Are City a 'state club'?
I realise that this is a label that annoys a lot of City fans who, correctly, point out that the club is privately owned.
However, it's not quite as simple as that.
The UAE is an absolute monarchy (don't believe the Wikipedia entry on the country that describes it as a ‘constitutional monarchy’. It's technically correct, but UAE's constitution does not guarantee any of the rights it confers). That means the ruling Al Nahyan family, whose authority was officially recognised by the 1892 Exclusive Agreement with Britain, are the state.
On 9 September 2008, nine days after the takeover of City, state-owned UAE newspaper, The National, reported,
‘The team led by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed in the takeover of Manchester City is preparing to introduce new directors to the board of the English Premier League club.'
On 23 September, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the right-hand man of the UAE ruler, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was appointed to the City board. At that time bin Zayed was also chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority (EAA), a government department that is responsible for the PR and image management of Abu Dhabi.
That same day, Simon Pearce, head of the EAA's PR strategy, also joined the City board. As David Conn wrote in his book, Richer Than God,
‘The real authorities in Abu Dhabi had seen that Manchester City, of all things, which Sheikh Mansour had bought personally, quickly, was the greatest international image shaper the emirate had... Khaldoon and his team from the EAA were sent for, the people who stepped in with the expertise, to provide advice and guidance in ‘strategic communications programmes that have the potential to influence the reputation of the Emirate.'
City have been dubbed a “sports-washing” project for the UAE. But as any PR expert, will tell you, if you want to launder a reputation the last thing you'd do is buy a Premier League club. Thaksin Shinawatra was proof of that.
Not that the UAE needed to launder its image in 2008. Back then it's main image problem was that few people had actually heard of the UAE.
Rather, City soon became a “soft power” project for the UAE, or more specifcally, Abu Dhabi. “Soft power” is basically word association. Hear the name Abu Dhabi and most people automatically think ‘Man City’. Hear the name ‘Man City’ and most people around the world think ‘winners’. Therefore, Abu Dhabi = winners.
So should City be branded cheats following the Premier League investigation, that would have serious geo-political implications.
You might not like hearing that, but right now it's the only thing preventing City from being fed to the wolves. Or to the Arsenal.
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