How Manchester City could break my Heart

Well myself and a few friends have been members since day1. The club asked its members to help choose a name and we all opted for Melbourne City to end up losing to Heart. We didn't mind the choice as in the end we just wanted success for our new found club. As for the United fans just man up, deal with it and just think how much in the future its going to help out not just Heart, but the whole A League. Heart may end up being the hunted opposed to the hunter which will raise the playing level for all clubs in the league which makes me happy. I just want the A League to grow and one day be the best league in Asia, this being a great 1st step towards that goal. For those who might say "oh your not a real fan then" I answer "say what you will, I am a proud member and I am a big fan of not just my teams but mostly this great game of football. I just want to keep seeing this beautiful game develop and grow" FYI I am a Leeds supporter so I'm sick of dealing with failure lol

I remember reading a little info graph in Four Four Two Oz about the owners of the each A League club - Sydney FC were the richest (in terms of personal wealth) now Melbourne Heart would have 99% of the total wealth of the a league clubs. It's just crazy how rich we are.

Do you find people saying they won't eat oranges because they're the colours of the Roar or they hate sunny days because the blue sky means there SFC supporters!

great letter thanks for sharing chris. humble and pure class.

Oh and by the way happy "Australia Day" 26th of January

Kidney pie you make a very good observation I presume that you are not a local. I think that all Australian sporting fans have been conditioned By the Australian sporting media that we are the centre of the universe and hence why we do have various "strange agendas" going on all the time

Well put Chris, hopefully you are correct & the game will continue it's upward trend in this country.

Ha - I posted almost exactly the same thing up the thread. You will definitely get further investment now. You're flying as far as football in Australia is concerned now.

There's another issue here - and it's a good one for Australian football fans. Owners can only have a single club in each confederation effectively, because they aren't allowed to play each other. The Premier League is (commercially) the biggest league in UEFA, so they've got the covered. The MLS is the biggest in North America. By buying into Melbourne they believe that Australia will be the key Asian football league. It has rule of law on its side, and its also an easy commercial fit for the better footballers, who tend to be in Europe and South America. It's partly a self-fulfilling prophecy now they've bought in, but here's the kicker - it means Australia has every chance of being the premium football league in Asia in a decade. It's exciting times, whoever you follow. The standard is going to rocket.

It is up to the supporters of multiple clubs to choose their most preferred club to support and to support all other teams from there similarly to the supporters of the other a league clubs that support Manchester city today as well have to make a similar decision Who is to say that other a league clubs will not be purchased by overseas football powerhouses in the future The point of this transaction is that it bodes very well for the future of the game in Australia and the individuals/clubs/codes which are disaffected by this transaction will need to find their own solution

There'll be the opportunity in two directions for younger players too. And Melbourne will gain access to the extraordinary new training complex being built around City's ground which they move into later this year. That's a massive opportunity for young Australian talent.

Beginning to. They bought the New York City FC franchise last year, which will start playing in 2015. What you might find interesting is that they talked about having a universal style and approach to the clubs, so I imagine that will apply to Melbourne too. The NYFC coach will spend 6 months in Manchester learning about that, then be sent back to run the club as he sees fit.

