The mancityfans.net football forum

Thoughts? Not heard anything about this before. Seems like these may be some great people to have at the club. Not sure how much truth there is in there. Possible Bollox...

:::

Manchester City are considering appointing a Barcelona executive dream team in a move that would send shockwaves through European football, Goal.com can reveal.
Former Barcelona vice-president and general manager Ferran Soriano has emerged as the favourite to become the club's new chief executive, with Txiki Begiristain, the former Nou Camp dealmaker, working alongside him as director of football.

City’s Abu Dhabi owners have not yet made their final decision on the make-up of the club’s new high command but are close to authorising the most radical shake-up ever to how a leading Premier League outfit is run.

Soriano, who was on the Barcelona board between 2003 and 2008 as the club grew rapidly to become the second highest earning in the world, is the City board's chosen candidate to become the new CEO following a four-month search to find a successor to Garry Cook.

Goal.com understands that the 44-year-old was not on the original five-man shortlist drawn up by headhunters Odgers but he quickly emerged as a leading candidate when the club’s Abu Dhabi owners widened the search for a figure with a significant football background and made the final shortlist when it was narrowed down to two people.

City have also met with Begiristain, 47, the former Barcelona technical secretary, as they consider emulating the European champions’ model of success.

Soriano’s contacts, wide experience of football’s corridors of power and his role played in the spectacular growth of Barcelona’s fan base and worldwide appeal have impressed City’s top brass.

The lifelong Barca fan and chairman of Spanish airline Spainair since 2009 also speaks English and is well known at European football’s top table. At Barcelona he had a spell as general manager and was a member of the executive committee of the now disbanded G14.

It is believed that City want Begiristain, who spent seven years at Barcelona before leaving in 2010 when his ally Joan Laporta was replaced as the club’s president, to work alongside Soriano and take charge of the club’s recruitment policy.

At the Nou Camp, Begiristain oversaw a talent drive that brought the likes of Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o and Dani Alves to the club.

It would be regarded as a huge statement by City if Abu Dhabi give the green light to the former Barcelona pair as a leading Premier League club has never before been run by executives with impeccable European credentials.

“Soriano is well suited to the post,” a source told Goal.com. “He is a football person who knows his way around European football politics and has experience of running arguably the biggest club in the world.

"He is also a smooth operator, very well known among the big clubs, has commercial expertise and speaks very good English.”

However, the arrival of Begiristain could have severe repercussions for Brian Marwood, Cook’s close ally who is currently the most senior football administrator at the club and has been a key figure in one of the most lavish recruitment drives in football history over the last three years.

Cook resigned from his £1.96 million-per-year role last September after conceding he made an "error of judgement" in mistakenly sending an offensive email to the mother of Nedum Onuoha, the City defender, which prompted an internal investigation led by the club’s chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

John Macbeath, who took up a director’s position at Etihad Stadium in February 2010, was installed as City’s temporary CEO but he is set to step aside soon.

The appointments are not believed to be imminent but City expect to have a new executive team in place within the next few weeks.

::

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/pre ... intment-of

IT IS FROM GOAL. COM SO DON'T TAKE IT AS GOSPEL OR SHOOT THE MESSENGER BUT:


Manchester City close in on ground-breaking appointment of Barcelona executive dream team
Former Barca duo Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain are being considered for chief executive and director of football roles at Etihad Stadium in shock move


24 Jan 2012 12:59:00
By Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

Manchester City are considering appointing a Barcelona executive dream team in a move that would send shockwaves through European football, Goal.com can reveal.
Former Barcelona vice-president and general manager Ferran Soriano has emerged as the favourite to become the club's new chief executive, with Txiki Begiristain, the former Nou Camp dealmaker, working alongside him as director of football.

City’s Abu Dhabi owners have not yet made their final decision on the make-up of the club’s new high command but are close to authorising the most radical shake-up ever to how a leading Premier League outfit is run.

Soriano, who was on the Barcelona board between 2003 and 2008 as the club grew rapidly to become the second highest earning in the world, is the City board's chosen candidate to become the new CEO following a four-month search to find a successor to Garry Cook.

