The new franchise has a World Cup winner on its books but his recent spell in Australia raised some red flags
Those at their sibling Australian club must be thinking New York City FCover-promise and under-deliver. The Big Apple’s newest MLS team recently tweeted an ad showing David Villa in the shadows and the caption “All will be revealed”. It’s a fitting photo, though a misleading choice of words, because the football world is in the dark over Villa’s future right now.
The Spanish World Cup winner was supposed to be spending his off-season on a 10-game loan down under. But less than a month into his spell at Melbourne City, Villa took flight, and no one can say if he will or won’t be coming back. Talk about a first-world problem. Such is life under the ownership of Manchester City.
Not content with their success in the English Premier League, City are creating a global network of clubs. They are building their franchise in New York, have taken over an A-League club in Melbourne and have also bought a slice of a team in Yokohama. The plan is to pool, share and spread resources around the globe, creating synergies and increasing global presence of the City brand.
It’s turned Melbourne City from a club whose players took ice baths in wheelie bins to one that spends the off-season training at EPL facilities. It’s given the club a new name (goodbye Melbourne Heart, hello Melbourne City), new colours and a new sense of purpose. Best of all, it’s given it access to players of Villa’s calibre.
In New York, the plan is positioning the new club well for a turf war with the long-standing Red Bull franchise. It might even win over some of those fans loathe to cheer on an energy drink.
All this has raised some eyebrows though. Some suspect the Anglo-Emeriti club is using its outposts to get around recent Financial Fair Play rules. City got caught out last season by the new rules, which are, in the words of Uefa General Secretary Gianni Infantino, aimed at protecting the game from “greed, reckless spending and outright financial insanity”. Some would say City have pretty much been the embodiment of that behaviour since Sheikh Mansour took over the club in 2008.
The biggest question marks have been over New York City’s other big signing, Frank Lampard, who has done so well on loan in Manchester there’s been talk of him staying on at head office.
But while some may see something sinister in the Lampard deal, sports law specialist James Ferrow says it all looks to be above board. There would only be an issue, he says, if New York had paid a transfer fee (thereby shielding City from such a cost) or were undercharging for his services.
It’s Villa, however, who looms as the first real blemish on City’s empire building program. The player who was meant to make the A-League look like Fifa 15 set to amateur level failed to secure Melbourne City a single win in his four games. While his skills did look a class above the pack, he struggled to click with a side he joined just days before the season kicked off. Their best result was a draw on the road; their worst a 5-2 humiliation in the hometown derby.
Match reports talked of him looking either frustrated or uninterested, and the Melbourne City captain Patrick Kisnorbo admitted Villa had been a distraction. The Spaniard did score in his first two games, but the only tangible improvement he brought the club was through ticket sales. And even that has a down side, since those who bought a season pass hoping to see him play have been left feeling let down. Or maybe not, as it turns out. In their first game without Villa, Melbourne at last hit the winners’ list.
Then there’s the manner of his exit. From Melbourne, it looked like a case of he came, he saw, he preferred New York. So much for no individual being bigger than the club. Or, in this case, clubs.
As for the tweeted promise that all would be revealed, it rung hollow, at least in Australia. The ad turned out to be over nothing more than New York’s strip, which, to nobodies’ surprise, is all but identical to Manchester City’s.
The only one who knows what he’ll do next is Villa himself, and he’s been speaking in riddles. “I don’t know if I’ll be going back yet,” he said at the unveiling of the team strip. “It’s complicated not being able to compete and [play]. It was real good to have the month in Australia. It’s different, but I’m training well. I’m working well, so when it’s time to compete I’ll be in the best shape.
“And it gives me more desire and excitement to compete and when the day comes I’m going to have double the excitement than when I was playing before.”
Villa looks set to join a long line of big names to disappoint Australian audiences. With a lengthy pre-season and a settled home life in New York, at least MLScrowds may get a better taste of what he can do than A-League fans did.
