Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

[Wheelsy]

Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

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Even in the process of being acquired by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Manchester City managed to scoop up the Brazilian star Robinho from under the nose of Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich in a record deal.

It’s one thing to be an avid football fan, watching the beautiful game from an armchair or terrace; it’s quite another to be in a position to buy one of the sport’s sleeping giants and shape policy for a club that plays in the world’s best league.

Yet that is the position in which Manchester City’s chairman, Khaldoon al Mubarak, finds himself. And while it is a coveted and influential post, Mr al Mubarak admits to a keen sense of responsibility to football and fans.

He filled the hot seat last September when Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed purchased the blue half of Manchester and gave him the daunting job of running it.

“I’ve always been a football fan and the Premier League was always my favourite league,” he said from his Abu Dhabi office yesterday. “Ask any fan what would be their dream job when they retire and it would be chairman of a football club.

“It never crossed my mind that it was ever going to be a possibility though, so when Sheikh Mansour decided to move ahead with the purchase it was amazing.”

Besides being involved in every aspect of Manchester City’s affairs, from transfers to the development of new facilities, Mr al Mubarak is also the chief executive of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company.

Although a busy man, he has continuously shuttled back and forth from Abu Dhabi to Manchester for the past nine months. News of Sheikh Mansour’s acquisition coincided with the announcement that the Brazilian international Robson de Souza, known as Robinho, had also been signed for £32.5 million (Dh196m) – a British transfer fee record last year.

“That was a key signing for many reasons,” said Mr al Mubarak. “First, Sheikh Mansour comes in, he’s the new owner, but for the fans his intentions may not have been clear. People don’t know whether it’s going to remain a mid-table club, is it going to drift to the bottom or are we going to compete for the Premier League? The other question for people was that even with considerable financial commitment, can Manchester City attract a top-tier player?

“It was a statement of intent from Sheikh Mansour; he bought the club and bought in a top-notch player that Chelsea were on the verge of signing.”

He added: “It was crazy, put it that way. He was not metres away – I would say inches away from signing for Chelsea and that arrangement with Robinho was a huge coup for us.”

Following Robinho were Wayne Bridge, Shay Given, Craig Bellamy and Nigel de Jong, signings that Mr al Mubarak says had an immediate on-field impact.

“First we got Robinho and he was followed by four other players,” said the chairman.

“The key for us in the January transfer window was to bring balance to the squad.”

The driving force for any City purchase is the manager, Mark Hughes. Mr al Mubarak said a team had been built around the former Wales international and Manchester United forward to facilitate signings, including the addition of the former Arsenal winger, Brian Marwood, as football administrator.

“Our transfer process is very simple,” said Mr al Mubarak. “We have Mark and his team who take football decisions, we have Gary Cook and myself on the management side and Sheikh Mansour as the owner.

“Mark decides on gaps in the squad and makes recommendations on players that would fill the gaps. He comes to me and gives me option A, B or C for a certain position. With each player there’s a different value and it’s up to us to work with Sheikh Mansour, determine a budget and see which player fits best.”

Mr al Mubarak said one of the hardest lessons to learn as chairman was to detach from the emotion of the game.

“It’s very hard to instill a sense of discipline in yourself,” he said. “I’m a big football fan, and if you think I’m passionate, then Sheikh Mansour takes it to another level.

“He’s a sportsman and he understands football, but we realise that when it comes to the club you have to have a business-like attitude. Passion and emotion can sometimes leave you making decisions that are not right.”

Instead, a long-term view was required, as was the ability to accept the lows with the highs.

“Unlike in business, things are very different in football. In business you can have the right structure, the right positions, the right business plan and you can to a certain extent control how it performs.

“In football you can have the perfect 11 players, a home draw on a sunny afternoon with the greatest manager in the world against an inferior side and you can still lose.

“You have to focus on your plan and understand that in the season there will be ups and downs.”

Yet it is a passion to succeed that drives Mr al Mubarak.

“Sheikh Mansour is someone that you would definitely classify as competitive and a winner,” he said.

“We are not in this to just make up numbers. We are here to win and build a club that is going to compete and be in a position to win trophies. There’s no question of that and what we do this summer will set the tone of that very clearly.”

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[sboroMCFC]

Re: Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

I love our owners!

 

[Hamann Pineapple]

Re: Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

We love Mubarak, said we love Mubarak

He's caught the blue bug quick, I love him

He understands the fans frustration already with the media and all the ****s who try to put us down.

Say we love Mubarak, say We love Mubarak.

