Manchester City's City Stadium is located in the eastern suburbs of Manchester.
At the beginning of the design, this stadium was intended to be used as the main venue for the Olympic Games. After the application for the Olympic Games failed, the purpose of the venue was changed and became the main venue for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
After the Games, the original comprehensive stadium was transformed into a professional stadium. The track and field track and temporary stands were demolished and fixed stands were built. This caused a lot of controversy that year.
Manchester City moved from Maine Road to the City Stadium in 2003, and the first game was a friendly match against Barcelona.
However, since Manchester City signed a long-term lease contract with the Manchester City Government, the ownership of the venue still belongs to the city government, so it is very inconvenient for Manchester City to operate.
Is it conceivable that there isn’t even a fan shop at Manchester City’s home ground?
This is not only a problem for Manchester City. Serie A, where most of the stadiums are municipal facilities, is also facing this problem. Therefore, Juventus found another way and built a new stadium through a curve to save the country, which in turn opened up a new path.
The Manchester City Government is also more supportive of football clubs than the Italian government.
Since acquiring Manchester City in 2008, Soriano has been communicating with the Manchester City Government, including proposing a series of ambitious plans, which were finally approved in March 2010.
Manchester City has launched a huge plan of one billion pounds, which will not only expand the capacity of the City Stadium from the current 45,000 to 60,000, but also build the world's most advanced stadium in the southeast of the stadium.
The training base, as well as the state-of-the-art sports medicine center, will later be moved from Carrington to the city.
In addition, Manchester City will also renovate the stadium and surrounding facilities, including building fan stores and fan service centers to create an exclusive leisure and entertainment zone for Manchester City fans. It will also renovate trams and intercity railway stations north of the stadium.
As well as the bus station and the north of the train line, there is also a huge fan parking lot.
This is because underground parking facilities were not considered when the City Stadium was built.
There is no subway in Manchester, and fans travel by trams, intercity railways, buses and self-driving. Manchester City used to do a very bad job in this regard, but now it has improved significantly.
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At this moment, Su Dong was standing on the pedestrian bridge leading to the train station, bus station and parking lot in the north of the stadium.
Opposite is a large parking lot and train station, and the connecting pedestrian bridge is very spacious, which can meet the needs of fans pouring into the stadium on match days.
Below the overpass is the sports and training center that Manchester City is building to serve fans. It is mainly used for some sports training and daily sports venues, such as tennis courts, small football fields and indoor venues.
“After signing the agreement in March last year, we immediately invested in construction and renovation, so the last few home games of last season were all played at Maine Road. It is expected that all construction will be completed before the start of this season and we can return to the city.
Stadium game.”
Technical Director Begiristain and the management staff of the City Stadium introduced Manchester City's home stadium and various facilities to Su Dong.
It can be seen that Manchester City has indeed invested a lot in this aspect, and all of it is real money.
It can also be seen from this point that Mansour's Abu Dhabi consortium really wants to take root in Manchester. Otherwise, there is no need to invest so much.
Of course, this is actually part of the deal between the club and the city government.
In return, the stadium lease contract signed by the city government and Manchester City was extended from the original ninety-nine years to two hundred and fifty years. This is equivalent to giving the stadium directly to Manchester City for use, and only needs to pay one per year.
A rent of two to three million is enough.
Compared with the huge investment in building a new stadium, the rent is really nothing.
In addition, Manchester City also obtained the right to transform and name the new stadium.
The advantage of obtaining the renovation rights is that not only can it be expanded, but also various facilities can be built in the stadium, thereby increasing the stadium's income on match days. This is an essential part of all European home stadiums, such as VIP boxes, catering industry, etc.
Not to mention naming rights, Manchester City has been conducting targeted investment promotion since last season.
"We have sold the naming rights of the club's home stadium for the next fifteen years at a high price of 250 million pounds. Starting from the new season, our stadium will officially be renamed the Etihad Stadium." Begiristain introduced with a smile.
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Su Dong smiled and nodded tacitly. Etihad, an airline from the United Arab Emirates, named Manchester City as its title. It must not only value the potential of Manchester City, but also Mansour's use of this method to transfuse blood to Manchester City and help.
Manchester City circumvents financial balancing policy from UEFA.
The naming rights of the stadium were sold to Etihad Airways, and the chest advertisement of the jersey was also sold to the Emirates airline, for a price of about 15 million pounds per year.
In other words, Manchester City can earn about 30 million pounds in sponsorship revenue from this airline every year.
