As the curtain closes on another eventful season, all talk regarding Manchester City is revolving around ushering in a new era at the club.
On the pitch, the main concern surrounds their next manager – widely-tipped to be Manuel Pellegrini – while off it, the powers-that-be want to export and globalise the ‘City’ brand.
But are their efforts to spread their influence throughout the world alienating their loyal fanbase closer to home?
The Premier League runners-up have already been busy this summer with their stateside launch of a new kit and their acquisition of the rights to the latest MLS franchise.
In a six-year £72million deal, City replaced former sponsor Umbro with American sportswear giant Nike and launched their 2013/2014 home kit in New York, where the squad are on a post season tour.
This news followed the club’s announcement – in partnership with baseball team New York Yankees – it will become majority owners in the city’s new football team.
From 2015, New York City FC will become the MLS’ 20th expansion franchise after a £66million deal was struck, ensuring the Sky Blues’ presence in one of the world’s most famous cities.
There is no doubt the new deal with Nike, and its presence in markets across the world, will provide a huge commercial boost ahead of the impending Financial Fair Play regulations.
And with the exposure their post-season tour will bring, the club are edging ever closer to breaking one of the hardest nuts to crack – the American market.
Setting up a permanent base in Queens would be well received by Americans and could give City the advantage over their commercial and sporting rivals.
They cannot be naive – Rome was not built in a day, and the Blues cannot hope to remain in the upper echelons of the footballing world if they do not take these tentative steps forward.
Yet launching the new kit across the pond will raise eyebrows in Manchester, giving the impression the boardroom are putting profits and branding before their long-suffering fans.
For a side which has always taken pride in promoting itself as the ‘local’ club in Manchester, City appear to be following their neighbour’s path towards globalisation, consumerism and marketing themselves as a product.
But if City want to eventually overtake the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid as football’s biggest brand, it looks increasingly likely they will only achieve this by treading their current path.
Yet at what cost will this success come? Would the City of the past see a difference between this current incarnation and their hated rivals?
Make no mistake, a brand cannot inspire the passion of a football club – nobody has their ashes scattered in Tesco, and it is doubtful anyone from the Bronx will truly be ‘City ‘til they die’.
However, the Premier League is a different beast compared to its original form – the stars are global, the coverage is global and the audience is global.
The tangible benefits of becoming a world brand are now within touching distance for the club’s directors, which begs the question – have City outgrown Manchester?
If so, how do the fans who filled out Maine Road week in, week out against the likes of Gillingham and Tranmere Rovers feel about missing on these huge opportunities?
Arguably, it is those who stood by City through thin and thin who deserve to reap the rewards of exciting ventures like new kit launches and high-profile friendlies.
But like most clubs, the home-grown fans don’t fit into the global ideal – something ‘True Blues’ are going to have to get used to.
Image courtesy of MCFC, via YouTube, with thanks
For more on this story and many others, follow Mancunian Matters on Twitter and Facebook.