David Villa’s time at Melbourne City will be remembered as short but sweet. Photograph: Michael Dodge/Getty Images
Those at their sibling Australian club must be thinking New York City FCover-promise and under-deliver. The Big Apple’s newest MLS team recently tweeted an ad showing David Villa in the shadows and the caption “All will be revealed”. It’s a fitting photo, though a misleading choice of words, because the football world is in the dark over Villa’s future right now.
The Spanish World Cup winner was supposed to be spending his off-season on a 10-game loan down under. But less than a month into his spell at Melbourne City, Villa took flight, and no one can say if he will or won’t be coming back. Talk about a first-world problem. Such is life under the ownership of Manchester City.
Not content with their success in the English Premier League, City are creating a global network of clubs. They are building their franchise in New York, have taken over an A-League club in Melbourne and have also bought a slice of a team in Yokohama. The plan is to pool, share and spread resources around the globe, creating synergies and increasing global presence of the City brand.
It’s turned Melbourne City from a club whose players took ice baths in wheelie bins to one that spends the off-season training at EPL facilities. It’s given the club a new name (goodbye Melbourne Heart, hello Melbourne City), new colours and a new sense of purpose. Best of all, it’s given it access to players of Villa’s calibre.
In New York, the plan is positioning the new club well for a turf war with the long-standing Red Bull franchise. It might even win over some of those fans loathe to cheer on an energy drink.
All this has raised some eyebrows though. Some suspect the Anglo-Emeriti club is using its outposts to get around recent Financial Fair Play rules. City got caught out last season by the new rules, which are, in the words of Uefa General Secretary Gianni Infantino, aimed at protecting the game from “greed, reckless spending and outright financial insanity”. Some would say City have pretty much been the embodiment of that behaviour since Sheikh Mansour took over the club in 2008.
The biggest question marks have been over New York City’s other big signing, Frank Lampard, who has done so well on loan in Manchester there’s been talk of him staying on at head office.
But while some may see something sinister in the Lampard deal, sports law specialist James Ferrow says it all looks to be above board. There would only be an issue, he says, if New York had paid a transfer fee (thereby shielding City from such a cost) or were undercharging for his services.
It’s Villa, however, who looms as the first real blemish on City’s empire building program. The player who was meant to make the A-League look like Fifa 15 set to amateur level failed to secure Melbourne City a single win in his four games. While his skills did look a class above the pack, he struggled to click with a side he joined just days before the season kicked off. Their best result was a draw on the road; their worst a 5-2 humiliation in the hometown derby.
Match reports talked of him looking either frustrated or uninterested, and the Melbourne City captain Patrick Kisnorbo admitted Villa had been a distraction. The Spaniard did score in his first two games, but the only tangible improvement he brought the club was through ticket sales. And even that has a down side, since those who bought a season pass hoping to see him play have been left feeling let down. Or maybe not, as it turns out. In their first game without Villa, Melbourne at last hit the winners’ list.
Then there’s the manner of his exit. From Melbourne, it looked like a case of he came, he saw, he preferred New York. So much for no individual being bigger than the club. Or, in this case, clubs.
As for the tweeted promise that all would be revealed, it rung hollow, at least in Australia. The ad turned out to be over nothing more than New York’s strip, which, to nobodies’ surprise, is all but identical to Manchester City’s.
The only one who knows what he’ll do next is Villa himself, and he’s been speaking in riddles. “I don’t know if I’ll be going back yet,” he said at the unveiling of the team strip. “It’s complicated not being able to compete and [play]. It was real good to have the month in Australia. It’s different, but I’m training well. I’m working well, so when it’s time to compete I’ll be in the best shape.
“And it gives me more desire and excitement to compete and when the day comes I’m going to have double the excitement than when I was playing before.”
Villa looks set to join a long line of big names to disappoint Australian audiences. With a lengthy pre-season and a settled home life in New York, at least MLScrowds may get a better taste of what he can do than A-League fans did.
