CFG acquire Mumbai City - Yokohama J league champions

[cleavers]

There are 2 competing "top-flights" in India. Mumbai City fc plays in the Indian Super League. The original league is the I-league which has no Mumbai based team right now. The Indian Super League was created about 4-5 years ago, with all teams being "franchises". So Mumbai only has 1 team in ISL.

Thanks for the reply, I doubt many know much about Indian football, so a useful insight, and good news that there is only 1 top flight club in either league, with such a huge population.

 

[Shaelumstash]

That badge is rife for a City roundel re-design.

 

[Shaelumstash]

There's no saying they will as they haven't with Girona, Marinos and the chinese team, but a brand change could be on the cards which is part of the clubs identity, so they might possibly lose their current identity..

not that its a bad thing from my POV as a brand & marketing enthusiast, but it might upset a few of their fans.

They've only been going 5 years, I don't think they'll be too arsed.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Thank you for making some sense around here.

That said, it is a bit disappointing to see how some BlueMoaners are becoming so entitled, deluded, and behave like spoiled brats. In fact, some posters over time became convinced that Manchester City FC owns City Football Group, and not the other way round. I could visualize some of them crying and screaming: “aaaaaaaah oooooooh it is the Sheikh’s money, and that means it is our money, and we should get all of it.” “We, as if they own the money, should not waste money in Asia, Africa, Australia or America, and the money must be spent only in Manchester.” “Only fans from Manchester are allowed to follow and root for our club; the club that we inherited from our Mancunian parents and grandparents.” “Fans from other countries or continents should just f***k off.” Borderline line racism to be honest (ops, someone now will probably delete my post because this is NOT the political subforum). The truth of the matter is that the source of the invested funds is Abu Dhabi/City Football Group and NOT Manchester/Manchester City Football Club, and therefore Abu Dhabi/City Football Group have the right to decide what is the best for them, which might occasionally appear to be not the best for Manchester City FC, at least in the eyes of some BM experts. I am confident that the Chinese and American firms/investors were totally aware and agreed on acquiring the Mumbai group. I will not be surprised if this acquisition was the final detail that made the American firm join the group. For almost a decade now, things have been working very well for Manchester City FC, and that what matters. I will just have to continue trusting Mansour, Khaldoon, etc., and their vision because clearly they know better how to invest THEIR money.

I understand your point, but it would be naive to think Manchester City were not the flagship here.

Of course they want all the clubs to be successful in their own right. But Manchester City is where the overwhelming majority of money has been spent, the overwhelming majority of revenue has been recouped, the overwhelming majority of interest around the world is.

The PL is the biggest football league in the world. Barring something catastrophic happening, I cannot see the MLS, A-League, Chinese Super-League or IFL getting near the PL in terms of interest in the next 50 years.

The other clubs all have more scope to expand and they're all in emerging football markets. It's going to be fascinating to see. But I cannot envisage a day any time soon when Manchester City's best interests will not be the priority for the group.

 

[Clowny]

Thanks for the reply, I doubt many know much about Indian football, so a useful insight, and good news that there is only 1 top flight club in either league, with such a huge population.

I posted this in another forum. Some more info if you are interested:

A bit of background about Indian football.

The original Indian league system has the I-league as the top flight. The I-league contains most of the old, existing clubs. Some like Mohun Bagan are a century old and have huge local fan bases and "history". Unfortunately for a long period of time, grassroot football interest was limited to a few states with most of us plastics coming from big cities, which generally don't have I-league clubs or even second division clubs.

In 2014, with full backing of AIFF (the Indian FA), the richest guy in India (Ambani) created a MLS/IPL style franchise league, all with media hype and glamour. It's a closed league without any promotion/relegation or any relation with the original league system. Mumbai city fc was created back then as a franchise. There has been a long messy battle between the I-league and ISL since I-league still is the official league and gets Asian CL and Asian cup qualification since the last 5 years. It's only this year, that the AIFF decided to side with the ISL and make it the top flight but it's still a closed league. ISL's money and it's marketing are the reason why football has seen a boom in India lately but the I-league clubs are the original clubs and rightfully annoyed to be suddenly relegated to the second tier with no prospect of promotion. It's likely that there will be long legal battle about this, but ultimately the richer league will win, I think.

If you want to think of a parallel for this league mess, think of the ECB creating the "Hundred" instead of using the existing county cricket teams.

As for Mumbai city, it's great news. ISL clubs are not immune from going bankrupt. My own "local club" of sorts when down this year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Pune_City. I doubt CFG will abandon any of it's clubs, so it makes it a lot more resilient against financial woes. The ground is tiny and shit though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_Football_Arena . Mumbai city fc is also a middling team. Some of the other teams in the ISL have larger fan bases or simply better players/coaches.

