Skip to main content

ISL: 'Manchester City keen to help Indian football grow'

"The interesting and compelling part of our proposition and the nature of our group is we have gathered and collected a lot of expertise not only in terms of the football environment but also the business and operational side so we have lots of sources of information and expertise that we have accumulated over the last several years by operating teams in Major League Soccer (MLS), A-League, China.

"So the ability to accumulate all that knowledge and expertise and share it now with our colleagues and the business here is something that we are really excited to deliver," Damian Willoughby, who took over as CEO of City Football Group India, told IANS in an interview on his first day at office.

English Premier League champions Manchester City's parent company, CFG, on Thursday announced that they have bought a majority stake (65 %) in Mumbai City, making it the eighth club in their stable worldwide.

Other clubs in the CFG network include New York City in the US, Melbourne City FC in Australia, Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, Club Atletico Torque in Uruguay, Girona FC in Spain and Sichuan Jiuniu FC in China.

Asked about the agenda which will be on top of his list after assuming office, Willoughby said: "The agenda is to listen and learn and understand the football environment in India. Then we formulate a plan to grow the club, the league overall in the long run and Indian national team hopefully."

He said the onus is to do the right thing for the long term and not the quick thing, like they have done with other clubs under their umbrella.

"We have patient board. Their onus is to do the right thing and not the quick thing. It will probably take us several months to get up to speed with the league, the club and the football dynamic and market, the fan base. That I'm sure medium to long term we can make positive changes.

"We will spend a lot of time evaluating the opportunity. Once we have done that we will be able to share the plans and aspirations we have moving forward," he explained.

Mumbai City have never laid their hands on the coveted ISL trophy, with a semi-final finish being their best so far.

Willoughby, who is Senior Vice President of Partnerships at CFG, will now move to Mumbai with his family, previously looking after the global partnership business from Singapore. With 20 years of football management experience, he has been part of CFG for seven years.

"I am the CEO of the City Football Group in India. This is similar to other burgeoning football markets that we have entered into," he said explaining his role.

"I am really excited to develop not only Mumbai City FC but the ISL and ultimately Indian football also," he concluded.



via Sify.com https://ift.tt/34vepdv
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RB Leipzig's Jean-Kevin Augustin joins Leeds United on loan

Leeds [UK], Jan 27 (ANI): German football club RB Leipzig's Jean-Kevin Augustin on Monday joined Leeds United on a loan. The striker joins the Whites on an initial loan deal until the end of the season from Bundesliga outfit Red Bull Leipzig, the club said in a statement. Augustin joined the RB Leipzig in July, 2017 for a fee of 13 million Euros. The 22-year-old featured in both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League during his time with the German club, who finished sixth and third in his two seasons, where he scored 20 goals in 67 matches. French national helped his country win the European Under-19 Championship in 2016, where he scored the most number of goals and was adjudged as player of the tournament. Augustin is Leeds' third signing of the January transfer window following the joining of Elia Caprile and Ian Poveda. (ANI) via Sify.com https://ift.tt/2OiruB9
Post a Comment
Read more

Chelsea are a young team, need to improve a lot: Kovacic

London: Chelsea's Mateo Kovacic said they are a young team and need to improve a lot. Chelsea secured a 2-1 win over Hull City on Saturday in FA Cup. Michy Batshuayi scored the opening goal of the match in the sixth minute and Chelsea's second goal was scored in the 64th minute. "It was a tough game, as we knew that it would be, but we need to score in the first half two more goals. That's our problem in this moment but obviously we're happy to go through," the club's official website quoted Kovacic as saying. "It was because we didn't score on time - we had some chances and we didn't use them. In training, we are working on it but we are still a young team, a new team, and we need to improve a lot. We need to take our chances, which in this moment we are not doing great, but we have time to improve and I am sure we will do," he added. Chelsea are currently placed at the fourth position in the Premier League table with 40 points...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chelsea are a young team, need to improve a lot: Kovacic

London [UK], Jan 27 (ANI): Chelsea's Mateo Kovacic said they are a young team and need to improve a lot. Chelsea secured a 2-1 win over Hull City on Saturday in FA Cup. Michy Batshuayi scored the opening goal of the match in the sixth minute and Chelsea's second goal was scored in the 64th minute. "It was a tough game, as we knew that it would be, but we need to score in the first half two more goals. That's our problem in this moment but obviously we're happy to go through," the club's official website quoted Kovacic as saying. "It was because we didn't score on time - we had some chances and we didn't use them. In training, we are working on it but we are still a young team, a new team, and we need to improve a lot. We need to take our chances, which in this moment we are not doing great, but we have time to improve and I am sure we will do," he added. Chelsea are currently placed at the fourth position in the Premier League table ...
Post a Comment
Read more