City Football Group (CFG) [Owner of Melbourne City]

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, Falastur said:

I think it's quite possible (though not certain). However, I will say that I suspect that they would have to register the name change before a season, so likely the earliest that they would change their name is by the end of 2017.

I'd say that judging by what has happened to Melbourne Heart, here in Melbourne our feelings are that the brand is everything.

Falastur, For general interest I've also dug out another reference relating to the ambitions that were stated for Melbourne at the time of the takeover. http://www.goal.com/en-au/news/4021/a-league/2014/01/23/4563559/manchester-citys-ferran-soriano-and-txiki-begiristain-reveal as follows:

23/01/2014 14:31:00

The chief executive officer and director of football at Etihad Stadium discuss what is in store for their latest acquisition

Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano says Melbourne Heart is set to benefit from the resources of the English Premier League giant, but will retain its own identity. 

A takeover of Heart by City, with a minority stake purchased by the owners of NRL franchise Melbourne Storm, was announced on Wednesday in a stunning coup for the struggling A-League side.

The acquisition of Heart is the next stage in a process of global expansion by City, which also operates New York City FC, a club set to make its Major League Soccer debut in 2015.

And while Heart can expect to benefit from the wealth of City owner Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Soriano insisted the club will be more than a regional outpost of the European powerhouse.

"We know that Melbourne is the sports capital of Australia, where there is a lot of people that love football," he told Fox Sports.

"And the Heart is a club with a lot of potential.

"The reality is that we are here to help develop and strengthen a club in Melbourne. And we will do whatever is needed to have a club here that is rooted in Melbourne and is successful. 

"This club is going to have an advantage, which is to use the global resources of City. That's it. Our aspiration is that fans in Australia, in Melbourne, that like football and good football, are going to like our club in Melbourne.

"This is not going to be a small Manchester City."

According to statements released by Heart and City, the A-League side's existing playing and coaching staff will remain in place for now, with no announcements on changes to be made until later in 2014.

City's director of football Txiki Begiristain, who held the same post with considerable success at Barcelona, spoke favourably of Heart's Dutch coach John van 't Schip.

"I can say that it helps that he comes from a country that loves football," he said.

"They play also a wonderful football. Don't forget that in Barcelona where I started in '88 was with Johan Cruyff (as coach). 

"And in 2003 we signed a Dutch manager, it was (Frank) Rijkaard. It helps that he (van 't Schip)'s coming from Holland because they love the football that we also love."

Begiristain flagged the creation of a youth academy to help implement a distinct playing style throughout all age groups.

"We need to start improving the first team," he said.

"And in the same way we need to build a good academy. And a good academy is to train in the same way, all the teams to play in the same way and then be able to have this consistency going into the first team."

Finally, City's Football Administration Officer Brian Marwood offered his assurance Heart would be properly compensated for any young talent which moves overseas. 

"No. We've never done that," he said when asked if City would cherry pick Heart's best youngsters at will.

"We don't intend on doing that. I think we, over the last five years certainly, that I've been at the football club, whatever players we've brought in, we've done it in the right and proper way. We have a moral and ethical way of doing things and we're not prepared to compromise on that."

 

[Dylan]

Can anyone give me a list of things to show how we dont have our own 'idenity' or are a mini manchester? Or what would make us that?

Mind you I think this whole idenity thing attached to football clubs its prerry much  and utter bullshit. Every club has the same goal and pretty much 50% play counter attack and the other 50% possession based (sure probably way off but the point is still there) so thats not really much to base an identity on. IMO the only thing that creates something like an 'idenity' for a football club is time, it cant be instantaneous. 

 

Same idenity crap was talked over and over when we were heart and it landed on a team from melbourne and that we happend to have the same colour (although not the same colour emphasis) of a flag that no one knew about before someone found that flag after the fact

[rass]

6 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Can anyone give me a list of things to show how we dont have our own 'idenity' or are a mini manchester? Or what would make us that?

