Chairman's Interview

[stan bowles]

Which is exactly what you posted (re. the CFG) in the previous post.

Good for you.

Highly original.

 

[Marvin]

The main issue with me is that Bailey is part of CIty's media team and therefore he never interrupts Khaldoon's well prepared responses, he never presses him for more details on a particular issue or asks follow up questions. For example. the point about the Etihad Stadium needing upgrades/improvements was mentioned but then no details were forthcoming. Details of specifics and timelines were never asked.
On a seperate issue, should I be bothered about Yokohama or Melbourne City ? It's great to see the global model working and successful and Khaldoon is clearly delighted with the progress made but I have no interest in anything other than Manchester CIty. It's clear the potential income streams and expannding support from the USA, India and China are now the priorites for ADUG.

You either run the football club as a business, or you do what Abramovic does and finance everything lock, stock and barrel. The amazing thing for me is how quickly City have transitioned from a club that is reliant on the owner to one which is based on its own revenue streams. And as such it makes perfect sense to focus on America, India and China. Britain is not the centre of the world anymore.

 

[stan bowles]

Hey Stan. I believe that the sister clubs in the group are critical to the City model. I don’t agree that they are ‘the priorities.’ City and their success also remain a major priority as currently it’s the most public and profitable component.

Anybody believing that the future big profits in the footy market are always going to come from England is, in my view misguided.

The EFL is in a truly golden period with broadcasting income, sponsorship and the best players to match the offering. But this is only like the Italian period in the 80s.

The market will change over time. The characteristics in the market are currently changing now in an accelerated way with the digital offering etc. The owners are playing the long, big game and, along with some others like Red Bull are cementing the foundations for a global presence.

I used to go to watch County cricket as a lad. Consider County Cricket to be crickets equivalent of the Football League.

Old Trafford was often packed to the rafters and Lancs were a major player. Now most of the big money is in India because that’s where the market exploded and Lancs and other Counties get a smattering of fans for their fixtures. The only money for the English clubs one day internationals, hosting test matches or 20/20 or one-day type matches.

The current EPL bubble is bound to burst/ significantly slow down at some point in the future. I’m yet to read a poster suggest a sensible alternative as to what our owners could do to protect their investment for the really long term If/ when it does.

If the City group approach ensures that City are always well funded and looked after then that’s good enough for me. When the bubble does burst the EPL will becomes a shell of what it is now and we will all probably be wearing zebra pants and be agitating to join a super league type structure.

English history is full of once global businesses and organisations that took the myopic view... cotton, coal, motorbike manufacture etc. Why will footy be any different?

I get all of that and I agree with everything you say. However it doesn't make me interested in our partner teams. I know there are benefits to City both directly and indirectly from the model in terms of growth and investment but I feel as a season card holder I should be more important than a fan of Yokohama Mariners or New York City FC. Currently it doesn't feel like I am.

 

[stan bowles]

You either run the football club as a business, or you do what Abramovic does and finance everything lock, stock and barrel. The amazing thing for me is how quickly City have transitioned from a club that is reliant on the owner to one which is based on its own revenue streams. And as such it makes perfect sense to focus on America, India and China. Britain is not the centre of the world anymore.

Does the model work without the EPL then ? Are we looking at competitive games being played overseas in 10 years time ?

 

[BlueRockape]

Where's part 2 please

 

[Manc in London]

The main issue with me is that Bailey is part of CIty's media team and therefore he never interrupts Khaldoon's well prepared responses, he never presses him for more details on a particular issue or asks follow up questions.

That's one of the benefits of being a chairman. You're unlikely to get a private sector big-player being subject to a no-holds barred interview. It would be too risky.

Could you imagine what he would be asked if he was interviewed by the press? I assure you, we would be more interested in the questions/responses in the interview with Chris Bailey.

 

[The perfect fumble]

The negatives that happened weren’t negatives, they were positives waiting to happen.

Blue sky thinking made sky blue thinking.

Yeah, that's a bit of old school corporate flannel. If a meteorite destroyed all life on earth it would be branded as a window of opportunity.

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

The main issue with me is that Bailey is part of CIty's media team and therefore he never interrupts Khaldoon's well prepared responses, he never presses him for more details on a particular issue or asks follow up questions. For example. the point about the Etihad Stadium needing upgrades/improvements was mentioned but then no details were forthcoming. Details of specifics and timelines were never asked.
On a seperate issue, should I be bothered about Yokohama or Melbourne City ? It's great to see the global model working and successful and Khaldoon is clearly delighted with the progress made but I have no interest in anything other than Manchester CIty. It's clear the potential income streams and expanding support from the USA, India and China are now the priorites for ADUG.

Absolutely no reason why you and 99% of the City support, me included, should be bothered or invested in anything other than City. I also agree to an extent the priority is CFG and the future global income streams.

But how are we disadvantaged? City are at the pinnacle of everything they do and clearly they will continue to invest heavily to ensure we remain at the top. Globally and locally. And City locally will directly benefit from the CFG global operation. Take 2 examples of financial benefit:

• Yokohama - Owned 80% Nissan 20% CFG. And a long-term and ongoing major sponsorship agreement for City worth £££.
• Silver Lake - a 10% investor in CFG (the appeal to them is the global reach) and multiple benefits to CFG. The local benefit to City is the Silver Lake/Oak View connection and the new arena. The new arena has direct benefit to City in terms of £££ and own income streams.

As per his answer on stadium upgrades, he did fudge the answer but was very clear that the priority now is the infastructure around the stadium to complement the new arena. (Again, City will directly benefit financially from this). It seems they want to act quickly and no doubt there is lots going on in the background at the moment. My bet is until the plans for that are finalised they will hold off from anything major stadium related. Ultimately we will end up with an in your face big fuck off iconic stadium upgrade. You'll just have to wait a little bit longer before you get what you want!

 

[The perfect fumble]

You're not doing him any favours here.

It gets worse....

 

[Marvin]

I get all of that and I agree with everything you say. However it doesn't make me interested in our partner teams. I know there are benefits to City both directly and indirectly from the model in terms of growth and investment but I feel as a season card holder I should be more important than a fan of Yokohama Mariners or New York City FC. Currently it doesn't feel like I am.

I follow the clubs out of vague interest but it doesn't really bother me that City are linked to a wider group. If it is to our benefit then great. I wasn't a big fan of it but I do think it's a good idea to be on the inside in the development of Indian and Chinese football.