Not to mention comparing with giant teams like Bayern, Manchester United and Real Madrid, even compared with some Premier League teams, Manchester City is far behind. The reason is that there is really not much value at all.
In the past few years, Manchester City has been wandering in the middle and lower reaches. The team's own commercial operation ability is very poor, it can even be said to be almost non-existent. It relies entirely on those who come to the door. The biggest problem is the Premier League broadcast and sponsor sharing.
After Soriano and Begiristain took over the team, they wanted to work hard in this area, but the foundation was too weak. The team itself had no good results and stars. Although there was Robinho before, but
The business appeal of Brazilians is also pitifully weak, so progress is very slow.
After Su Dong joined this season, Manchester City plans to make great efforts in this area, but for the time being, it still needs blood transfusion from the Abu Dhabi consortium.
This summer's North American training camp is a bold attempt by Manchester City's commercial department.
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Accompanied by Begiristain, after visiting the City Stadium, oh, no, it should be renamed the Etihad Stadium in the future, the group drove from the eastern suburbs of the city to the western suburbs of the city, passing by Manchester United's old stadium on the way.
Trafford Stadium.
Begiristan sat in the back row with Su Dong and sighed with regret: "I hope that in the new season we can avoid the embarrassing ending of last season's encounter with strong teams and repeated defeats, and strive to break into the European theater."
"It's all up to you to accomplish this!"
Su Dong looked at the much older Begiristan, gave him a confident smile, and said nothing.
He came to Manchester City to lead this team to rise, win the Premier League championship, and even win the Champions League championship, recreating Maradona's legend in Naples.
There is no need for Begiristain to say this, Su and Dong will do their best for this.
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Manchester City's training base at Carrington is next door to Manchester United.
Ronnie said at the beginning that he could kick the ball from Manchester United's training base to Manchester City's training base.
This is not the first time Su Dong has come, but this time is obviously different from before.
Soriano, Guardiola and others all welcomed Su Dong at the Carrington training base, which was a great courtesy.
Coming to the Carrington base again, Su Dong's trip was not only a simple visit, but also a physical examination with Manchester City, which is also a routine for all new players.
As for holding a so-called debut ceremony for Su Dong, there was actually no one.
In European football, except for Real Madrid, which holds unveiling ceremonies for superstars, other teams basically do not have such a tradition.
After players join, they usually hold a press conference, appear in their jerseys, and take some photos.
If it is an influential star, media reporters will be invited to the scene. If it is an ordinary player, the club will even take photos themselves and then send them to major newspapers.
When Su Dong makes his appearance, he will invite media reporters to the Carrington training base.
Mainly because the Etihad Stadium is still under construction and renovation, which is inconvenient, so the unveiling ceremony was chosen to be in Carrington.
The physical examination process is also very simple.
Su Dong, accompanied by the team doctor, went to a nearby cooperative hospital for a detailed physical examination. After confirming that there were no problems, the two parties returned to the Carrington training base. It was already afternoon.
Su Dong's appearance attracted more than a hundred media reporters to Carrington.
Witnessed by the media and management, Su Dong officially signed a professional contract with Soriano. The specific conditions were not disclosed, but the media was also able to dig out a lot.
What is really special is that in subsequent interviews with the media, many reporters asked about the reason why Su Dong joined Manchester City.
Obviously, many people think that Su Dong is doing it for money.
"This is only part of it, but more importantly, Soriano, Begiristain and Guardiola are all good friends of mine. We are all very familiar with each other and I am very much looking forward to working with them."
Regarding the prospects of Manchester City in the new season, Su Dong expressed optimism, "So far, we have a very competitive lineup of players. The next key is to break this lineup out and form combat effectiveness. This is for all of us.
mission.”
Head coach Guardiola was greatly questioned last season. Some people thought that he blindly copied Barcelona's tactics and would not be able to play in the Premier League. Su Dong opposed this.
"I have played in Barcelona for three years, and even played against Barcelona during these years. I do not agree with this view. On the contrary, I very much look forward to Guardiola's success in the Premier League, and I firmly believe that he will succeed.
, that’s why I joined Manchester City!”
Su Dong also believes that Manchester City is not as weak as the outside world sees it, and there is not only one Su Dong.
"We have a very strong and very promising lineup of young players. This is our biggest bargaining chip. I believe that in the new season, we will let everyone see a brand new and completely different Manchester City!
"
Finally, Su Dong said that he has only one goal in coming to Manchester City, and that is success!
"I have no doubt that in the foreseeable future, we will impress the whole world and reach the top of Europe!"
