On expanding the North Stand at the Etihad Stadium and growing the City Football Group
“It's very exciting. It's very exciting. We've released and unveiled our plans for the development. Every year there's always something new. Every year. Because there's always a need to improve and evolve and grow. We don't stand still. We never stood still. The Etihad, we started somewhere and every couple of years we will do something, whether it's the Tunnel Club, whether it's the new stands, whether it's the seating. And now we're going to have a wonderful, wonderful development around it that's going to just enhance the whole area, is going to be great for the fans and it's going to bring, I think, positive revenue for the club.
"We're always in growth mode, we’re never in contentment and pause and let's just milk the asset. Because this is about building value and growing value, and it's about reinvesting consistently into this club. It's about redeveloping the Etihad, it's about building the CFA, it's about building a stadium in New York, it's about building an academy in Girona, it's about building an academy in Palermo, it's about investing in a club in Brazil and taking it to win hopefully and compete at the highest level in South America. It's always about growth and it's always about what's the next best thing. And it's always about creating and building true value for this great group.”
On the pre-season tour to Korea and Japan
“Of course, it's great for the club and it's great for the brand of this club and our fan base that is now global. We are Mancunian at heart, but now we are global also. And if you look at the club when we did our tour last summer and we were in the United States, and I remember, I think we were playing a game in Green Bay, Wisconsin. And if you look at the number of fans and Manchester City fans in that stadium, it was 80,000 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It just showed us where Manchester City is today in the world of sports, not just the world of football, the world of sports.
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"This summer, we're going to go to Japan. We're going to go to Korea. Incredible markets, but more importantly, incredible fans that love football, that love this club and are helping growing our fan base to hopefully becoming one of the largest fan bases in the world.”
On the Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell and Francis Lee statues
“I've seen the statue and obviously I've been very involved in this because it's something that is very personal for me. You have to recognise greatness and you have to recognise the incredible people that have contributed to what we have today. We have a responsibility as caretakers of this great club. And while obviously the statues that have been built so far have recognized the modern-day heroes of Manchester City, what this new statue is going to give is something that I think every City fan I think truly appreciates, which is the great history of this club.
"And it's represented with Francis, Colin and Mike and having them together in hopefully a magnificent piece of art, I think is the least we can do for what they've done. And really leaving that everlasting legacy - always there to remember what this club has; it has an incredible history.”
On Mike Summerbee
“He is such an important part of this club in every possible way. I have deep gratitude for Mike and his role and his friendship. And I know this year has been so special for him in every possible way. To have him with me yesterday at the end of that game, I think it was very, very special.”
On everyone being welcome back at City
“Absolutely. Yesterday we had all these great players that have contributed so much to this club. They have a sense of ownership themselves and they have a sense of pride themselves. They were winning yesterday. But it's not just them, by the way. It's also, I can tell you there were so many executives, people that worked for us and have left, that have come again yesterday. People that have worked for us 15 years ago, ten years ago, people that have just left us maybe a year ago. I think we have this in this club a sense that you're always going to be part of this and you could be still here or you could move on to another challenge. But we will never forget and we will always appreciate. And it was great seeing so many people from the past yesterday.”
On the academy and Rico Lewis
“Well, you said it. We have a small group in terms of the squad. But also, we have shown in our academy how we have produced the best team in England or the best teams in England over the last five or six years. Consistently. So the talent is there. We have great players, great coaching staff, and that's producing players like Rico Lewis, like Cole Palmer and many others. And we have a first team coach in Pep Guardiola that gives young talent a chance, that has the courage and the open mindedness to bring them in, give them the opportunity and you have then great examples.
"Like look at Rico Lewis at 18, he's given the opportunity and he grasps it and I'm very happy for him. But I'm delighted for Rico, but I'm even more delighted for the academy because it's showing us consistently that we are producing that sort of talent. And then we have a pathway for them, the ones that have and that we see have a pathway towards the first team that they get the chance, they get the opportunities. I mean, how many players, I mean look at Phil.
"Look at Phil Foden coming out from the academy. He is the most decorated player today, probably in English football at his age, at his age. Look at the minutes he's played and look at the evolution from 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. We've been very careful in supporting Phil to get him to where he is today. And we'll do the same with Rico, we’ll do the same with Cole, and we'll do the same with all the others.”
On the academy teams also winning trophies
“It's the winning mentality and it's that winning mentality that spreads across every team involved in this group.”
On producing incredible players from our academy
“Absolutely. I think that professionalism, that level of development and then the carefulness, we're very careful in how we develop these young players and that's respected by the entire industry, which is why they're being targeted today. Why is everybody scouting City players? Well, they're good, of course, but it's not just because they're good. It's because they know we have a philosophy, we have a system, we have a track record of producing incredible, talented players, champions and that some players end up obviously with us and then in the first team, others end up going and having great careers.”
On the club winning the Premier League, Premier League 2 and the U18 Premier League three years in a row
“So think of that for a moment. A triple treble across all levels or most levels of professional football, within a club. This says it all. It says it all about what we've been saying, which is about how our academy continues to produce and to match what we're doing at the first team level. And here, the triple treble shows you: this is across the board. And I think this is a testament to everyone in this academy we have. We have an incredible academy.
"We are producing the best football in England, we are producing the best talent in England. And we're doing it consistently and we're doing it hand-in-hand with the first team, which is kind of the, I would say, the essence of day one when we built CFA was how to keep the Academy and the first team all in the same place and create that continuity and that togetherness.”