Mind you I think this whole idenity thing attached to football clubs its prerry much  and utter bullshit. Every club has the same goal and pretty much 50% play counter attack and the other 50% possession based (sure probably way off but the point is still there) so thats not really much to base an identity on. IMO the only thing that creates something like an 'idenity' for a football club is time, it cant be instantaneous. 

 

Same idenity crap was talked over and over when we were heart and it landed on a team from melbourne and that we happend to have the same colour (although not the same colour emphasis) of a flag that no one knew about before someone found that flag after the fact

Gold totally agree.

I personally don't like nor ever have the whole mini Manchester argument.

...was about to open the box again on this discussion then realised i just can't be fukd.

[Dylan]

2 minutes ago, rass said:

Gold totally agree.

I personally don't like nor ever have the whole mini Manchester argument.

...was about to open the box again on this discussion then realised i just can't be fukd.

Well I think that no matter what the club did, if they used sky blue then in some peoples eyes would never be anything but a 'Mini-Manchester'

[Blackout]

39 minutes ago, Dylan said:

Well I think that no matter what the club did, if they used sky blue then in some peoples eyes would never be anything but a 'Mini-Manchester'

I take umbrage at the assumption that the gripe is solely with the colour of sky blue. At the end of the day, a connection to a football club is an emotional one. Perception is everything. CFG have fallen down here numerous times.

 

[Dylan]

14 minutes ago, Blackout said:

I take umbrage at the assumption that the gripe is solely with the colour of sky blue. At the end of the day, a connection to a football club is an emotional one. Perception is everything. CFG have fallen down here numerous times.

 

 

 

Football club support is emotional I agree. But that leads to a lot of irrationality as well.

what are the examples of when they have fallen down? This issnt an attempt by me to call out people who cant give me examples because I sure there are some, my argument is that, yes you are correct that perception can be everything, which is the problem. IF a group of supporters have a gripe that noone else shares for what ever reason, you cant blame that on the club. Its that group of supporters that perhaps need to look at themselves. 
 

For transparency purposes, my position is that I didnt have a problem with a colour and name change, although I am still going to pin my hopes on a different home kit to the rest and my preference is to have a kit like Argentina. I also think that this is still the same club as heart and I suspect in years to come this will be commonplace.  

Edited April 11, 2017 by Dylan

[belaguttman]

Emotions are irrational by definition! The problem isn't the things themselves, they may be small things, the impact of those things is related to the meaning of the things. The meanings may be different for different people, some may not care at all about the colour change but for a significant others it feels like a colonisation, especially with the lack of communication at times from CFG

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, Dylan said:

Can anyone give me a list of things to show how we dont have our own 'idenity' or are a mini manchester? Or what would make us that?

Mind you I think this whole idenity thing attached to football clubs its prerry much  and utter bullshit. Every club has the same goal and pretty much 50% play counter attack and the other 50% possession based (sure probably way off but the point is still there) so thats not really much to base an identity on. IMO the only thing that creates something like an 'idenity' for a football club is time, it cant be instantaneous. 

 

Same idenity crap was talked over and over when we were heart and it landed on a team from melbourne and that we happend to have the same colour (although not the same colour emphasis) of a flag that no one knew about before someone found that flag after the fact

BTW, if the above is directed at me, then fair enough, but my intention is not to express a point of view on our identity (although I have one) but rather to find the original statements made by Ferran Soriano and others from Manchester/CFG, statements attributed to them by the media (which may or may not be accurate), and also reports emanating from the Club such as records of the Fan Representative Group, and document them and their references. Rather as I try to do with contracts, results, attendances etc.

I am not trying to take sides on the identity issue.

If anyone has any references that they would like to bring to my attention then please do so by a PM, as I will be pleased to add them to my records.