Goal.com understands that the 44-year-old was not on the original five-man shortlist drawn up by headhunters Odgers but he quickly emerged as a leading candidate when the club’s Abu Dhabi owners widened the search for a figure with a significant football background and made the final shortlist when it was narrowed down to two people.

City have also met with Begiristain, 47, the former Barcelona technical secretary, as they consider emulating the European champions’ model of success.

Soriano’s contacts, wide experience of football’s corridors of power and his role played in the spectacular growth of Barcelona’s fan base and worldwide appeal have impressed City’s top brass.

The lifelong Barca fan and chairman of Spanish airline Spainair since 2009 also speaks English and is well known at European football’s top table. At Barcelona he had a spell as general manager and was a member of the executive committee of the now disbanded G14.

It is believed that City want Begiristain, who spent seven years at Barcelona before leaving in 2010 when his ally Joan Laporta was replaced as the club’s president, to work alongside Soriano and take charge of the club’s recruitment policy.

At the Nou Camp, Begiristain oversaw a talent drive that brought the likes of Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o and Dani Alves to the club.

It would be regarded as a huge statement by City if Abu Dhabi give the green light to the former Barcelona pair as a leading Premier League club has never before been run by executives with impeccable European credentials.

“Soriano is well suited to the post,” a source told Goal.com. “He is a football person who knows his way around European football politics and has experience of running arguably the biggest club in the world.

"He is also a smooth operator, very well known among the big clubs, has commercial expertise and speaks very good English.”

However, the arrival of Begiristain could have severe repercussions for Brian Marwood, Cook’s close ally who is currently the most senior football administrator at the club and has been a key figure in one of the most lavish recruitment drives in football history over the last three years.

Cook resigned from his £1.96 million-per-year role last September after conceding he made an "error of judgement" in mistakenly sending an offensive email to the mother of Nedum Onuoha, the City defender, which prompted an internal investigation led by the club’s chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

John Macbeath, who took up a director’s position at Etihad Stadium in February 2010, was installed as City’s temporary CEO but he is set to step aside soon.

The appointments are not believed to be imminent but City expect to have a new executive team in place within the next few weeks.

Just posted exactly the same thing. Some mod can get rid of mine if required.

Prolly worth a merge...

viewtopic.php?f=119&t=41640


I wouldnt mind seeing someone like that on our side.

Ted Hughes wrote:Just posted exactly the same thing. Some mod can get rid of mine if required.

What do you think, Ted?

As i said in other topic - i wouldnt mind someone like that in our corner. I dont know a great deal about them but it seems like they'd be able to hold their own on the 'top table' as they put it.

Yffi_88 wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:Just posted exactly the same thing. Some mod can get rid of mine if required.

What do you think, Ted?

As i said in other topic - i wouldnt mind someone like that in our corner. I dont know a great deal about them but it seems like they'd be able to hold their own on the 'top table' as they put it.

I don't know enough about the CEO to comment but my big worry would be the damage Marwood could create if removed from that position. Hopefully the two would operate in complimentary roles if true (perhaps one overseas) rather than Marwood being sacked.

Language barrier is the only worry. Other than that sounds like a top top plan.

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:Language barrier is the only worry. Other than that sounds like a top top plan.

If the 'director of football' was a replacement for Marwood rather than to work alongside him though; he really knows all kinds of shit about our plans & could become a real pain, not to mention the potential upheaval in the short term.

Ted Hughes wrote:

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:Language barrier is the only worry. Other than that sounds like a top top plan.

If the 'director of football' was a replacement for Marwood rather than to work alongside him though; he really knows all kinds of shit about our plans & could become a real pain, not to mention the potential upheaval in the short term.

I didn't like Marwood appointment to begin with. I didn't think he had credentials to run that sort of operation in top top teamlike ours. I kind of always knew he was in short term here as they (owners) are looking top notch personel from top to bottom.

So I think he is off.

Also, I loved Begiristain as player and Marwood was shit.

I really hope that this is true and that we can land these guys, it could prove to be our eventual salvation....possibly our survival as a top table club.

