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From Cheadle to Oldham, Gorton to Newton Heath, from mainland Turkey and even as far away as Australia, Manchester City supporters travel to Istanbul from all over Manchester and the world to watch their team win the Champions League and finish Historic Triple Crown.
While some were recent converts, others followed the club from near bankruptcy in England’s third tier in 1999 to the pinnacle of European football on both sides of the Bosphorus.
They have the right to celebrate this achievement like those directly responsible for making it happen on the pitch: under the mercurial Guardiola, they are one of the most talented players ever, and he won his first. Three Champions League 12 became the first manager to win the treble with two different clubs, years after his second triumph.
However, the Ataturk Olympic Stadium featured two men, one with a blue and white scarf around his neck, playing his second ever city game, which tells the story of professional football’s 2023 season. real story.
Football instrumentation
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family is Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and owner of the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), which The group took over Manchester City in 2008. The club was acquired by the newly formed City Football Group (CFG) in 2014, retaining an 81% stake.
ADUG officials insist it is a privately owned investment vehicle with no links to the Abu Dhabi government. Leaked internal documents suggest otherwise, with Sheikh Mansour’s older brother, UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, appearing next to the VIP box on Saturday.
Sheikh Mansour and Abu Dhabi have spent 15 years and billions of dollars since their takeover in 2008, with Manchester City achieving their goal of establishing the tiny Persian Gulf emirate as a hub for international sport. The main participants.
The purpose of doing so is threefold: to diversify its oil-dependent economy, to bolster its geopolitical position in a volatile region surrounded by powerful neighbors, and to associate it in the global consciousness with glamor and success rather than being a Documented human rights abuses in authoritarian monarchies. This phenomenon is often referred to as sports washing.
Just as Qatar owns Paris Saint-Germain, hosts the 2022 World Cup and its ongoing pursuit of Manchester United, and like Saudi Arabia buys Newcastle United and effectively takes over professional golf, the end goal is not to promote and support elite sport per se; a means.
Those who play it, direct it, watch it, report on it, and celebrate it end up being used as tools for ulterior motives, whether they like it or not.
Allegations of Financial Misconduct
Not only; Manchester City have also been accused of breaching the rules in order to achieve these goals and are currently accused by the Premier League of 115 financial breaches between 2009 and 2018.
They have already been fined twice by UEFA, once for breaching Financial Fair Play rules and the second for obstructing an investigation – the latter after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled against multiple allegations of artificially inflated sponsorship revenues. Companies in Abu Dhabi have long been fully under its jurisdiction.
Of course, none of this was the fault of Guardiola, winning striker Rodri, man of the match John Stones, Germany international Ilkay Gundogan or Norway striker Erling Haaland.
The misery of teams such as Abu Dhabi’s regional rivals Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City’s local rivals Manchester United has proven in recent years that it is not enough to spend a lot of money; it must also be used professionally.
Still, even if City end up fully cleared of all allegations of financial wrongdoing, the fact remains that it is much easier to recruit, form and mold a world-class team backed by unlimited sovereign wealth, which provides the infrastructure , minimizing the risk of failure and a financial buffer should failure still occur – advantages that City’s rivals simply do not have.
UK fans don’t have a voice – not like Germany
Many City fans who packed one end of the Ataturk Stadium won’t care; they’ll feel they deserve rewards for their years of loyalty. They have the right to do so.
They could also argue that, given the structural inequalities in European football, the largest and most successful clubs in history consistently receive the lion’s share of broadcast revenue and bonuses, perpetuating a vicious circle and deepening the divide between the haves and have-nots Rest, otherwise how could their club be in that exclusive group? They have a point.
Ultimately, they may point out that they have no say in it anyway. This, at least in English football, is also a sad reality.
Importantly, just two weeks before the Champions League final, German clubs voted against a plan to invest €2 billion in the Bundesliga – at least in part due to pressure from supporters and members, who abide by the 50+1 ownership rule, which is a major factor in the club’s operations. reserves the right to speak.
The money was supposed to help German clubs such as Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig compete in Europe, all of which were shut out by Manchester City en route to Istanbul.
But supporters worry that paying for this beyond the financial cost – with 12.5 per cent of future broadcast revenues to be paid to private equity investors – will actually result in a de facto loss of influence for their club, leading to a possible sale To investors, even owners with ulterior motives.
With the final result played out at the Ataturk Stadium on Saturday night, Manchester City supporters, whether from Cheadle or Oldham, Gorton or Newton Heath, Turkey or Australia, celebrated a game of theirs of course. A victory to be enjoyed freely – but ultimately neither the sport nor theirs.
It’s geopolitical, it’s financial, and it belongs to the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, who is wearing a blue and white scarf for the second time.
Editor: Mark Hallam
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