My experience is that the word “Manchester” has been synonymous with “United” for my entire life. Indeed, traveling the world, the mere mention of being from Manchester elicits “Manchester United.”
In fact, in the pre-Mansour era, because of the way most teams are based on the name of their town, the word “Manchester” actually MEANT “Manchester United”!
CFG is a branding effort to secure the word “City” for us is, in my opinion, BECAUSE of the above fact.
It is much easier to say “City” in any language on earth than the whole thing, especially when you would have to overcome the tears of “Manchester” being associated with the Rags.
As foreign owners, I think management understands this friction and seeks to avoid it, while creating a new narrative.
I don’t think it is coincidence that the East Stand (directly opposite the TV cameras!!!) is now emblazoned with “CITY” or that “City” is being used on leisurewear.
Yes, it is painful for Manchester locals to think of their home town as associated with the Rags, but outside of a 60 mile radius of Piccadilly, no-one really cares about us making the “they’re not even in Manchester” reference!
Sadly, when football blew up on satellite TV and then internet cable, United were on top and we were doing the roundtrip through the Leagues. That isn’t going to change with time, so why spend precious money and effort trying to change it?
We are always going to be Man City, with the “City” part being the defining characteristic, so why not promote that.
It was clear from the outset of the Holding Company being named that the GLOBAL project was about helping make the team name “City” synonymous with Man City as the halo club, but in also (wherever and whenever feasible) having CFG clubs carry that name and wear the sky blue…which is yet another branding effort.
The hope is that when the word “City” or the sky blue shirt colour is seen on a team, the footballing public THINKS Man City/CFG.
If we can accomplish that, commercial contracts become ever more valuable and the global football “istree” of “Manchester” being synonymous with the Rags becomes ever more irrelevant.