Football at the top table is a very dirty anf political business indeed and as in any other business, success is usually defined by "who you know rather than what you know". My worry about City as we have risen through the ranks has been our naivety, vulnerabilty and lack of friends at the level we are aiming to deal at. Not only lack of friends but the amount of frightened rivals who have become enemeies as we begin to challenge their position at the trough.

Football's top table is nothing to with sport, it is wholly about money, power and control.
MONEY...More money than many would consider real. Figures that have so many noughts on the end, they looks like a side view of the QE2's portholes.
POWER and CONTROL...The company we are currently challenging and have ambition to join are very powerful enteties on a global stage. Their aim is to control global football and its multi biilion dollar income.

If this seems distateful and dirty, trust me....You can't be at the very top table on the pitch, unless you are able to glad hand those with their seats already arranged around the trough.

Ted,
No worries about Marwood mate. He will be well paid off for his trouble.
He will not cause any commotion Mate and if he tried to, there is little damage he could do. Our present plans are prettywell in the public domain now and I would be amazed if anyone at that level did not know the plans we have. Even if they know, there is little anyone can do do stop ort damage them.
Should these guys move into his office, they would be operating at a whole level above Marwood and he would understand that and know he was out of his depth.
Marwood is not an idiot, he will gladly take his payoff, bank it, smile and move on to pastures new.

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:Language barrier is the only worry. Other than that sounds like a top top plan.

If the 'director of football' was a replacement for Marwood rather than to work alongside him though; he really knows all kinds of shit about our plans & could become a real pain, not to mention the potential upheaval in the short term.

I didn't like Marwood appointment to begin with. I didn't think he had credentials to run that sort of operation in top top teamlike ours. I kind of always knew he was in short term here as they (owners) are looking top notch personel from top to bottom.

So I think he is off.

Also, I loved Begiristain as player and Marwood was shit.

Marwood was very uncomplimentary about City when he used to work for Sky, so I didn't like the appointment at all but with all the stuff we have been building & working on, I'd imagine it would be a hell of a job for a new guy from another country to suddenly come in & establish the working relationships he has built in all areas.

My dream would be that Begiristain was put in charge of the academy/recruitment/coaching programme & could bring in his own people/coaches etc & basically build what Barca have built. I've always said that was what we should try to do with our academy, so it would actually make me as happy as winning stuff if that was to happen.

If he can do Marwood's job as well then I've no problem with it but I'd have my doubts about it being done smoothly.

Ted,
I hear and respect what you are saying mate but anything Marwood could do would be very limited Mate.
Public and media criticism has reached such a level now, that it barely registers as shocking any more. Attacks on our club are somewhere near saturation point (possibly beyond it). SSN is currently almost dedicated to City.

john68 wrote:Ted,
I hear and respect what you are saying mate but anything Marwood could do would be very limited Mate.
Public and media criticism has reached such a level now, that it barely registers as shocking any more. Attacks on our club are somewhere near saturation point (possibly beyond it). SSN is currently almost dedicated to City.

But Marwood is in the middle of multi million pound building plans & all kinds of stuff which has been built over several years. To suddenly change him for some Spanish geezer could be a logistical nightmare.

Ted Hughes wrote:

john68 wrote:Ted,
I hear and respect what you are saying mate but anything Marwood could do would be very limited Mate.
Public and media criticism has reached such a level now, that it barely registers as shocking any more. Attacks on our club are somewhere near saturation point (possibly beyond it). SSN is currently almost dedicated to City.

But Marwood is in the middle of multi million pound building plans & all kinds of stuff which has been built over several years. To suddenly change him for some Spanish geezer could be a logistical nightmare.

No worries Ted, Marwood is only part of a team at City. He may be a figurehead but you and I knowfull well that it is those beneath the figurehead that really do the business. Any change will be seamless.We won't even notice. Any new guy will be well and truly briefed.

