Yesterday afternoon the Fan Rep Group met with the club, which was represented by Scott Munn, David Lyon and Simon Pearce (Board member of Manchester City).
The meeting was led by Simon and everyone was given a chance to put forward items for discussion.
In my words, the key points from the meeting (in no particular order) are summarised below:
Manchester City has been (and still are) working closely with Heart behind the scenes since the purchase to get an intimate appreciation on how the club currently runs.
In terms of the existing philosophies around community engagement, grass-roots programs, being a family friendly club, being affordable, wanting to play attractive winning football and giving back to football in Australia (with a focus on youth development and strengthening the A-League), they believe strongly that Heart's current ideals & approaches align nicely with the vision of the Manchester City brand. It was acknowledged that the Heart has been hamstrung almost from the start by lack of finance. Also, it was said that the people currently at Heart are good operators, with a connection to the club that has been there since its inception (which they believe is invaluable) and who have a real passion and desire for the club to achieve its goals and be successful.
Creating clear global connectivity between City's clubs is essential with regards to business setups and sharing intellect (this is already happening - some of Heart's community programs will be considered by City for implementation in the UK), sharing football resources, and players.
Manchester City understands the passion the supporters have for the colours, and that the red and white are the colours of Melbourne. This understanding exists at the highest executive level.
City have been impressed with the way that Melbourne Heart supporters have conducted themselves with regards to presenting the message about the colours (particularly the placard and the text contained on the back), and they think the respectful approach adopted by fans gels with the way City like to engage and operate - hats off to all involved, you have been heard!
It is imperative for City to build a global brand. For them to achieve this, they believe there must be easily identifiable synergies with Manchester and New York. They indicated an acceptance that Heart is Red & White. Acknowledging this, they intend to introduce sky blue into the club (as well). They committed to achieve an outcome whereby the majority of supporters are in acceptance AND that will be respectful to the (albeit short) history of the club. They were no commitments given with regard to a change in name, however, again they indicated that all processes undertaken in building the desired global brand will be respectful to Heart, the existing fans and club history.
On players, City want to make sure when a player within their system is given the opportunity to go to Melbourne / New York, they will know that they are still part of City, a global brand with a shared vision and resources, rather than thinking they are just being sent off to a feeder club.
In terms of the playing squad (including marquees & loan players), it was indicated that appropriate investments will be made and that the utilisation of the full resource at City's disposal will be considered to achieve KPI driven success that includes finals and Asian Champions League.
With regards to facilities, money will be spent as required and at present Latrobe is the front runner due to existing relationships / partnerships and the fact that Latrobe WANT to partner with Heart. City has already had civil infrastructure & pitch experts out to Australia to look at improvement options.
It was said that City must continue building on what Melbourne Heart already has - there is no desire to create a mini Manchester City, because it won’t work. What is sought is the achievement of an outcome where our team plays outstanding winning football (in the same style as Manchester City), along with a culture of outstanding community & fan engagement.
It was reiterated that City do not like to blow their own trumpet with regards to their successes - they just get on and do things the best. It was also reiterated that when tough business decisions need to be made, they have the setups to make the decisions, but they will do it in the right (respectful) way. It was also pointed out that the purchase of Heart is not a 'flash in the pan', but a long term strategy with a 10 year plan.
Going forward, the Fan Rep Group will continue to exist and will meet with the club again in the lead up to next season.
Out of respect to other A-League clubs in the finals, and also with consideration to the World Cup, announcements and further developments will be timed accordingly, but we can all expect an exciting off-season.
