titles and regular appearances in the Champions League
within their first ten years suggest they’re well on their way to achieving that aim.
Yet for all the accelerated spending on the pitch Mansour – a man not known for making
public statements – wanted to make clear back in
2008 that this was anything but a short-term project.
“We are building a structure for the future,” he insisted.
“Not just a team of all-stars.”
That structure largely took the form of what became known as the Etihad Campus, a state
of the art training complex and academy that was soon
dubbed in the press a ‘£200m football factory’ while
away from the 16 immaculate football pitches and three gymnasiums an aggressive commercial
blueprint ensured that the club is no longer bankrolled by their owners but instead is
self-sufficient.
But Sheikh Mansour’s vision didn’t end there.
He wanted to do more than just conquer Europe.
Four significant events made 2012 a defining year for the Abu Dhabi United Group and Manchester City.
In May Roberto Mancini’s side won the club its first league title for 44 years while
that summer saw the appointment of two former Barcelona
bigwigs in CEO Ferran Soriano and Director of Football
Txiki Begiristain to the club’s hierarchy.
City had long coveted Barcelona’s footballing philosophy and business
model and – with the additional signing of American
Tom Glick as their new Chief Commercial Officer – now had a dream team in place to mirror
the Catalonian’s mega success.
Less welcome that year was UEFA’s introduction of their Financial Fair Play Regulations,
established to prevent clubs spending more than what they earn.
With their expenditure on players now capped ADUG began to look at alternative means to
fulfil their considerable ambitions which is where MLS
Commissioner Don Garber enters stage left with an intriguing proposition.
Would City be interested in forming a start-up club, based in New York that could directly
be affiliated with the Manchester giants?
The idea particularly appealed to Soriano who had previously been
keen for Barcelona to export their global brand to America in a similar fashion and
so – once a partnership with the New York Yankees had
been secured and the $100m expansion fee was paid – in May 2013 New York City FC was officially announced as the MLS’s 20 th franchise.
Free from their European constraints of FFP superstars were duly bought for the fledgling outfit.
David Villa was signed from Atletico Madrid.
A year later Andreo Pirlo joined the US gravy-train while
Patrick Vieira – previously City’s Elite Development Squad’s manager – was installed
as boss.​ When a third club was acquired in January 2014 – Melbourne Heart from Australia’s A-League for
$12m that was swiftly trademarked as Melbourne City Football Club – it necessitated the
formation of the City Football Group, a holding company
designed to oversee a network of linked clubs around the globe.
Twelve months later another major development was announced out of the blue when a Chinese
consortium called China Media Capital – backed by the Chinese government – invested £265M
into the City Football Group, a 13% stake which
valued the company at a staggering three billion pounds.
City chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, said of the deal: “this will leverage the incredible
potential that exists in China”.
This year alone the portfolio has expanded further with the acquisition of a Uruguayan
second division club Atletico Torque while a collaboration
agreement has been reached with Atletico Venezuela.
Soriano insists such a strategy “expands the options for identifying and developing South American talent.”
With a 20% stake in Yokohama F Marinos from Japan creating a further partnership with
car manufacturers Nissan the intention is clearly
to have close working relationships in every continent
and all with commercial partnerships, sponsorship opportunities, academy operations – including
far-reaching scouting networks - and help in getting around third party ownership problems
with players in mind.
The question now – as the City football group continues to grow and assimilate themselves
into foreign leagues – is where next in their quest for world domination?