This is good news if true these fellas seem to know their onions.
More power at the top table and lads that know how to get more muffins is good by me.

lets all have a disco wrote:This is good news if true these fellas seem to know their onions.
More power at the top table and lads that know how to get more muffins is good by me.

are you fuclin hungry, or what?

have a snack.

cheers

I think that there are posssibly complimentary roles for a few years

In one sense I would welcome this suggested team - they are bound to have established relationships across Europe and likely within UeFA and 'my word' we need friends there

That said they will be clueless about relationships with MCC and we are very dependent on that relationship also continuing to be strong. Losing Cook was very bad news in this regard and losing Marwood could also be a blow - although I do not know where the relationship lies with MCC between Marwood and John MacBeath - so maybe there is a role for Brian/John to continue the work with MCC?

If Neds leaves cant Garry quietly move back in.

MUEN's take on it

He helped turn Barcelona from under-achievers into world-beaters off the field – so Ferran Soriano could be just the man to take Manchester City to the next level.

Soriano has emerged as the front-runner to replace Garry Cook as the Blues close in on a new chief executive.

Cook resigned in September over a scandal that saw an e-mail sent from his account to Nedum Onuoha’s mother Anthonia.

Director John MacBeath has filled in as acting chief executive during City’s long search for a permanent successor.

And Soriano, the president of Barcelona-based airline Spanair, may just be the man for the job.

When he joined Barca’s board in 2003, the club were ­ by their high standards ­ in the doldrums.

Under the trigger-happy presidency of Joan Gaspart, Barca had just completed three years without a trophy, going through five managers in the process.

Soriano, who is 44, came in under new president Joan Laporta, and played a significant part during a period that brought both success and stability to the Camp Nou.

On the field, manager Frank Rijkaard was given time to make an impact, despite a slow start, and ensured a return to the glory days ­with the club winning the Spanish title twice and beating Arsenal in Paris to lift the Champions League trophy in 2006.

Soriano certainly had a role to play in that success.


In his position as vice-president, head of economics and general manager, he worked closely with club technical director Txiki Begiristain on the football side of Barca’s business.

But his key impact was arguably on the commercial side. When Soriano arrived, Barca’s income was only half that of United’s. Despite a huge fan base and a stadium capable of holding almost 100,000 people, Barcelona were only the 13th highest earning club in Europe.

Under Soriano, revenues rocketed as the club began to exploit their earning potential.

Today, Barca are second only to Real Madrid in European football’s earnings league.

During his five years at the Camp Nou, Soriano also became an influential voice in the running of European football as a member of the executive committee of G14, the grouping of the continent’s most powerful clubs.

In addition, he represented Barca on UEFA’s European Club Forum, and served on the Champions League competitions committee.

He is, undoubtedly, a man used to being in the room when the big decisions affecting top-level European football are being debated.

Soriano – ­ who speaks excellent English as well as Spanish, Catalan, French and Portuguese ­– established his reputation as an astute businessman in the 1990s.

The Barcelona-born son of a hairdresser and a market trader, Soriano gained his MBA at ESADE, Spain’s leading business school, in 1990 before studying in New York and Belgium.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal during his time at Barcelona, Soriano said that his studies had taught him the value of corporate responsibility ­ and of making sure that major institutions did their bit for the community.

It was a key part of Barca’s ethos during his stint at Camp Nou, and it is a vital part of City’s outlook under Sheikh Mansour’s ownership.

“I have come to believe that there’s nothing worse than focusing solely on tomorrow’s profits,” Soriano said. To prove the point, it was on his watch that Barca displayed Unicef’s logo on their shirts and made significant donations to the charity.

“In addition to our reputation for spectacular soccer, we have decided that we also want to stand for social commitment,” he said of the deal.

Soriano’s time at the Camp Nou finally came to an end in 2008.

A fallow couple of years on the pitch led 60 per cent of the club’s members to cast a vote of no confidence in Laporta’s presidency.

Soriano was one of eight directors to resign, but Laporta stayed on as president until 2010.

When Laporta did depart, Soriano supported fellow former vice-president Marc Ingla’s bid to replace him, but he was beaten in the elections by Sandro Rosell.

In the meantime, Soriano has focused on his business duties, and is expected to stay on as Spanair’s president for the next few weeks while a proposed part-sale of the airline to Qatar Airways is completed.

Once that is done, the opportunity to return to top-level football beckons. It is a challenge he is likely to accept eagerly.

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... euro-force