City Football Group

[ad hoc]

City Football Group

kevinho wrote: I was just thinking it's a surprise that Hyde haven't had their kit changed yet. Maybe from their PoV a club "at that level" isn't worth the "fuss" it was cause them in terms of "local PR issues".

So City now own clubs in England, USA, Australia and, coming soon, Japan.

Red Bull now has RB Leipzig, Red Bull New York, Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull Brasil and Red Bull Ghana unless I've missed somewhere.

Tan (Cardiff, Sarajevo) and Pozzo (Udinese, Granada, Watford) are also owners of clubs in multiple countries too.

Charltons owner(s) have clubs in multiple countries, I believe. Kevin McCabe ex owner of Sheffield Utd also owned a team in China and Fradi in Hungary. The man seemingly on the brink of taking over at Wednesday owns clubs in France and Azerbaijan and also has a stake in Porto and Atletico Madrid.

[ursus arctos]

City Football Group

Melbourne City have signed Damien Duff.

[EIM]

City Football Group

Shaun Wright-Phillips not available then?

[Janik]

City Football Group

ursus arctos wrote: Melbourne City have signed Damien Duff.

Where he will play alongside David Villa, who would otherwise have to kick his heels for months. Or play for a side not part of the City Group, and that would never do.

[Janik]

City Football Group

Course, New York City are not the only expansion team called City joining MLS next year. There is also Orlando City Soccer Club.
The 'City' in their name is no coincidence, as there are heavy links between Orlando and Stoke City. Before moving to Orlando, the team was Austin Aztex and had a formal link-up with Stoke. They also played in red-and-white stripes whilst in Austin, though they have switched to purple now they are in Orlando. The Aztexs chairman was Stoke born (and former/possibly still current Stoke City board member) Phil Rawlins, and their manager was another Stoke native with associations to the Potters Adrian Heath (first pro club having come through the youths at the Victoria Ground, a self-proclaimed Stoke fan). Heath was appointed by Rawlins, who knew him from England. Both have remained heavily involved, keeping their current roles, through the franchise’s relocation from Texas to Florida.
When Orlando join MLS, most of their current squad are going to remain as a USL Pro team, and move to Louisville to become Louisville City, who will act as an affiliate for the MLS team. Heath will stay in Orlando to manage the MLS side, with responsibility for Louisville passing on to current Orlando player-coach James O’Conner. O’Conner came through the youth system at, yup, you guessed it, Stoke City. He went on to make over 200 first team appearances in red-and-white stripes.
One final notable connection is the presence of a certain Anthony Pulis jnr in the current Orlando City squad. There were reasons why one has been able to read about the progress of Austin Aztexs/Orlando City in many Stoke City match programmes of recent years.

Just to queer things a bit, in addition to the many and long-standing connections with Stoke there are also growing ones with Burnley. A member of the Clarets board is also part of the ownership group of Orlando City, and both the managers, Heath and O’Conner had long spells at Burnley in their careers, O’Conner as a player, Heath as a player and manager.

Your Eastlands mob are Johnny-come-latelys on this.

[NHH]

City Football Group

Man City New York signed Frank Lampard, then decided to loan him to Man City at no cost to the latter, then they have essentially circumvented FFP rules by getting a player for nothing who doesn't count in their squad. Or has that loophole been closed yet?

[ursus arctos]

City Football Group

You are missing an "If" at the front, but I think that is at least theoretically possible, though the bigger FFP dodge is the fee the satellite clubs pay the mother ship for use of marks, "technical assistance", etc.

[jefe]

City Football Group

Janik: Rawlins is now a former director. Resigned at the start of our season to devote his full attention to the process of getting Orlando ready for MLS next year.

[Cesar Rodriguez]

City Football Group

Are there any plans for City to purchase a team from an Irish city like say, Cork City?

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

City Football Group

I don't know if Uefa were very impressed by the ten million payment that man City women's team made to use the man city name, so I don't know if they'd be hugely keen on an affiliated American club paying over a bunch of money.

