Football Special Report: Manchester City Records Heavy Losses
Manchester City’s financial reports have come out as shocking many in the football circles. A loss of £121 million has been reported, which has become the second biggest loss in the history of English Premier League, after Chelsea.
The losses at Chelsea were, however, justified. The club achieved success under Jose Mourinho, as they spent hefty amounts to acquire new players. In the case of Manchester City, no success has been achieved by the club. Although, the side looks threatening,
however the players have not been able to live up to the required marks.
With new owners coming at City, the funds were injected to acquire new players. Around 96 million pounds were spent, in order to sign big players like, Yaya Toure, Mario Balotelli and David Silva. Also, in order to keep big players, the club has to pay their
wages. This often becomes a burden, as the clubs have to go beyond their means. Recently, Barcelona’s losses were also associated with players’ wages, which resulted in borrowing heavy amounts from the banks.
According to the reports issued by Manchester City’s financial staff, wage bill of the club has created problems. Normally, clubs make profits from the fan turnover at the stadium. However, Manchester City’s turnover was reported to be £125 million, while
their players are being paid around £133 million in wages.
This financial report also suggested some improvements after the new ownership has been introduced at Manchester City. First of all, turnover has improved, which was previously at £85 million. In addition, the stadium is being expanded, which would mean
more accommodation. Apart from that, the club has found a new hype, which has attracted a lot of interest from new sponsors. Therefore, under the new ownership, the financial structure has shown improvement with a 400% increase in sponsorship money.
The whole blame can be put on City’s policy in the transfer market. They acquired a lot of new players, although the need was barely there. These players had huge demands, which were also met by Manchester City. There does not seem to be enough negotiations,
as players and their previous clubs got what they desired. Naturally, this approach resulted in a lot of problems in financial circles, as the club spent beyond its means.
Also, there was no surety of success for Manchester City. In order to increase their following, City had a tougher task ahead. They were facing their rivals Manchester United, whose fans are not easy to be lured into some other club. Therefore, the turnover
for Manchester City would remain consistent, which means that they would have to make profits after cutting down on their expenses.
Due to this, the officials at Manchester City came out defending their policies. Garry Cook, Chief Executive at Manchester City, said that the players were bought because the requirement was there. He believed that the money has been spent on City’s squad,
while only the hard work is required now. Therefore, in the future, pounds would not be spent on buying the players.
The only requirement for City is to build their squad now. Therefore, it was a right idea to expand the training facilities at the club. However, it would be a financial suicide if City tries to buy some new faces during the winter transfer window. Austerity
seems to be the only solution for the club, which means firing some players as well. The squad is already bigger than required, which means that many players are just useless.
The real problem would be faced by City when they qualify for European Competitions. UEFA has introduced some new regulations, which would put bans on teams generating heavy losses in their previous seasons. However, if all the cards are played right, no
further big investment would be required. On the other hand, the current players would grow and bring the much needed success to the club.
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