Johns comments.
I have been watching the political movements at the top end of football for some time now and it concerns me deeply. Most fans seem to have viewed each "event/decision/change/political movement", (of the elite club) as separate but when put together, they reveal a continuous story of increasing control of the game particularly in Europe, that had its seeds in the 1980s and has continued ever since. Personally, I am now of the view that the Elite are moving towards the next stage and clubs like the rags and Arsenal are ensuring their blokes are in the right places...to defend their gains and ensure they control the future. The next stage being the control of the Global game. It is too easy to criticism the likes of Blatter and Platini, they are only figureheads. The real power lies in the committees behind them and it is there where the clubs have hugely increased their power. Blatter will go in the next few years and the chances are that Global power will shift back to Europe. Through the EuFA committees and the ECA, the elite clubs have got EuFA pretty well sewn up. Should global power shift to Europe with Platini (or similar puppet) head of FiFA, those elite clubs will be in prime position to rule the roost and financially clean up. From City's point of view, we have to stop considering what happens on the pitch in purely football terms and look at our position in terms of football politics and commerce. Our club is in a unique position and what is happening behind the scenes is crucial to our future. Gary is correct to mention our geographical position because the power balance between us and the rags, is and will be critical. It is either/or, the rags or us. With our financial resources and the football infrastructure that is presently being built at the Etihad, I believe we will overtake them on the pitch (if we haven't already) and leave them behind. They will not be able to compete with us in football terms. That is almost inevitable. The danger is commercially and politically. The rags are founder members of the elite clubs' club, have many powerful friends and good representation in the highest corridors of power. We are not in their League in that respect. It is only in the last few months that we became Full Members of the ECA, and who can forget the media hammering we took from Rummenigge (figurehead of the old G14 and now head of the ECA) not so long ago. Politically, we are relatively friendless. Commercially, we're improving massively but still lag miles behind the rags. Can you imagine a global game without the rags? But that is what we have to ensure happens and it is City who MUST replace them. If we can't replace them, we MUST at least ensure we gain a position where they CANNOT leave us out. -
It is particularly Johns last comment that I find most interesting and that is something you can see in the day to to running of our club. We have seen our current manager rest players ahead of CL matches to the determent of our league form. Our previous manager finished second, first, second and it is clear that not even second with a cup win was going to save his job. Our owners are all about winning the Champions League and Bobby Manc was clearly not going to deliver that. I honestly believe they would be delighted with 4th and a Champions League win. Pellegrini's future will be decided on how we do in Europe not how we do in the league.
As John eludes to and I would argue even further, the current domestic league set up as we know it, will be barely recognizable within ten years. The elite European clubs are and have been for a number of years slowly but surely easing us into the idea of a European Super League. A closed shop license to print money. It is already under way. Domestic borders really mean nothing in the modern world. Why should they apply to club football? The womens leagues in Germany/Holland/Belgium are merging and I believe (although I could be wrong) that the Russian and Ukranian leagues are attempting to merge. To gain entry to this elite club you will not be judged on how successful you are now or in the past but pure and simply how much money you can bring to the table there and then and the geographic location of our club may mean we maybe shut out. Challenge or win the European Cup on a regular basis then it is practically impossible to left out. United are probably the second biggest club in the world and Liverpool have a bigger global appeal than us and have won the Champions League. Three slots in a European Super Leauge that has 16/18 teams in it going to the North West of England. I think not.
The emergence of the petrodollar clubs in the East and France is shifting the balance of power in football not only in terms of football transfers. Non of these Oligarchs and Princes are doing this for the love of the game. Like all mega rich people, they see profit in the long term and that is not going to come from winning the French League and getting into the CL Group stages. Whilst in the short term the Premiership remains the stand out brand it will not always be the place to play/earn silly money. The relatively poor performances in the Champions League by English sides in the past two years (Chelsea was a fluke) goes to show the power shift is already underway on the pitch. Off the pitch is the next step.