[EIM]

City Football Group

Partnership confirms Phase One of the "Manchester Life" initiative and delivers over 830 new homes.

On Tuesday 24 June Manchester City Council and Abu Dhabi United Group, the privately owned investment company which also owns Manchester City Football Club, announced a major new partnership to accelerate the transformation of two emerging East Manchester neighbourhoods.

The partnership will see, as Phase One of the programme, the provision of more than 830 homes in Ancoats and New Islington, bringing significant impetus to both areas and helping to complete their redevelopment. The agreement forms the first phase and foundation of the Manchester Life initiative and builds on the regeneration activity that has been led by Manchester City Council in collaboration with a range of partners over the last 15 years.

The predominantly privately rented homes will strengthen Manchester’s economic growth trajectory by providing much needed residential units, helping the city achieve its Residential Growth Strategy to build tens of thousands of new homes by 2027.

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/news/article/6909/major_new_partnership_will_deliver_thousands_of_ma nchester_homes

[beak]

City Football Group

Perhaps they've misunderstood all the "council house" jibes United fans have been making the last few years, and are going to build some real social housing?

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

City Football Group

Are they going to import Bangladeshi slaves in crates to do the building?

[EIM]

City Football Group

I was reminded of this article yesterday when chatting this over with a City-supporting journalist mate of mine.

http://manchestermule.com/article/i-heart-corporate-mcr

Not reminded enough to post the link, mind.

[Kevin S]

City Football Group

NHH wrote: Man City New York signed Frank Lampard, then decided to loan him to Man City at no cost to the latter, then they have essentially circumvented FFP rules by getting a player for nothing who doesn't count in their squad. Or has that loophole been closed yet?

Amazing skills there from NHH. Hats off on seeing that one coming.

Couple of relatively recent City Football Group articles:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/17/uk-soccer-nissan-city-idUKKBN0FM0OO20140717
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/city-football-group-structure-7222676

[ursus arctos]

City Football Group

Yes, NHH should really send CFG an invoice for consultancy services.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

City Football Group

New York City FC are now in talks to link up with New Jersey-based NWSL club Sky Blue.

Which already has brand synergy going for it, I guess.

[ursus arctos]

City Football Group

I'm actually surprised it has taken this long for that to happen.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

City Football Group

Yeah. Sky Blue can't survive on their own on the size of crowds they're getting.

They were in talks with NY Red Bulls last off-season and it was a bit surprising it never went any further.

Mind you, the MLS tie-in is working less well in Houston than it is in Portland.

[ursus arctos]

City Football Group

I don't think a MLS tie-in is a panacea for NWSL clubs; it depends a lot on how committed the MLS organisation is and how deep their pockets are.

But Sky Blue has pretty much a zero media footprint here, which is definitely contributing to its issues.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

City Football Group

Sky Blue also seems to have an open stadium and terrible weather.

A few of their games have been either rain/lightning delayed for hours or just played in a hurricane to an audience of masochists.

I agree with you about MLS tie-ins - but I think some sort of organisational links - e.g. pooling marketing resources - is probably the way forward.

[ursus arctos]

City Football Group

It's the football (soccer) stadium for Rutgers (the State University of New Jersey) and is very open, which is more of a problem in the summer (when thunderstorms are more common here) than the fall (when Rutgers plays there).

[Whittaker]

City Football Group

Bizarre Löw Triangle wrote: Sky Blue also seems to have an open stadium and terrible weather.

A few of their games have been either rain/lightning delayed for hours or just played in a hurricane to an audience of masochists.

Sounds exactly like my experience of watching City in the late Nineties! With possibly better football than was being served up then.

[ursus arctos]

City Football Group

Man City independent supporters' group joins legal challenge against FFP.

The legal argument here (that FFP illegally restricts investment and the movement of capital within the EU) is not completely frivolous (though I'm not convinced it is a winner, either).

[Ray de Galles]

City Football Group

"Our members are consumers of the football product"

Hopeless, hopeless twats.