Edited April 11, 2017 by jw1739

[Dylan]

2 hours ago, jw1739 said:

BTW, if the above is directed at me, then fair enough, but my intention is not to express a point of view on our identity (although I have one) but rather to find the original statements made by Ferran Soriano and others from Manchester/CFG, statements attributed to them by the media (which may or may not be accurate), and also reports emanating from the Club such as records of the Fan Representative Group, and document them and their references. Rather as I try to do with contracts, results, attendances etc.

I am not trying to take sides on the identity issue.

If anyone has any references that they would like to bring to my attention then please do so by a PM, as I will be pleased to add them to my records.

No not at you JW directly. I was just interested to see if there is any consistency or if its a personal preference with one or a number of supporters etc

[Shahanga]

7 hours ago, Dylan said:

Well I think that no matter what the club did, if they used sky blue then in some peoples eyes would never be anything but a 'Mini-Manchester'

100%.

honestly Dylan sometimes I wonder if you aren't on the CFG payroll. They are big boys they don't need you sticking up for them at every turn.

interestingly I note Soriano talks about "proper compensation" they have never announced what the transfer fee for Mooy was. Was it the market amount?

[Shahanga]

On another note I'm pleased to see that this season the club seems to Have eased up on the Man City & New York city cross promotion. I'm obviously not the only one who gave them negative feedback about it.

[jw1739]

4 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

On another note I'm pleased to see that this season the club seems to Have eased up on the Man City & New York city cross promotion. I'm obviously not the only one who gave them negative feedback about it.

NYC have had a mixed start to their season. CFG have allowed them a touch of orange on the sleeves of their jersey. I wonder whether we will be allowed the same in red?

[fensaddler]

I've said as much in my recent Chameleon article, but the change of colours is the issue for me.  Red and white was for me a very big part of our identity. 

[Jacques Le Cube]

19 hours ago, Shahanga said:

interestingly I note Soriano talks about "proper compensation" they have never announced what the transfer fee for Mooy was. Was it the market amount?

There was no transfer fee.

My understanding is the main reason CFG invested in an Australian team was to access the best Australian youngsters.

They thought that they would be able to attract the best young talent in Australia to CFA Melbourne. Every year the best handful of kids would be invited to trial in Manchester and join the junior ranks of Man City. Once they had graduated from CFA Manchester, the best of these players would be sold to either lower EPL clubs or clubs in the championship. As I have mentioned on this forum before, CFG projected that at least 1 player over a 10 year period would be good enough to play for Man City. CFG expected that the sale of this talent (or the money saved by having an academy player join the first team) would offset the millions paid for the Heart license and the millions invested in the facilities at Bundoora.

The problem for CFG is that after 3 years no player from Australia has been good enough to move to Manchester. In fact, during the past off season there was a genuine fear within the FFA that CFG were going to pull out of Melbourne City within the next 24 months because the investment in Melbourne City has not worked out the way they envisioned.

Aaron Mooy is seen by CFG as potentially the only way to get a return on their Australian investment. He will either be sold for a large fee or given a chance on the fringes of the Manchester first team so that whoever was responsible for the Australian investment can tell the board CFG that it was a success.

It is my understanding that Mooy is being used by CFG to validate their decision to spend millions in Australia.

 

[n i k o]

Funny that we hardly ever see enough of our younger players get enough game time, besides Tongyik. And even he hasn't been given enough of a chance. Given the performances of some of our senior players I doubt these young guys getting the last 15-20 min of every game would impact the team in a bad way at all. 

So I guess my point is if the above is true why isn't there more push to give young players game time. 

[jw1739]

25 minutes ago, Jacques Le Cube said:

There was no transfer fee.

My understanding is the main reason CFG invested in an Australian team was to access the best Australian youngsters.

They thought that they would be able to attract the best young talent in Australia to CFA Melbourne. Every year the best handful of kids would be invited to trial in Manchester and join the junior ranks of Man City. Once they had graduated from CFA Manchester, the best of these players would be sold to either lower EPL clubs or clubs in the championship. As I have mentioned on this forum before, CFG projected that at least 1 player over a 10 year period would be good enough to play for Man City. CFG expected that the sale of this talent (or the money saved by having an academy player join the first team) would offset the millions paid for the Heart license and the millions invested in the facilities at Bundoora.

