Skip to main content

Mumbai City coach Costa to work closely with Guardiola: Man City

English Premier League champions Manchester City's parent company City Football Group announced on Thursday that they have bought a majority stake in Mumbai City, making it the eighth club in the CFG network worldwide.

This is the first of its kind association in India where a top European outfit has acquired majority stakes of a club.

Damian Willoughby, CEO of City Football Group in India, will be overseeing the operations as Man City look to make a serious impact in Indian football, Soriano said.

"We are here to stay. The CFG is here to stay for the next decade and more to see Indian football flourish. We want to be part of your society and bring whatever experience we can bring to unleash the power of Indian football and Mumbai City," Spaniard Soriano told reporters after the announcement was made at Famous Studios.

"We want to take time. My colleague Damian Willoughby (CEO of City Football Group in India) will be relocating here from Singapore. We are asking him to learn and get to know everybody. Then in two-three months we have a plan," he asserted.

Talking about the plan, he said: "The plan will include some immediate action that have to have effect, maybe next season. It will include also a long term as to how we can help Mumbai City FC in the next decade."

Asked about Man City manager Pep Guardiola being involved with the team, he said the celebrated Spanish coach is part of our "network of coaches" at CFG and will speak to the Mumbai City gaffer as well from time to time.

"Pep is part of our network of coaches. And they speak all the time. The example I gave you is our Chinese coach was in Manchester last week coaching with Manchester City team, trying to learn. The coach we have in Mumbai City will have a relationship with Pep Guardiola and with all our other coaches."

Other clubs in the CFG stable include New York City, Melbourne City, Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, Girona FC in Spain and Chinese side Sichuan Jiuniu F.C.

The CEO further said that Manchester City teams will be coming to India to take part in friendly games with Mumbai City also going to Manchester to gain international exposure.

"The plan will be to bring, as much as we can, some of our teams here. But also to take the Mumbai City team to other places," said Soriano.

On what drew them to India, he said numerous visits made him believe "it is the time for football in India."

"We were not serious about India until we came here. I went to games in the stands with the fans and I felt it. I felt it is the time for football in India. There is passion, there is talent.

"Mumbai is a fantastic city. I come here and I feel I am in New York. We have been very successful in New York. We started from six years ago with nothing. We did well. Football is going to be successful in Mumbai, I am sure."

Manchester City have bagged the Premier League crown four times since Abu Dhabi United Group, the investment vehicle owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, took over.

Man City are currently sitting third in the Premier League table and have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Mumbai City, meanwhile, have reached the semifinal of the ISL but are yet to win the title.

"We want to play beautiful football and we want to win," he concluded.



via Sify.com https://ift.tt/33rJail
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'Phoenix' Dhoni may rise from the ashes one last time!

In mythology, the phoenix is a bird which can rise from the dead repeatedly. In the Harry Potter series, the phoenix Fawkes stays in the background but keeps saving the day again and again. “They (phoenixes) can carry immensely heavy loads,” said Albus Dumbledore in the film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Now that already sounds like our good ole MS Dhoni who just stepped down as ODI and international T20 captain. Dhoni took over captaincy of all formats of the game in 2008. He held on to them for a good six odd years till 2014. During that period, he excelled simultaneously at the following roles… 1. Captain (remaining as cool as a cucumber under immense pressure). 2. Wicket-keeper (ever alert, effecting dismissals unthinkable for an average keeper). 3. Batsman (always saving the team at the last moment and many a time ending the match with a clean six). Of the Test team, ODI team, international T20 team and even the Chennai Super Kings! Count all the matc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Virat Kohli and co. leave for West Indies

The Virat Kohli led Indian team left for the West Indies for the four-Test series starting July 21st. The team was accompanied by its newly appointed head coach Anil Kumble and other support staff. The 16-member squad will play a tour game against the West Indies Cricket Board President's XI at Warner Park in Basseterre, St Kitts on July 9 and 10. The journey begins. #TeamIndia leaves for the tour of West Indies. #WIvIND http://pic.twitter.com/ebK1jkoFiN -BCCI (@BCCI) July 5, 2016 That will be followed by a three-day warm-up fixture at the same venue from July 14 to 16. The first Test match will be held at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua from July 21 to 25. The other three Test matches will be held at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica (Jul 30-Aug 3), Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia (Aug 9-13) and Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad (Aug 18-22). When India last toured West Indies in 2011, the visitors won the series 1-0....
Post a Comment
Read more

India withdraw Smith protest as boards make peace in DRS row

India have withdrawn an official protest about the actions of Australia captain Steve Smith in the second test as the governing bodies of both countries moved to bring an end to the acrimony surrounding the ongoing four-match series. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had earlier registered a complaint to the International Cricket Council (ICC) over Smith looking to the dressing room for guidance on whether to review an lbw decision during the Bengaluru match. Despite the hosts winning the test to level the series at 1-1 on Tuesday, India skipper Virat Kohli alleged the tourists had indulged in the practice throughout the match, sparking a war of words in the media and a robust response from Australia. The boards released a joint statement on Friday saying the chief executives of both bodies had met in Mumbai on Thursday and agreed to try and bring the focus "back to the game" ahead of next week's third test in Ranchi. "India has always cherished a c...
Post a Comment
Read more