Imagine if…

Imagine the Premier Soccer League had a progressive club owner whose single-mindedness stretched beyond running his team with autonomy and cared to make a meaningful contribution to developing South African football before making money out of the game. I reckon if I was a football club owner in the PSL, I would get my accountants in, get my books in order, do my research, prepare a knockout proposal and then make a call to Abu Dhabi, to the owners of Manchester City, inviting them to invest in my club.

The Manchester club has launched an ambitious project where it aims to create a network of football clubs based in the world’s most iconic cities. In the past week it was announced that a Man City led consortium had purchased Australia’s Melbourne Heart Football Club. The deal sees City acquire a controlling 80% stake in the club and National Rugby League outfit Melbourne Storm the remaining 20%. It is a similar agreement to the one City entered into in May 2013 with the New York Yankees to secure ownership of the newly formed New York City Football Club who will join the USA’s Major League Soccer when it expands in 2015.

The Man City CEO said they chose to branch out into those two cities because both have a strong sporting culture and it helps that both clubs are in emerging markets as an important attribute of this project is to be successful both on and off the field. The MLS has developed into one of the best league outside of Europe and is able to attract quality players and football has great potential for growth in the States. So too with the venture into Australia and the Asian market which City hope to infiltrate. 

On the field, NYCFC have already hired one of the best young coaches in America as their manager and begun scouting and recruiting operations and the expectation is that they will have a strong line-up when the 2015 season starts. Having a new and powerful club with the ability to attract players of high calibre will undoubtedly increase the quality and strength of the MLS. Melbourne Heart on the other hand is currently in last place in the A-League standings having won only three of their 18 games this season. Their sale has come with the pledge from City that they will improve youth coaching and teams as well as the senior squad which already has a few coaches in the League predicting they will be genuine contenders next season.

It should be evident then why having Manchester City buying into your club would be an attractive idea for club owners over here? City would bring a wealth of resources both on and off the field, would help to develop our coaches and talent; and the buzz generated by City investing in South Africa would create interest from, among others, the locals who mainly support international football. And again, like with the MLS and A-League, having another strong team that can seriously challenge for title honours will improve the standard of the PSL.

Would City be interested in buying into a South African club? I think so. They have been here twice in the last five years on preseason tours; they have had a chance to experience what we are capable of producing off the pitch and the level our clubs are at on it. This past preseason they lost 2-0 to Supersport United and narrowly beat Amazulu 2-1 and in 2009 they lost 2-0 to Orlando Pirates. We have iconic cities in Joburg and Cape Town both with rich sporting history and culture and if there was anywhere to invest in African football it would be in SA. We have the richest and arguably strongest league and certainly the most watchable and as a product can compete with international leagues.

However, it would take a bold, ambitious owner to even think about making a call and asking to talk to Man City’s representatives. Our club owners aren’t always forward thinking and it seems to me that many like things the way they are. They enjoy having nobody to answer to way too much to give away their power.