Ferran Soriano insists Manchester City have done 'nothing out of the ordinary' as the Treble winners announced a new sponsorship deal that will help them smash the British record for revenue.
Pep Guardiola's side enjoyed phenomenal success on the pitch last season, winning their fifth Premier League title in six years and adding the FA Cup and Champions League to complete a famous Treble that had only previously been achieved once in English football. Commercially, sales last season were 80 per cent up on the previous campaign to set expectations of revenue above £700m - well above both the £627m that is the current record held by neighbours United and the £640m that United expect to have achieved this year.
However, the club still remain dogged by Premier League charges accusing them of misrepresenting their finances for almost a decade that, if proven, could be serious enough to see the Blues expelled from the league. Despite the best intentions of the current squad, there is still suspicion from outside the Etihad of how legitimate their success is.
The noise around City will not see them continuing to build on their success though, and club CEO Ferran Soriano used the launch of a bumper new shirt sleeve sponsorship deal with cryptocurrency exchange company OKX to defend the platform the club have built. "We haven't done anything that was out of the ordinary," he said.
Also read: Bernardo Silva holds the key to Man City summer transfer revamp
"We had a plan, we had a lot of work into it, we have a lot of talented people. We have not deviated from the plan and that's difficult," said Soriano.
"If you look at where we are in the last 10 years City has been on a journey to the top. We're in a group of very big teams and we were in this place before winning the Champions League but winning the Champions League is symbolic. Now the question is how do we stay there and we will.
"It’s natural that more people want to watch our games, more people want to buy our merchandise, more companies want to sponsor us. Last summer in the USA we played a game against Club America in Houston - they are the biggest football club in the Americas and we were playing them in a city that has a 33 percent Mexican population.
"It should have been like an away game - but the stadium was 50-50. In one box there were 10 people from Guatemala wearing blue shirts and I asked them why they supported City. Their answer blew me away. They said they watched the Premier League and became fans because Manchester City are the best team in the league.
"These fans will be City fans for the rest of their lives. What has happened to other clubs in the past is now happening to Manchester City.
"We play the best football in the world. People watch us, they fall in love with our football, and they become fans. That brings commercial opportunities and more money to invest in better players and better facilities.
"It’s a virtuous cycle."
City's partnership with OKX is a sign of how the club have made more money with more success. The cryptocurrency exchange firm have been on board as a City partner since 2022 and last season took their investment up a level with a £15m deal to sponsor the front of the training kits for the men's and women's team.
This latest deal is significantly bigger again, with OKX to appear on the sleeve not just of the training kits but also the matchday shirts that will see their brand name present in stadiums across the country and the continent. City are hoping to use the partnership to cater to the growing number of Blues around the world who want to feel connected to the club but cannot attend games every week.
Such deals, as well as the commercial uplift from winning the Champions League final, will see an even bigger start to the 2023/24 campaign for the Blues as they aim to build on what they expect to be record revenues. Guardiola and his team will tour Japan and South Korea next month before the start of their Premier League title defence and the opportunity to win another three trophies before the calendar year is out.
The Champions League was seen as a crowning moment for the Abu Dhabi ownership, with Sheikh Mansour attending just his second-ever City game in 15 years to see the Blues in Istanbul this month win the one trophy that has always eluded them. There are rivals around the world interested in seeing whether City will still see investment after conquering European football.
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak allayed any such concerns for supporters in an interview with club media, while the club are still expected to spend more than £100m in the summer transfer window despite pulling out of the race for West Ham captain Declan Rice. However, they are also expected to bring in significant funds through outgoings and deals such as the OKX sponsorship help to generate revenue in addition to the money achieved through on-field achievements.
Soriano has seen the business change as the club has generated more of its own money, but some principles have continued through that time. After the success of the last decade, the ambition is to see that carried out for at least another ten years.
"If you look at what we did in the last years, at the start of this project when we were here there was a need for a lot of changes and investment. Not anymore," he said.
"If you look at what we have done in the last five years, our level of investment in new players is well thought. We are not the top net spenders of the last year or the last three or five years because we have a platform where we know what to do and we can do it with time and intelligence.
"When we don't like a deal, we walk away and we don't panic. We are in a stable position at the top of the industry and where we need to stay.
"We've done this in the last ten years, why can't we do it in the next ten? Why not?
"That's our objective. To do that, we will continue to be humble and work very hard and try to have the best people and talent in our industry working for Manchester City."
