Champions City erode more of United’s Asian market share

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THE last fortnight has seen them dumped out of the UEFA Champions League, blow a two-goal lead at home to arch rivals Manchester United, and lose three matches in a row.

But even though they limped over the line, a third Premier League title in just seven seasons will help maintain Manchester City’s stunning rise in Asia.

City clinched the crown with five games to spare on Sunday after their 3-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur was followed by Man United’s shock 1-0 home defeat to West Bromwich Albion.

It opened up an insurmountable 16-point lead at the top of the table for Pep Guardiola’s side.

And, at the same time, it further narrowed the gap in terms of Asian popularity between the two crosstown rivals.

Man United, followed by Liverpool, is traditionally the most popular club across the region, with Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur also enjoying strong support.

But the Sky Blues, backed by the ambitious City Football Group, continue to make impressive strides.

“’We don’t spend a lot of time thinking about other clubs,” said Singapore-based Damian Willoughby, SVP of Partnerships at City Football Group.

“We recognise and respect our rivals, but we have been focused on our own journey and it’s clear that this approach is delivering results.

“We’ve been the fastest growing club in the world in recent years and continued success on the pitch will only help us to grow and engage our fans and partners in Asia and all over the world.”

The City Football Group has offices in Singapore, China, Tokyo and Melbourne, and has partnerships with 15 major Asian brands. Of its six clubs, two are from the AFC region — Japan’s Yokohama F. Marinos and Australia’s Melbourne City.

This week, Man City weren’t among the three teams announced for the Asian leg of the International Champions Cup (ICC), with Arsenal joining Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint Germain at the ICC Singapore in late July.

Man City will play in the United States, but vowed to visit their Asian fans soon.

“We have enjoyed a number of tours to Asia, visiting China, Australia, Vietnam and Hong Kong in recent years, and we will certainly be coming back to visit soon,” Willoughby said.

“It is a hugely important part of the world for us, with 220 million-plus City followers, who we want to stay as close to as possible.’’

China has emerged as an especially hot market for Man City, helped by a famous selfie of striker Sergio Aguero with Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-British Prime Minister David Cameron.

It was taken on an official visit to the club’s Etihad Stadium home in November 2015.

“President Xi is committed to growing and developing the sport from a grassroots level and in turn, at Manchester City, we are committed to participating in that vision,” Willoughby said.

“We are fortunate to have outstanding minority investors, a China Media Capital-led consortium, who we continue to work closely with on our plans in China.”

This September will mark the 10-year anniversary of the Abu Dhabi United Group’s takeover of Manchester City from Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand.

The club, and indeed its global football business, is almost unrecognisable a decade later.

The 2008 team was managed by Mark Hughes and finished only 10th on the Premier League table, below Fulham, Aston Villa and West Ham United, with the likes of Robinho, Shaun-Wright Phillips and Daniel Sturridge leading the attack.

The following season saw an improvement as they came fifth, but 13 stalemates saw City dubbed the draw specialists.

After seven straight draws, Hughes was sacked in December to be replaced by Roberto Mancini.

Mancini delivered the club’s first trophy in 35 years when City won the 2011 FA Cup. And then the following season, City ended a 44-year league drought when they dramatically clinched the 2011-12 Premier League title on the final day of the season.

Manuel Pellegrini repeated that league success in 2013-14, and now Guardiola has taken the club to the next level.

His Barcelona and Bayern Munich pedigree has helped City become more of a force on the European stage, although their surprising exit at the hands of domestic foes Liverpool was certainly not in the script.

But since the retirement of iconic United manager Sir Alex Ferguson five years ago, United are without league success during a period when City have twice won the title.

Sir Alex once described them as the “noisy neighbours”, alluding to their reputation as crass and big-spending under-achievers.

But Man City have since become a footballing and commercial juggernaut, who threaten to continue to take away significant chunks of their closest foes’ Asian market share.

Jason Dasey is Singapore-based TV broadcaster and event emcee. Twitter: @JasonDasey