On the Women’s first team
“Well, the women’s game has certainly evolved in a way I didn’t expect in this speed. It’s really evolved very fast, and it is certainly something we are very focused on. My daughter Lulu reminds me every day that the women’s team ‘has to be your focus’. She watches every game. She doesn’t miss a game. And that tells me – it’s a great reminder for me and for all of us that the game has arrived.
"The women’s game has arrived, it’s real, its fanbase is growing, you see it in every game, you see it in the stands, you see it in the quality of football. Our women’s team has always been again very consistent – always there, always competitive. I think we will look at this season as a positive season – in the sense that we were very competitive all the way until the end. We’re going to come back, we’re going to support the team, we have a great manager, we have a great core of players, and we have a commitment from the organisation to help this group to continue to grow, continue to improve and compete and win – as with every single team within the group.”
On Bunny Shaw
“Very impressed. Very impressed. She’s an incredible striker, again an incredible leader in the group and has played an amazing part in this journey of this season. But as you said it’s also not just her, it’s the group as a whole. We have a very, very talented group to build on.”
On New York City FC and the new stadium projections
“Finally, I can say here and in this case, finally. This has been a very long and agonising process, not easy to build a stadium in New York City, very, very hard. It's very important to have your stadium, you know that in any team. We've built, I think a great organization, a great club, a great fan base in New York. And now we're going to give this team a wonderful stadium.”
On the importance of the new NYCFC stadium
“It's critical. That's crucial. Today we're playing effectively in another team’s stadium and by the way, another team that doesn't play football. We're playing in a baseball stadium. So, of course, I think, what we've done given the constraints, has been incredible. But this team needs its stadium and that will add tremendous value to the community. It'll create jobs. It will create, I think, a home to this great club. And that's critical.”
On Melbourne City FC and three Premier Plates in a row
“A third straight again. You look at it in a wage controlled environment, our ability to show consistent success just again is a testament to the management and the philosophy we have as a Group. A great team. You know that in any competition to win three in a row and to be there for three in a row. Of course, we weren't successful in the Grand Final last week.
"But you know, that's football. Finals are 90 minutes and it's different than when you're playing a league. In a league, inevitably, the best team wins over 38 games, 24 games, whatever the number of games. Most of the time, the best team wins. In a final, it's 90 minutes. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn't. And when it does, it's great. And when it doesn't, it doesn't. Melbourne, unfortunately, over the season were the most consistent team, but in the grand final they weren't successful.”
On some of the disappointments for teams in the Group
“Of course, it's part of football. Football is about winning and it's also about losing. And in both cases, it's how you behave after you win and how you behave after you lose. And when you have 13 clubs and when you're operating all over the world, you're going to have, in many instances, challenges.
Listen we're always dealing with a challenge here or there. Look at Girona as an example. We invested in Girona, we took the club from the second Division, La Liga 2 to La Liga and then we got relegated. That was a big challenge for us. But guess what? We dissected the issue, we analysed it, we did what we needed to do to fix the challenges. And then, Girona went back to the first Division through hard work and on a well-planned and thoughtful approach. And now they're a solid team in La Liga. So there's going to be ups and downs. Troyes. We invested in Troyes.
"We took it to the first Division and now this season they've had a very disappointing season and they've got relegated. It is what it is. It's a challenge. We'll deal with it, we'll figure out what went wrong over there, we'll put a plan and we'll get the club back up and running. It's part of the game. And whenever there's a step back, it happens. But then you look at the next step forward and the two steps after that. Mumbai has been a great story. We win. We won the league, then we didn't. Yokohama, Melbourne, wherever we are in the world and Montevideo has been challenged also. So you deal with that and it's part of the business and it's part of the football.”
On the acquisition in Brazil
“So we continue to grow. We continue to grow in a very thoughtful manner. Last summer, Palermo joined the group. Palermo, again, great history, great legacy, great region, great club, difficult few years. And we came in and now, Palermo has gone from Serie C (third Division) to Serie B and again and always I think we have a blueprint of what we do. We support the club, we put the management, we get the academy in place, we put the infrastructure in place and then the team grows and there's no reason why you shouldn't expect Palermo very soon, hopefully in Serie A. And Palermo again is a big team, is a big club, a lot of aspirations we have for Palermo. Latest acquisition is in Brazil.
"Brazil is obviously where all the talent, the best talent in the world is coming out of Brazil and to have now ownership in a great club in Bahia, again similar to the Palermo story in the sense that great history, but modern in the last couple of years a challenged history. We've come in and now we're going to support the team as it goes up the ladder and goes back to the great position as one of the best teams in Brazil. It fits perfectly within our Group. And of course, in one of the most important countries in the world, in Brazil. So, this is going to be another very big club within the Group and a club we're going to be spending a lot of time and focus and developing.”
On growth for CFG
“It's always about growth and it's about, you grow, you pause, you get things in order, and then you start the next step. And it's one step at a time, one step at a time. We're not going to stop. We're going to keep going and we're going to keep investing and we're going to keep growing value and we're going to keep bringing happiness to every community and every club we have in the world and hopefully we’ll keep bringing success in every club and team we have around the world. It's been a great journey over the last 15 years, but I'm excited about the future and it's about now, the next ten, 15 years too.”
