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Melbourne City's New HQ and Training Facility


Dylan
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Bruce Djite speaking about Melbourne City and the club's facilities, giving high praise:

 

What about areas that need fixing? Is there a particular area that concerns you at the moment?

 

Infrastructure is zero. I mean, Melbourne City are building a fantastic facility that's going to set the benchmark and they'll be able to attract players a lot easier than other clubs, no doubt, because of the facilities they'll be offering, but generally speaking clubs lack infrastructure - they don't have any. Players are getting changed in the changing-room and then driving to the training field. They're changing fields regularly, just to find a field that's available. In terms of infrastructure it's still very amateur. You've got your Melbourne Victorys, your Melbourne Citys now, Sydney FC train at Macquarie Uni as a base, so there's the odd club that has a base, but in general terms there's a lot of renting going on and a lot of temporary fields being used. There's no infrastructure in the league and the clubs haven't invested in that.

 

 

Is that because they can't financially, or they're not identifying it as the priority it should be?

 

You'd have to ask the owners, but from what I can see you've got clubs that have been around for 10-odd years now and still don't have infrastructure. You can rent a place for 10 years, but if you've got the capacity to buy a place you're much better off doing that because then you start to build assets and assets build value and then if a club from overseas wants to come and acquire your club, a la Melbourne City, and invest millions of dollars in it, you can build margins on that.

 

So I don't understand why they wouldn't have the infrastructure. I think it's something clubs are working on, no doubt. I think they've been bleeding heavily the last few years, so they've been trying to shore up their balance sheets before they start to build infrastructure, but I think that's a short-term view. I think, from a business model perspective, you build infrastructure and, yeah, you've got red ink, the balance sheet's not looking good, you've got a lot of leveraged loans or you're losing $2 million a season, or whatever it might be, but you're putting money in this infrastructure so you're building equity.

 

A business doesn't just start and you're cash-flow positive. Sometimes the capital expense is the most expensive thing. You start a restaurant, you do a fit-out and your balance sheet's not looking too healthy because you've thrown all this money in, but over time it starts to come back. Melbourne City, with their facilities, are on the path to becoming the biggest club in this country, no doubt, over the next 10 years. Right now, no, but they've laid the foundations. A lot of clubs are built on stilts.

 

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2015/03/18/interview-bruce-djite-all-things-league

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I would like to see the City have the HQ open to members, say once a week every week for a couple of hours, so that those who want to could drop in, watch training and have a coffee or something, maybe buy merchandise and chat to players, get their kids' stuff autographed, in school holidays the kids could have a kick with the players - that sort of thing. Wouldn't be too hard, would it? Might take a while to get going but IMO it would help the club build for the future.

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I would like to see the City have the HQ open to members, say once a week every week for a couple of hours, so that those who want to could drop in, watch training and have a coffee or something, maybe buy merchandise and chat to players, get their kids' stuff autographed, in school holidays the kids could have a kick with the players - that sort of thing. Wouldn't be too hard, would it? Might take a while to get going but IMO it would help the club build for the future.

JW for fan engagement officer
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"Melbourne City, with their facilities, are on the path to becoming the biggest club in the country"

Can't wait till that day arrives!

We have to stop thinking like a small club that lives for 3 derby matches a season.

 

 

Or that coming 6th in a 10 team comp is an achievement 

Edited by KSK_47
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I would like to see the City have the HQ open to members, say once a week every week for a couple of hours, so that those who want to could drop in, watch training and have a coffee or something, maybe buy merchandise and chat to players, get their kids' stuff autographed, in school holidays the kids could have a kick with the players - that sort of thing. Wouldn't be too hard, would it? Might take a while to get going but IMO it would help the club build for the future.

I'd just like to know when the trainings are on so I can go down and have a look in my break between classes or something.

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"Melbourne City, with their facilities, are on the path to becoming the biggest club in the country"

Can't wait till that day arrives!

We have to stop thinking like a small club that lives for 3 derby matches a season.

 

 

Or that coming 6th in a 10 team comp is an achievement 

 

or 'our goal is to make the finals'.

We'll still be a small club with big facilities.

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"Melbourne City, with their facilities, are on the path to becoming the biggest club in the country"

Can't wait till that day arrives!

We have to stop thinking like a small club that lives for 3 derby matches a season.

Hopefully the day arrives before l rely on a walking stick.

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I would like to see the City have the HQ open to members, say once a week every week for a couple of hours, so that those who want to could drop in, watch training and have a coffee or something, maybe buy merchandise and chat to players, get their kids' stuff autographed, in school holidays the kids could have a kick with the players - that sort of thing. Wouldn't be too hard, would it? Might take a while to get going but IMO it would help the club build for the future.

I'd just like to know when the trainings are on so I can go down and have a look in my break between classes or something.

Most days at 10am. Usually last for an hour to 90min.