Of course non of this will happen overnight but over the past year I have noticed developments that are moving us ever closer to the European elite clubs taking. The Qatar World Cup farce is probably the most best example of this. Not only is it going to be a vital part of the footballing world quite soon but the move to a winter world cup backed by the major European clubs manages to de value the competition and in my opinion moves us one step closer to a European Super League in the summer whilst the national league continue in the normal format with the World Cup remaining as a side show in the winter. Football twelve months a year. What is not to like if you are a tv company? Qatar could be interesting player in all of this. They are not spending all that money to purely host a world cup for 4 weeks. Although it was dismissed at the time I firmly believe the idea of a club World Cup held in Qatar every two years is still a real possibility going forward. There would be a lot more money to be made as well as a bigger global audience from 16 European sides and 16 other teams from America, South America and Asia playing in tournament football than the current World Cup offers. New Zealand vrs Slovenia or LA Galaxy vrs Real Madrid. Hard to pick which one would get the bigger audience really. In my view it is quite possible they will have hosted a Champions League final before 2022.
The pre season fixture list this year was also rather revealing. We are all use to the idea of tours of Asia and America to help boost 'brand awareness' but the itinerary for the major English clubs this year was to the eye rather odd. City vrs Arsenal in Helskinki, A eight team super cup in LA. Man United and Liverpool flying all the way over to Australia for one game. Liverpool going to Norway for one game. It probably went well under the radar in the UK but Real Madrid and PSG played friendlies in Gothenburg. The above mentioned markets have already been long since been conquered in the 70/80's and they certainly are not emerging markets financially or from a football sense. This was probably best explained by NQDP who summarized this pattern as 'continuing to tour the countries with a massive emerging middle class but paying lip service to the countries who can afford to pay now'. I believe that the days of the traditional tv deal are coming to an end and the era of online subscription season tickets to watch the team of your choice and not what ever the companies opt to serve up to you are on it's way. The elite clubs are all jostling for position to ensure that their income remain sky high through subscribers in the middle and long term.
These developments have a massive impact on the day to day tradition fan. In truth, you mean next to nothing now. I use the term you and not we as I have lived in the UK one year in the past eight and make about two / three games a season and a tailored package of City would suit me down to the ground. I have spent quite a bit of time in South East Asia in the past eight years and it has been very interesting to see our presence in that part of the world go from next to nothing to the 'brand' that I would say is only behind Barcelona in terms of street visabilty. These fans/subscribers would be far more likely to shell out a few hundred baht a year to watch us play Barca,Real or PSG every week than Stoke, Hull or Palace. Whilst we may enjoy games against Villa, Everton and Newcastle a guy in Asia or America who started watching the Premiership five years ago does not care less because those teams have zero clout outside their respective cities. A bit like us five years ago. We live in a increasingly capitalistic world and if there is enough money to be made it will happen regardless if it rips the heart and sole of the domestic game. The time difference between the UK and Asia is not really convient to the 'consumer' in Asia but if that is where our market is then soon all our games could be at noon. We packed the place out for a 11am kick off once so if it comes to that we only have ourselves to blame. I can say we as I went to that game.
The next step is one that has been on the agenda for a number of years now. The Premiership put the idea of home games abroad on the back burner after the reaction to the silly 39th game concept but I can easily foresee a time in the near future where a whole host of games are playing outside England. I was in favour of the idea actually but as part of the league season, not as a silly bonus game. Like 99% of our global fanbase I don't go to the games so I could not give a toss if the game is in Manchester or Mexico City. I am sure there would be massive commercial and tv interest in a whole day of Premiership games kicking off in Sydney, moving time zones to the final game of the day in LA. If United and Liverpool can get ninety thousand Aussies to pay top dollar for a friendly then why are they offering discount tickets to local fans? Euro 2018 will not be held in a single country, but spread around the continent on different time zones ensuring everyone gets a nice slice of the pie. Why not run a league like that? City can play a few games in Abu Dhabi, Chelsea in Moscow, Let United play a game where ever it is the Glaziers own a NFL team.
Whilst the footballing world will always be dominated by European clubs, the worlds financial power lays in the Middle East and Asia and we football fans will march to the beat of their drum. I am not even going to bore you with the predictions of population growth in these parts of the world compared to Europe. If Qatar is happy allow slave labor and the death of hundreds of migrants to ensure their stadiums are built in time I do not think they will give a shit that a group of people in Manchester are getting a few less games on their season ticket next year. Neither do the clubs.
So, an elite European League played in the summer with games played around the world. Thoughts? I may have let my imagination wonder but it is undeniable that there will be major changes in our game in the coming years. Do you want City to be part of it despite it being to the detrement to you as a fan and the damage to the grass roots game? Do you want City to become an all conquering global brand that hangs out at the top table of world football where greed is good and the rest are left to feed on the scraps? Our owners have not invested all this money for no reason. We cannot have our cake and eat it.