 

[Dubai Blue]

Re: Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

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We won't pay crazy prices, says chairman
Sarah Tregoning

Last Updated: June 17. 2009 12:41AM UAE / June 16. 2009 8:41PM GMT
Abu Dhabi // Manchester City, the English football club owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, will not pay inflated transfer fees to clubs that see it as a deep-pocketed organisation owned by rich Arabs for whom money is no object, Khaldoon al Mubarak, its chairman, said yesterday.

In his most detailed interview since taking the job, Mr al Mubarak said he would rather walk away from the table than pay over the odds.

Real Madrid’s recent signing of Brazil’s Kaká for £54.9 million (Dh330m) and the Portugal international Cristiano Ronaldo for £80 million smashed previous transfer records and seemed to belie the financial climate.

Though City may have the spending power to eclipse Real’s spree, Mr al Mubarak is refusing to be held to ransom by a perceived “City price” for players.

The club will buy four to six new players after purging the squad during the summer, he said, without naming transfer targets,

“There are two things going on,” Mr al Mubarak said during an interview with The National. “One, a general view of Arab investors and two, a whole hierarchy within football where there is a group of clubs that fall within the hierarchy and the clubs that fall outside don’t have a seat at the table and shouldn’t even demand one.

“I’m frustrated with people assuming we are going to throw crazy money at deals, that we won’t understand true values and we can’t negotiate or get value for a player. We’ve had numbers thrown at us that are a joke.

“There are situations where a £10 million player will be offered to us for a ‘City price’ of £20 million.

“We just leave because at that point there’s no point arguing – if people are throwing crazy numbers at us, fine, deals won’t be done.”

Perceptions of Man City as a club run by extravagant Arabs were wide of the mark, he insisted.

“Look at Sheikh Mansour; he’s a very shrewd businessman who has conducted himself in a professional way. I will defend the value of every deal we have done.

“Look at our Robinho deal. If he went in this transfer window for the same price [£32.5m] it would be a steal. Our deals to date presented fair value to the clubs we brought them from, fair value to us and are typical of the type of deals we are looking to make.”

City made headlines in January when they attempted to lure Kaká to the Premier League. They were prepared to pay the same money as Real Madrid, yet Mr al Mubarak said perceptions of the clubs were very different.

“When we looked at Kaká, the numbers being thrown around were crazy, suddenly in the news you see ‘City are crazy’ and ‘City are irresponsible’.

“Why is it when Real Madrid not only talks about but actually closes two deals, like the ones they’ve closed with the numbers they’ve committed to, it’s fine?”

City will sign high-profile players this summer but most important to Mr al Mubarak is that decisions stem from the manager, Mark Hughes. “We will shrink our squad and add four to six players,” he said. “Key for us is that we trust Mark and any acquisition is based on his view.”

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Thirty years of abject hunger – ‘I share it’Robert Ditcham and Sarah Tregoning

Last Updated: June 17. 2009 12:07AM UAE / June 16. 2009 8:07PM GMT ABU DHABI // The past three decades have been an era of turbulence for Manchester City. While the red half of the town has filled its trophy cabinet, the Blues have yo-yoed between league divisions. They won their last major trophy in 1976, taking home the League Cup. Ten years earlier they had started a brief period as arguably the best side in England, relegating Manchester United to the second tier of English football in the process.

Khaldoon al Mubarak has been left under no illusions as to the importance of reviving that brief but glorious era.

“I don’t think I truly appreciated what I was getting into until I got there,” he said. “It’s very easy when you are sitting in Abu Dhabi and when your knowledge of it is based on hearsay and based on watching football on TV and going to games.

“Once you go to Manchester and you are the chairman of Man City Football Club, you quickly realise the importance of that club to the city of Manchester and the people of Manchester, and that passion is not something that you take lightly.”

Mr al Mubarak said he shared the fans’ hunger for success. “I was really aware of how much people care and their lives are almost connected to it,” he said. “This is a team that has had a huge fan base but one that has been very frustrated.”

Fans in the UAE were optimistic over the club’s future, hoping for a top-six finish next season.

“Just to be seriously linked with players such as Carlos Tevez and Samuel Eto’o represents a huge shift in fortune,” said David Hammett, vice chairman of the UAE Manchester City Supporters Club and a Dubai resident.

“The relationship between the club and its supporters is now closer than I ever remember it being, with the hierarchy keen to listen to the fans and implement their ideas whenever possible.

“Beating Liverpool to the signature of Gareth Barry has made the media sit up and take notice of us again, and it’s hopefully a sign of things to come. A top-six finish should be attainable this season with the addition of a few more quality players and it would be nice to see us win a trophy or two within the next few years. But we’re a patient bunch at Manchester City – we’ve had to be.”