This is the letter they sent to City when they took over. They've kept their word more than you can imagine: Dear fellow Manchester City fans, There has been much written about the purchase of Manchester City over the last few weeks and so now I am delighted to tell you that negotiations are complete and the transfer of ownership will take place on Tuesday (September 23rd, 2008). With the agreement finalised I would like to tell you directly a little about who we are and what we have planned. Firstly I would like to thank you for the many expressions of good will and joy we have received since our wish to purchase the Club was announced. We are deeply touched and now have some great personal experience of what so many people have told us for a while now.......you are the greatest fans in the world. Like you, we are excited about the future of the club, and we hope the securing of Robinho as a Manchester City player during the transfer window is seen as a signal of our very real intent. It has been an exciting two weeks for all of us all. My intention is that Manchester City has the very best people at its disposal, both on and off the field. For that reason I have asked my friend Khaldoon Al Mubarak, to take on the position of Chairman of the Club. My request to him has been to put together a board and executive team that is worthy of the heritage and potential of Manchester City. Khaldoon and I have agreed that the we will not be making any more announcements for a while as we really now need to sit down with the manager, Executive Chairman and key staff and put together plans that will, over time, get the Club to where we want it to be. That is the stage we are entering now and as anyone who runs a business knows, this involves a lot of listening, and a lot of talking to many stakeholders and research and discussion before plans can be announced. As part of that, we will absolutely spend time listening to you the fans about what you think about the future of the club. We are very aware that without you there would not be a club to buy, and your voice will be heard by the organisation at the highest level. We also want to make it clear that Mark Hughes is absolutely integral to our plans. We are lucky to have someone who we believe is the best young British manager; someone who has been successful on the global stage, the Premier League and of course as a player. We are ambitious for the club, like you, but not unreasonably so and we understand it takes time to build a team capable of sustaining a presence in the top four of the Premier League and winning European honours. We know a little of the history at City also and whilst we want to bring in the best players in the world, we also want to see the academy continue to develop talent and give Mark Hughes the chance to bring home-grown players into the team. We consider Mark Hughes to be one of the prime assets of the club. We will back his judgement in what players to bring in and we look forward to working more closely with him in the future. We are building a structure for the future not just a team of all-stars. In cold business terms, Premiership football is one of the best entertainment products in the world and we see this as a sound business investment. That being said, we understand that we need to put money in to get the club to where we believe it can be -and where we think you the fans want it to be. We are aware also that the club has a significant role in the community going back years. As newcomers, we don't pretend to understand all of this yet, but we will make sincere efforts to back these initiatives and ensure that Manchester City loses none of its role in Manchester beyond football and we want the club to continue to contribute to the community it represents. I should perhaps also explain that despite what you may have read, I have bought the club in a private capacity and as part of my personal business strategy to hold a wide portfolio of business investments. I am a football fan, and I hope that you will soon see that I am now also a Manchester City fan. But I am also a long-term investor and that is probably more important to the club and to you because it means we are here for the long haul and that we will act always in the best interests of the club and all of its stakeholders, but especially you the fans. I will be at Eastlands soon and am really looking forward to sampling the famous City atmosphere. Thank you again for the good wishes and your support. Yours, Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

As I mentioned below, they've honoured the history and culture of Manchester City more than any previous owner. In all honesty, they put them to shame. City trainees now even get in depth education on the history and origins of the club, to a greater extent than any other football club. They've even had them dragged around on a tour to visit the site of St Mark's church where it all began, the Hyde Road ground where they played a century ago and so forth.

I think some of you need to pay closer attention to how they've run Manchester City over the last five years. When they arrived they sent a very similar open letter to the fans, also stating they intended to listen and learn. They've been as good as their word. City are and always have been a community club, working in the heart of the Manchester community in a way that frankly, United never have. Not only has it carried on, it's grown dramatically. When they received approval for the training complex, they insisted that the contractors employ 70% local people. When it is finished, it will be 70% locally staffed. It has given a huge boost to a deprived area. They have brought former players back to the club in various capacities, especially those fallen on hard times. They have paid more attention to the history and the soul of the club than any of their predecessors. They even made sure that fans no longer had to queue for tickets in the rain! No, they are not perfect, they will make mistakes. But they are not going to ride roughshod over the fans and do what they want. It's not their style, it's not what they do. When they say they want to take their time and listen and learn, they mean every single word.

When Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City, what did he change in relation to: Name of the club, shirt colour, badge? Theme song.. please tell me you're joking? This is football. In relation to players, there is a salary cap enforced in the A-League, so the only players that may be on their way out are those whose contract expires at the end of this season. And, I doubt MelbHeart fans would be bothered about losing any player from the current squad. People need to realise football is not like the local sports played in Australia. Churning of players is part of the football culture because the employer market is global. So, Michael McGlinchey may be the best player at CCM, but CCM fans are mature enough to understand he'll have to move on if he gets a better offer. Mark Milligan may be captain of Melbourne Victory and he gives 100% every week, but if the club accepts an offer from overseas and Milligan agrees to leave, he'll pack his bags for a new workplace.

re: colours, i've never understood why a non-existant problem aroundthe world is so prevalent in australia, if your the away team you change your colours, is it really that difficult or is there some kind of strange colourist agenda going on in australia!

Oh so City shouldn't change strip so as to not offend manure supporters, they are kidding right? Why would they or anyone else care what the bandwaggoners think? Honestly give it a few years of dominance by "someone else" and most of them will be lifelong supporters of Someone Else FC. sheesh

That pretty much sums up wow I feel.

Can't understand the argument of there is already a sky blue team in the A-League. If we're only limited to new colours for incoming teams, then we are bound to have a small league. We are not the AFL or Collingwood. Football solved this 'problem' decades ago. Arsenal, Liverpool and ManUtd all wear a predominant red kit at home. Away/Change strips. No big deal. I predict it will happen only incrementally. Name change in year 1. Colour change in year 2 and they might even use sky blue stripes like Argentina ( to acknowledge Hearts red stripe history) with a red sash away kit. Either way interesting times ahead. I'd prefer to see some investment in facilities before the more superficial changes are made.