The problem for CFG is that after 3 years no player from Australia has been good enough to move to Manchester. In fact, during the past off season there was a genuine fear within the FFA that CFG were going to pull out of Melbourne City within the next 24 months because the investment in Melbourne City has not worked out the way they envisioned.

Aaron Mooy is seen by CFG as potentially the only way to get a return on their Australian investment. He will either be sold for a large fee or given a chance on the fringes of the Manchester first team so that whoever was responsible for the Australian investment can tell the board CFG that it was a success.

It is my understanding that Mooy is being used by CFG to validate their decision to spend millions in Australia.

Presumably you have a source for the above? I find it difficult to believe that CFG would have gone to the lengths they have for one player every 10 years, and if the investment in Melbourne is not providing the return they wanted why they would be continuing to invest elsewhere in the world, or alternatively why they don't simply cut their losses in Melbourne and try somewhere else. If they thought that Australia was going to be a goldmine of football talent then they didn't do their homework at all.

[haz]

Nexen as our main away kit sponsor for the next 2 seasons.

[Inferno]

4 minutes ago, haz said:

Nexen as our main away kit sponsor for the next 2 seasons.

Never heard of them before 

[jw1739]

Cringe. A Korean tyre company FFS. Who cares.

[playmaker]

Good cheap burnout tyres, have shredded many of these in Thomo.

[n i k o]

4 minutes ago, playmaker said:

Good cheap burnout tyres, have shredded many of these in Thomo.

Bullshit 

[playmaker]

1 minute ago, n i k o said:

Bullshit 

What's wrong with you Niko.

[n i k o]

4 minutes ago, playmaker said:

What's wrong with you Niko.

Never picked you for the burnout type 

[Embee]

32 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Cringe. A Korean tyre company FFS. Who cares.

What's the issue this time?

Korean tyre company, Japanese car company, I couldn't really give a shit to be honest. If they're paying us more than the other companies competing to sponsor us then bring on the promotional vids.

 

[Inferno]

1 minute ago, Embee said:

What's the issue this time?

Korean tyre company, Japanese car company, I couldn't really give a shit to be honest. If they're paying us more than the other companies competing to sponsor us then bring on the promotional vids.

 

Agreed as long as they are being more money to the club couldn't care less 

[jw1739]

I thought Etihad Airways were our front-of-jersey sponsors for both home and away kits. Are we suggesting Nexen is to replace Etihad on the away jersey next year? I'd be surprised if they were.

[haz]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

I thought Etihad Airways were our front-of-jersey sponsors for both home and away kits. Are we suggesting Nexen is to replace Etihad on the away jersey next year? I'd be surprised if they were.

This was why I posted, not sure if it was our "main sponsor" or just a sleeve. Either way I hope they give discounts to City Members because they are the only company that produce phat tyres to fit my E30. 

[Dylan]

Sleeve sponsors 

[Falastur]

8 hours ago, jw1739 said:

I thought Etihad Airways were our front-of-jersey sponsors for both home and away kits. Are we suggesting Nexen is to replace Etihad on the away jersey next year? I'd be surprised if they were.

They're a CFG sponsor after teaming up with Manchester City in 2015.

Also this (which I'm decidedly not a fan of):

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-17/manchester-city-signs-premier-league-s-first-sleeve-sponsor

[Shahanga]

I note in @jw1739 Soriano quote he talked about an academy. I know it looks like the Heart schools initiative has been expanded, but is there any other progress that people know of? 

(Im sure lack of action would be not due to the club but rather the murky world of football politics)

[Dylan]

On 11/04/2017 at 7:25 PM, Shahanga said:

100%.

honestly Dylan sometimes I wonder if you aren't on the CFG payroll. They are big boys they don't need you sticking up for them at every turn.

interestingly I note Soriano talks about "proper compensation" they have never announced what the transfer fee for Mooy was. Was it the market amount?

