I'm With Stupid
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 6 May 2013
- Messages
- 20,132
City Football Group (CFG) buy into Chinese club Sichuan Jiuniu FC (from Chengdu)
- Thread starter Maly
- Start date
Oystercatcher28
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 3 Jul 2010
- Messages
- 7,304
- Location
- https://acton28.blog/
- Team supported
- CITY/Aberystwyth Town
Well at least they have Puma
Oystercatcher28
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 3 Jul 2010
- Messages
- 7,304
- Location
- https://acton28.blog/
- Team supported
- CITY/Aberystwyth Town
Sichuan Jiuniu has only been in existence for 7 years, 5 of which CFG owned them, and they've never even had a permanent stadium. They've only been professional for 4 years.
Not sure that's QUITE comparable to MK Dons and them stealing 115 years of history from Wimbledon.
And moving teams in China is so common that there's an entire Wikipedia page about it.
Mid Wales blue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 30 Jan 2017
- Messages
- 4,773
Oystercatcher28
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 3 Jul 2010
- Messages
- 7,304
- Location
- https://acton28.blog/
- Team supported
- CITY/Aberystwyth Town
Yeah, I am familiar with the Chines footballing history. The league isn't quite 115 years-old but certainly has had more than 115 clubs. Shenzhen is al;so a city renowned for pop-up, slip away and short-term clubs. Shenzhen FC just ended. Seems a stupidly large nation with zero modelling for a football strategy. I was always surprised by how the amateur team I played for there almost made the Chinese League Two - but were rejected on the basis we were too foreign. The other thing was, we'd only played 3 eleven-a-side games to get to the final!
Shenzhen is a significantly bigger market. Comparable to moving from Memphis to Chicago. It's the fastest growing city in China both economically and ... populationally (?). Huge business district too with a lot of new tech based there as well as a massive port. Decent immigrant population as well, and a city that needs a good football team tbh. As acton says, there's been a few attempts and none of them have taken for various reasons.
I might be wrong here but I seem to recall that Shenzhen is where we tried to originally setup/purchase when CFG first went into China but couldn't make the deal.
Oystercatcher28
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 3 Jul 2010
- Messages
- 7,304
- Location
- https://acton28.blog/
- Team supported
- CITY/Aberystwyth Town
UBtech were based in Shenzhen and moved to Chengdu... then CFG and Chinese regulations about overseas and domestic football matters hit new 100% tax rules. Sichuan Jiuniu had mnajor identity problems. I tried asking for an away shirt (sky blue) and was told to jog on and jerk my movements, because Jiuniu was and always will be yellow. 5 games later they swapped to sky blue... and the following season moved to a new stadium. I remember watching them play a team in Shenzhen and was denied an away ticket because I could not prove a connection to the club, despite mentioning City and CFG - and Shenzhen Blues OSC. I was denied a home team ticket at Shenzhen Phoenix - but was allowed a neutral ticket, in a stand on my own... whoever was in charge of Sichuan Jiuniu then was thick as flip!!!
Good luck to them in a very tough footballing and business landscape. Shenzhen has a growing population, a wealth of middle-class fanbase potential with huge disposable income, great sponsorhsip prospects (those LED boards at the Etihad etc come from there) and is on the Hong Kong/Shenzhen/Macau/Pearl River Greater Bay metropolis area. Kerching.
If City's club there suceeds, they coukld join Mumbai Cuity, Yokohama F. Marinos and Melbourne City in the AFA Champions League, which gives a great window of exposure and a place to loan stars/acquire one or two unheard of players.
Plays By Sense Of Smell
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 4 Sep 2011
- Messages
- 11,032
As my teenage daughter tells me, this only makes us even more 'peng'.