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How star players can build a global brand
Sarah Tregoning and Robert Ditcham

Last Updated: June 17. 2009 12:12AM UAE / June 16. 2009 8:12PM GMT

Abu Dhabi // As Real Madrid demonstrated when they paid £80 million (Dh480m) for Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s most recognisable player, football clubs are motivated by a need to market themselves to a global fan base.

It is a business philosophy of which Khaldoon al Mubarak is well aware: success comes not just on the field, but in a club’s reach to Asia and Africa. The passion for football runs deep on those continents but, crucially, loyalties can be decided by the visit of a club or the signing of a glamorous player.

Closer to home, Mr al Mubarak is convinced that within a couple of seasons, Manchester City can become the club of choice for fans of English football in the Middle East.

“You have to look at Asia and Africa. These are markets which are growing and where there is a tremendous football base,” he said.

“These are markets where if you position yourself well enough, you have an opportunity to really capture.

“In Europe there is a traditional football market. But you go to Asia and Africa and you have a good opportunity to build on your base and [their] huge populations.
“They don’t have leagues of the quality of the English Premier League and that is an advantage if you come in with a club built on the right foundation, with the right players and the right appeal.

And Mr al Mubarak plans to start with his home region. Within two years, he hopes to turn City into “almost a cult” in the Middle East.

“I am very confident that over the next two seasons we will be very big in the Middle East.

“First of all the English league is already very popular. Our association with the club is very well known and that will grow as we develop the club.

“I think Middle East supporters like to associate with us and knowing this is a club owned by Sheikh Mansour and you see Etihad on our shirt and the new website we are developing.

“As you start seeing us winning, you will see a very fast growth.”

Initially the club will target younger fans, who may not yet have made a commitment to any club, with regional friendly matches and a series of training camps.

For some fans, loyalty lies first with a player, then with the club he plays for – a factor that was a large part of the calculation when Real bought Ronaldo from Manchester United.

If City are to compete seriously for worldwide loyalties, they will need to attract players with the flair and image of Ronaldo and Kaká, another Brazilian, for whom Real paid AC Milan £56 million just days before the Ronaldo deal.

City’s £32.5 milion purchase of the Brazilian forward Robinho from Real last year was a clear statement of that intention.

“I think that, no question, signature signings has a huge appeal here,” Mr al Mubarak said.

“Football is so popular in this region. One attraction is clubs and the other is players. You have to build the brand as a club, and attract these players that fit your needs as a club but also give you that tremendous fan base. That’s a win-win for everyone.

“Everybody has an opinion, but there are particular positions that if you are looking for an A-class player, your options are not that big.

“That’s what makes us see those huge [transfer] numbers. If you are looking for impact player, the reality of the situation is quite thin. How will United fill the void of Ronaldo?”

And nothing breeds support for a football team like its participation in major tournaments that are broadcast around the world.

Only one thing can guarantee this – playing in the Uefa Champions League. For English clubs, that means placing in the top four of the Premier League.

“Sheikh Mansour is someone that you would definitely classify as competitive,” Mr al Mubarak said. “We are not in this to complete the group around the [mid] table.

“We are here to win and build a club that is going to compete and will be in a position to win trophies. There is no question of that in my book.

“Now, whether we achieve that in a year, two, three, four, five ...

“I know what we want to do and I’m very clear on our internal targets. We want to win trophies, and what we have done in the last year and what we have done this summer will set the tone very clearly.”

 

[samharris]

Re: Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

We are in safe hands.

 

[Bucharest Blue]

Re: Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

Some good interviews!! Love the guy!!

On the point about being well supported over in middle east.. I was driving into Abu Dhabi last weekend from Muscat and had to stop at the border/check point.. talking to a few of the guards whilst waiting to be stamped etc. the question came up "where are you from".. when i told him Manchester they all looked at me and "aarrgghh Manchester... Manchester City Yeah ??" with thumbs up and a smile!! which was really nice suprise!! as a guy who's travelled a bit, whenever someone asks that and you say Manchester, 99 times out of 100 you get a bit arrrrgh man utd.. which starts to really piss you off!!

Just shows, the revolution is well under way!!

CTID

 

[mcfc78]

Re: Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

its hard to imagine this was going to happen,, when we had swales,franny,bernstein,wardle,thaksin borrowing off wardle for players wages... then these guys.. we are blessed...

 

[gman07]

Re: Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

I love our owners!

i totally agree they are so damn great and know how to do business...

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

I love em more and more each day, they are unlike any other owners.

 

[BlueT]

Re: Mr al Mubarak speaks — Robinho, transfer policy, and winning

Excellent read, and very reassuring. Cheers.