 

[born2bblu]

I understand your point, but it would be naive to think Manchester City were not the flagship here.

Of course they want all the clubs to be successful in their own right. But Manchester City is where the overwhelming majority of money has been spent, the overwhelming majority of revenue has been recouped, the overwhelming majority of interest around the world is.

The PL is the biggest football league in the world. Barring something catastrophic happening, I cannot see the MLS, A-League, Chinese Super-League or IFL getting near the PL in terms of interest in the next 50 years.

The other clubs all have more scope to expand and they're all in emerging football markets. It's going to be fascinating to see. But I cannot envisage a day any time soon when Manchester City's best interests will not be the priority for the group.

I agree with you. Manchester City FC will always be the center of CFG/owner operations. And that by itself should assure all of us, the fans, that whatever decisions made by them will, in a way or another, benefit the Club that we love. As I said, the last decade or so proves that point. What Khaldoon keeps repeating in every interview demonstrates that Manchester City FC is their favorite "baby." However, that will not stop CFG/the owner from making decisions they believe would benefit them, and at the same time may appear to not immediately benefit MCFC. Eventually, these decisions will have a direct positive impact on City. It is also puzzling when some BlueMoaners keep repeating that they don't care a bit about the other clubs. I don't believe for a second that CFG/the owner takes in consideration whether MCFC fans will or will not warm up to any of the other clubs. Adding clubs to CFG, in my opinion, is merely business to further strengthen the group, and none of City fans should be bothered by it. What matters is that there is no evidence that Mansour gets emotional about any of the other clubs. He meets at least once if not twice a year only with MCFC staff and players. We saw recent photos of him and his kids wearing MCFC colors. The same can be said about Khaldoon, who clearly loves City with the passion. I am not sure how frequent Khaldoon visits the other clubs in the group, whereas he regularly visits City to attend games and meets with the staff and players. I know that several on here hate globalization of professional sports including football, and I am not a big fan of it, but sooner or later it may become the dominating force. I would rather we would be on the forefront of it than being left behind and struggle to catch up.

 

[cleavers]

I posted this in another forum. Some more info if you are interested:

A bit of background about Indian football.

The original Indian league system has the I-league as the top flight. The I-league contains most of the old, existing clubs. Some like Mohun Bagan are a century old and have huge local fan bases and "history". Unfortunately for a long period of time, grassroot football interest was limited to a few states with most of us plastics coming from big cities, which generally don't have I-league clubs or even second division clubs.

In 2014, with full backing of AIFF (the Indian FA), the richest guy in India (Ambani) created a MLS/IPL style franchise league, all with media hype and glamour. It's a closed league without any promotion/relegation or any relation with the original league system. Mumbai city fc was created back then as a franchise. There has been a long messy battle between the I-league and ISL since I-league still is the official league and gets Asian CL and Asian cup qualification since the last 5 years. It's only this year, that the AIFF decided to side with the ISL and make it the top flight but it's still a closed league. ISL's money and it's marketing are the reason why football has seen a boom in India lately but the I-league clubs are the original clubs and rightfully annoyed to be suddenly relegated to the second tier with no prospect of promotion. It's likely that there will be long legal battle about this, but ultimately the richer league will win, I think.

If you want to think of a parallel for this league mess, think of the ECB creating the "Hundred" instead of using the existing county cricket teams.

As for Mumbai city, it's great news. ISL clubs are not immune from going bankrupt. My own "local club" of sorts when down this year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Pune_City. I doubt CFG will abandon any of it's clubs, so it makes it a lot more resilient against financial woes. The ground is tiny and shit though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_Football_Arena . Mumbai city fc is also a middling team. Some of the other teams in the ISL have larger fan bases or simply better players/coaches.

Thanks for the insight, it will be interesting to see how it all develops.

 

[cleavers]

I would rather we would be on the forefront of it than being left behind like united and struggle to catch up.

You missed a couple of words :)

 

[moomba]

Not really on topic but CFG related.

FMarinos are well placed to win their first J League title since 2004. Currently 3 points and +7 goal difference of FC Tokyo with one game left. That game is at home against Tokyo next Saturday.

 

[WRicko]

Not really on topic but seeing as it was mentioned after the purchase of this club that we might get involved in a club in Mexico and Brazil

I had a look at the clubs in Mexico and Brazil some massive metro and wide state area wit big clubs and big stadiums in both a few blue one and a few with nice round badges.

Also in Mexico I noticed most of the clubs are owned by huge companies who could be be good at connected other clubs in the group to sponsorship etc