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I would like to see the City have the HQ open to members, say once a week every week for a couple of hours, so that those who want to could drop in, watch training and have a coffee or something, maybe buy merchandise and chat to players, get their kids' stuff autographed, in school holidays the kids could have a kick with the players - that sort of thing. Wouldn't be too hard, would it? Might take a while to get going but IMO it would help the club build for the future.

JW for fan engagement officer

Would be 1000% better than current situation.

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I would like to see the City have the HQ open to members, say once a week every week for a couple of hours, so that those who want to could drop in, watch training and have a coffee or something, maybe buy merchandise and chat to players, get their kids' stuff autographed, in school holidays the kids could have a kick with the players - that sort of thing. Wouldn't be too hard, would it? Might take a while to get going but IMO it would help the club build for the future.

this is a fantastic idea...

would help build a club culture and it would make us members feel apart of the club much more... Training sessions for the kids and be able to walk through the facilities and see how things are operating and how hard people work would definitely change the view some supporters might have about staff and players not giving a F' especially when we lose...  

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I would also like to know when training sessions are held and open for the public or maybe make it more exclusive and have an open training session 1 a week for members only..

 

It would give members the opportunity to more engages with the club, players and staff..

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I would also like to know when training sessions are held and open for the public or maybe make it more exclusive and have an open training session 1 a week for members only..

 

It would give members the opportunity to more engages with the club, players and staff..

 

Yes and we can set off flares 

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I would also like to know when training sessions are held and open for the public or maybe make it more exclusive and have an open training session 1 a week for members only..

It would give members the opportunity to more engages with the club, players and staff..

Trainings are open all days, it's only when at aami they close it. Just rock up everyday at 10 and watch them.

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I would also like to know when training sessions are held and open for the public or maybe make it more exclusive and have an open training session 1 a week for members only..

It would give members the opportunity to more engages with the club, players and staff..

Trainings are open all days, it's only when at aami they close it. Just rock up everyday at 10 and watch them.

 

Is 10am the only time they train on weekdays?

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I would also like to know when training sessions are held and open for the public or maybe make it more exclusive and have an open training session 1 a week for members only..

It would give members the opportunity to more engages with the club, players and staff..

Trainings are open all days, it's only when at aami they close it. Just rock up everyday at 10 and watch them.

 

Is 10am the only time they train on weekdays?

 

They don't train at 10am on Thursdays, everything stops for the big weekly announcement :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Eels' high-performance research

 

Parramatta have turned to some of Melbourne's biggest sporting franchises for inspiration in their quest to build a high-performance community centre. Eels officials toured the facilities of AFL sides North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs, Richmond and Essendon when the side faced the Storm last month. They also spent time at the home of A-League club Melbourne City to scour ideas for their own premises at Old Saleyards Reserve at North Parramatta.

 

"It was a good and worthwhile exercise," said new Eels chief executive John Boulous. "We're very confident we can get ours right from a playing perspective and we'll ensure the facility is one the community is proud of and can use appropriately."

 

 

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/sin-bin/canterbury-bulldogs-turn-to-us-military-for-secret-weapon-20150711-gi9yy6.html

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Verily thou jesteth,    They own the place !

Think you might have misread that Johnno - it was Real Madrid who were using the facilities, not Manchester City. Anyway, my guess is that the set-up out there is complex. Probably one part of CFG will actually own (or lease) the facility, and then there will be several tenants of which Melbourne City will be the major one. I would also imagine that any outside entity, such as the Burma U-20s and Real Madrid will pay to use the facility - although in Real Madrid's case it would probably be the promoters of the tournament who pay. I'm sure that the accounting will be set up to minimise tax and to help with compliance with UEFA "fair play" rules.

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There´s a lot of connections between CFG and Real Madrid.. Not just because guys like Soriano and Txiki know the Real Madrid top brass since their time with Barcelona but also because Sheikh Mansour and Florentino Perez (Real Madrid President) are friends since the 90´s.

Thru CEPSA Sheikh mansour is actually one of Real Madrids biggest sponsors.

This pic below show Mr Perez and one of Sheikh Mansours sons actually..

B6PIY_8CUAAqGJZ.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

The video on the Manchester City website with a tour of the CFA Melbourne was interesting viewing. 

The available space in the player facilities area doesn't look huge, but it is well appointed and seemed fit for purpose for Manchester City, along with Real Madrid, when they were here.

A comment on another thread had me thinking though in regards to how the youth/ womens training pitches can be better linked to the main complex. It currently feels like an after thought in that location, which goes against the point of a top class training base, but it's hard to see exactly what can be done at this stage.

How much access do youth and women's players get to the gym facilities? Chatting to a friend a while ago seemed to suggest that youth players are given gym memberships to at other locations with no access available to the club gym, but no idea if that's true.

 If it is the case, maybe more investments will be required in additional facilities to accommodate the youth/womens/academy operations. There's room out there to do more but I guess we will wait and see. 

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