Why did Sheikh Mansour buy City?
In his Daily Mail column in September 2008, Piers Morgan described a small dinner party in Dubai he had attended ten months earlier. The guests included Andrew Neil, Wadah Khanfar (the boss of Al Jazeera), and a Swedish furniture tycoon called Thomas Lundgren. But 'by far the most fascinating' guest was the man sitting to his right, Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, who 'represented the royal family of Abu Dhabi in their investments, predominantly Sheik Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan'.
Piers recalled the conversation:
Piers: 'So, do you have any plans to invest in the UK?'
Dr Al Fahim: 'Oh yes, we are especially interested in the media and soccer.'
Piers (laughing): 'Why don't you buy my team, Arsenal?'
Dr Al Fahim (not laughing): 'Would it be available?'
Piers: 'I reckon so - there's a Russian oligarch called Usmanov who's got a big stake but can't buy it because the board have frozen him out.'
Dr Al Fahim: 'Very interesting, thank you.'
Piers: 'If you do buy it, can you please sign five of the world's best players for us, and tell Arsenal fans it was at my suggestion?'
Dr Al Fahim (now laughing): 'Of course. But why only five? We could buy whoever we like.'
Al Fahim then left suddenly after his mobile phone rang. Piers turned to the host of the party, 'an old friend from my newspaper days' (most probably former "City Slicker" Anil Bhoyrul, who broke the story of Sheikh Mansour’s takeover of City):
'What happened?'
'Oh, that was the Sheikh. When he calls, everything stops.'
'We were joking about him buying Arsenal.'
'Oh, he's not joking, trust me.'
'Really? How rich are these guys?'
'They've got about £400 billion. So 40 times richer than Abramovich.'
Following Sheikh Mansour's takeover of City, Piers rang his old friend.
'Is this the guy I sat next to at dinner?'
'Yes.'
'Why didn't he buy Arsenal?'
'He tried. He saw the Russian guy in Moscow like you suggested but he didn't want to do a deal. So he switched to City instead.'
Piers then swore very loudly.
There were clearly good business reasons for Sheikh Mansour to buy a football club. His investment in City has cost him a little under £1.5billion (including the reported £150m he paid former owner Thaksin Shinawatra). But by the time he sold a 10% stake to American private equity firm Silver Lake for $500m (£389m) in November 2019, City Football Group was worth £3.74bn ($4.8bn). In January 2023 Forbes magazine valued it at £4.7billion ($5.9b). That’s a not-too-shabby return of more than 10% a year.
However, you can’t help feel that there was more to this than money.
In 2012 a video appeared on YouTube (since taken down) showing Roberto Mancini’s visit to Abu Dhabi to meet Sheikh Mansour following City’s title win. Towards the end, Mansour gently admonished the City delegation (which included Brian Marwood and finance director John McBeath) for not bringing the Premiership trophy with them.
Sheikh Mansour's purchase of the original FA Cup at auction for £760,000 in September 2020, further indicates an interest in historic silverware.
I mean, who doesn't love a silver trophy? They're shiny.
The above article is from my new book, 50 Important Questions About Manchester City F.C Answered, is now available on Amazon here, priced £12.95.
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