With all the talk in the press of Manchester City ‘buying success’ and the condemnation of the Billionaire owner inflating transfer fees and generally ruining football it was a surprise to me (tongue firmly in cheek) that not more was made of the announcement today coming out of City.
Today, ‘Manchester City Football Club have submitted planning application for a proposed youth development and first team training centre’ a statement on the official site began. For a club hell bent on ruining football the management and owners of City are certainly making a right pigs ear of it! Building on an 80 acre site diagonally across from the Etihad Stadium City plan to create the Etihad Campus. The project, which is still awaiting approval from Manchester City Council, will give ‘significant regenerative and economic benefits’ to the area creating 160 jobs during the construction process with an additional 90 to run and maintain it.
I have seen pictures (http://mcfc.co.uk/Video/Features/New-Academy-overview) and it looks awesome. It will boast 17 football pitches and a 7,000 capacity stadium for youth matches, and will cater for up to 400 young players, of which 40 will be accomodated and schooled on the site. This reinforces the fact that City are commited to promote youth players rather than buying high priced, already established superstars.
City have been part of the fabric of Manchester since it’s inception in 1880 and, after 130 years and millions of pounds spent, that still remains key to City. Already MCFC are involved in ‘City in the Community’ project which touches thousands of lives per year but with this project, this number could sky rocket.