With the end of the season fast approaching Total Digital Football has starting to talk to the land's biggest club's to find out about there commercial activity ahead of a busy summer, which involves two international tournaments and the stress of extensive preseason tours abroad. First up to take the challenge is Ric Turner of Manchester City fanzine Blue-Moon . With the Citizen's primed for a Premier League title decider with Manchester United on Monday we decided to quiz Ric on all things commercial, and how the Abu Dhabi millions are transforming his beloved Sky-Blues off the pitch.
TDF- With the impending financial fair-play rules coming up how do you
think City will be looking to balance the book's?
RT- The guidelines on FFP are still a little vague, and it is unclearer still
how rigorously they will be enforced. Obviously it will impact on clubs
like City, but we're heading in the right direction with a number of lucrative
sponsorships, notably the deal with Etihad. In addition, regular Champion's
League income will help, and we'll look to move some big earners, who are no
longer part of the manager's plans, off the books this summer.
TDF-What do you read into Man City's tour of China in Pre-season think
it's worthwhile for City to go on these extensive pre-season tours?
RT- Pre-season trips to far off places are the norm these days, and City are no
different to any other big club in this respect. The days of us having
pre-season friendlies at Bury, Macclesfield and Stockport County are long
gone.
TDF-Manchester City are 11th in the Deloitte football Rich-list. Do you
think you have the potential commercially to compete with the likes of Barca and
cross town rivals Man United in the future?
RT-I don't think we'll ever match the revenues streams that the likes of
Barcelona and United can generate, simply because we don't have the same global
fan base. We are, however, making strides in this area. Notibly Through Link up's with key sponsors such as EA Sports and the link up with Japanese software giants MLJ
TDF-You have a number of different players who regularly tweet- how
important is this in building the clubs online presence?
The club have an excellent online presence as it is, and are at the
forefront of all things digital relative to other Premiership clubs. I think the
players regularly using Twitter adds to this, although often their
tweets are fairly banal. Vincent Kompany is a notable exception.
TDF-Is their any specific club policy in regards to city players using Twitter?
RT-The club seem to actively encourage the players use of Twitter,
although I'm sure there's an extensive list of things they're asked not to Tweet
about!
TDF-City have a strong fan base within the Emirates, how are you
exploiting this new fan-base using social media?
RT-As City continue to attract wider support worldwide, social media helps to engage these new fans and make them feel a part of what is happening at the club. Many of these people will never get to visit Eastlands, so platforms such as Facebook and Twitter provides an opportunity for them to connect. Especially commercial link up's with Etisalat who are one of the leading telecommunication companies in the world who are based in the UAE.
TDF-Finally with the big match on Monday, Do you think City can sneak it and win the league in dramatic style?
RT-Monday night’s derby is the biggest since, well, last season’s FA Cup semi
final and I’m hoping City will prevail once more. It will be an extremely tight
game, but we have home advantage and are in better form. Knowing City, we’ll
beat United and lose to Newcastle.
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