I just like to point out ridiculousness when I see it especially when its just people bitching, moaning and being hypocritically nostalgic about our past. There wassnt a fee per se, but they did build us a 15mil facility, extended it for the womens and brought Cahill in. 

Edited April 13, 2017 by Dylan

[belaguttman]

Well then apart from roads, health, sanitation, security  and a $15 million facility what have the Romans ever done for us?

[Shahanga]

1 hour ago, Dylan said:

I just like to point out ridiculousness when I see it especially when its just people bitching, moaning and being hypocritically nostalgic about our past. There wassnt a fee per se, but they did build us a 15mil facility, extended it for the womens and brought Cahill in. 

Well that's true, but it's very subjective. You value these tangibles very highly, which is fair enough, but others value the intangibles very highly. It's not that they (we) are wrong though, it's just we have a different perspective. 

For what it's worth if Mooy (Heart signing) really is a 30m man like the press have suggested, then CFG are ahead right now in pure dollars. 

[jw1739]

5 hours ago, Shahanga said:

I note in @jw1739 Soriano quote he talked about an academy. I know it looks like the Heart schools initiative has been expanded, but is there any other progress that people know of? 

(Im sure lack of action would be not due to the club but rather the murky world of football politics)

I'm sure that I read a while back that the FFA decided to squash - at least for the moment - the ambitions of some A-League clubs (including City) to run Under-Age teams below their NYL/NPL teams. IIRC there was considerable opposition in Victoria to City having an NPL team coming in cold to whatever division it is that we play in.

Overall I suspect that CFG misread the football politics here when they bought Heart. Given the roadblocks that have been put in their way, whatever else I think I admire them for sticking at it and making the commitments that they have. I think there's plenty of owners who would have cut their losses and sold the licence given what's happened.

[Harrison]

Perhaps this is a stupid question, but I've been wondering whether CFG will increase their investment/allocate more resources if we qualify for the ACL. Not just a commensurate increase but a significant one.

I'm not sure if we're using 100 per cent of the salary cap yet, or whether they have been restricting their scouting network, but is there a chance that once we qualify then we will have satisfied some criterion that wins us extra investment from CFG?

Could they even widen their search for a higher quality coach if we do qualify?

[eric forman]

On 13/04/2017 at 0:37 PM, jw1739 said:

I'm sure that I read a while back that the FFA decided to squash - at least for the moment - the ambitions of some A-League clubs (including City) to run Under-Age teams below their NYL/NPL teams. IIRC there was considerable opposition in Victoria to City having an NPL team coming in cold to whatever division it is that we play in.

Overall I suspect that CFG misread the football politics here when they bought Heart. Given the roadblocks that have been put in their way, whatever else I think I admire them for sticking at it and making the commitments that they have. I think there's plenty of owners who would have cut their losses and sold the licence given what's happened.

There is plans to expand the NPL program down to U/15s pretty soon. I believe that they are wanting to expand into more schools soon also.

[n i k o]

Maclaren coming to us via Manchester 

[Mr MO]

14 hours ago, n i k o said:

Maclaren coming to us via Manchester 

I know people on this forum keep saying that we need defenders which is true, but honestly with Bruno and Cahill who can't play 90minutes every week, I wouldn't say that we are overstocked in center forwards. Cahill will also be stepping back next year, under the cap and who know's as a assistant player coach.

Getting another decent forward on the books isn't a bad idea and if Woy keeps hanging around we will be playing 442 next season.

[jw1739]

Good weekend for CFG and their "beautiful football."

Arsenal beat Manchester City 2-1.
Orlando beat New York City 2-1.
Perth beat Melbourne City 2-0.
Kashiwa beat Yokohama Marinos 2-0.

[playmaker]

The run home had a bit to say about our pathetic culture

 

https://audioboom.com/posts/5848320