On the 4th December, an expensive Manchester City team were defeated by a well-rotated Borussia Dortmund side and condemned to finish bottom of their Champions’ League group, winless and with just three points amassed.
Meanwhile, Dortmund – the surprise package of this year’s competition – topped a group which also included Real Madrid and Ajax, and as they saw the pitiful state of Man City’s European campaign there might have been a wry smile from the German Champions.
As everyone knows, the differences between English and German football are huge, so a home-grown, sustainable team like Dortmund looks at the supreme wealth and kamikaze spending of Man City with disdain; seeing them in disarray in Europe whilst their nurtured-from-youth players prosper would have been a sweet feeling.
But City cannot be blamed for the money they’ve spent since the takeover of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2008, because a door was closing on them. UEFA’s Financial Fair Play begins in the 2013-14 season, and with its rules stating that clubs have to break-even over three years in order to be allowed entry, City had limited time to join the Europe’s elite club. They ensured their place with over £400million of hasty investment on new players.
Unfortunately, much of that investment has been irrational spending. Through no fault of their own, City’s new-found wealth made them a target for clubs to hold them to ransom over transfer fees. Yet, some of their most significant players represent good value for money: Joe Hart signed from Shrewsbury for less than a million; Vincent Kompany cost just £6million from Hamburg; even the £24million fee for Yaya Toure seems money well spent given his colossus presence in midfield and ability to impact crucial matches.
For every Vincent Kompany, though, City spent £32million on a Robinho, a Brazilian who simply never suited the Premier League like Chelsea’s Oscar appears to. Even purchases such as Javi Garcia from Benfica this summer seemed unnecessary, in a position where they already had Gareth Barry, Jack Rodwell, and – before they let him leave for a miserly fee compared to what they originally paid for him – Nigel de Jong.
In the same vein, replacing Adam Johnson with Scott Sinclair, who will most likely struggle to gain enough valuable minutes on the pitch, was confusing; as if they were altering their squad for the sake of it.
Looking at most of their purchases, actually, there seemed to be a pattern of buying names rather than scouring for unearthed gems, such as Premier League top-scorer Michu who Swansea signed for just £2million. Instead, read: Mario Balotelli (£23million), Edin Dzeko (£27million), James Milner (£18million plus Stephen Ireland) and Samir Nasri (£25million).
Youth prospects also seem to be thin. Although City claimed that five players – Karim Rekik, Denis Suarez, Joan Roman, Frederic Veseli and Luca Scapuzzi – made their debuts last season, Micah Richards remains the only recent notable academy product to have truly broken into the first team.
However, things are beginning to change at Eastlands. A week ago, City announced pre-tax losses of £93.4million for 2011-12, half the £189.6million of the year before. Furthermore, the increased revenue from UEFA appearances and sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways has seen turnover increased by over 50% from £153.2million to £232.1million. (Source: BBC).
With these figures suggesting City are heading towards meeting UEFA’s prerequisites, Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak identifies that this was the Sheikh Mansour’s plan from the start: “He identified the need for significant investment in the early years to enable the club to become successful and sustainable over time.” (Source: BBC).
Whether the ‘sustainable’ part is achieved, hopefully through the club’s investment of a new football academy due for introduction in 2014 which is aimed at producing a conveyor belt of talent like that of Dortmund, only time will tell.
But, despite being dealt a master class in football in Germany, it does seem that the Abu Dhabi-funded ‘Manchester City Project’ is well on its way to being Sheikh Mansour’s dream.
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Not a terrible article until you said this –
“Unfortunately, much of that investment has been irrational spending.”
City’s spending has been far from irrational, there has been a strategy all along from the first day of new ownership until today, some signings worked out, others were a failure, the same as all big clubs spending money to the top.
For instance, Man United spent huge sums on players like Veron, and Bebe, who were awful frankly. Chelsea, bought Schevchenko, and Veron amongst others – flops the lot. Arsenal – Arshavin, Gervinho, Chamakh etc.., and not to forget Liverpool with Andy Carroll, Henderson and Downing – why single out City for criticism?
The investment in the club’s infrastructure including training grounds, academy, staff from top to bottom, all world class, all carefully planned out, absolutely not a waste of money.
The results so far? In what, four years or so there’s been an FA cup, a Premiership[ title, regular Champions League football, and a community shield – do you honestly think targets have been missed?
The Manchester City “project” is the most detailed, considered, professionally run example in modern football today, to suggest otherwise is flying in the face of facts – contrast that with any other football club with similar ambitions.
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