Manchester City FC has reported that its ‘steady growth’ has resumed, after being interrupted by COVID-19, in the club’s annual report for 2020-21.
In the season where the men’s first team finished with the Premier League title, the side saw an increase in total revenues to £569.8 million, with a profit of 2.4 million.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Man City Chairman, commented: “The success of our men’s first team – this year’s trophies represent our fifth Premier League title and sixth League Cup of the last decade – is our story today. Our story tomorrow will be written by the next generation, who made history this year when the EDS and U18 teams won their respective leagues, meaning Manchester City hold the titles at all three levels of the men’s game.”
The top-flight team also won the Carabao Cup as well as securing a place in the Champions League final for the first time in the club’s history.
Following the return of profitability after the pandemic, to the impact of the club’s long-term strategy to diversify and globalise revenues, Al Mubara added: “His Highness Sheikh Mansour’s vision, set in 2008, is the reality we are living thirteen years later – we are a sustainable and socially responsible organisation, finding and developing talent and competing for trophies on both the domestic and European stage.”
He also spoke of his disappointment of the Porto defeat running ‘undeniably deep’, but expressed that he was proud to have reached it in the first place.
“We look ahead with the knowledge that we are going to come back stronger and more experienced, knowing that we have reached not only that benchmark but also a level of consistency which gives us great confidence for the future.”
Additionally, the report highlighted that Sergio Agüero ended his time with the club with the lowest minutes per goal ratio with 184 goals at 107.9 minutes, with Thierry Henry in second at 121.8, and Harry Kane close behind at 122.3.
In terms of the women’s team, Man City reported a greater interest with 75% of fans responding ‘yes’ when asked if they primarily watch the men’s but are also interested in the women’s. Chloe Kelly, Caroline Weir and Lauren Hemp all won awards in that period.
Furthermore, the team stated that it gave 4.5 million to Cityzens Giving in support of young leaders around the world, and trained 1,400 of these across 25 different cities.
Chief Executive Officer, Ferran Soriano, spoke of the character of the men’s first team following a ‘challenging’ start to the season in 13th position in late November 2020, adding: “You could sense the focus and the resolve of the team and the togetherness of the whole club. It was by harnessing that togetherness, that the team pulled themselves up from that point and went on to have one of the best seasons in Manchester City’s history.”
Moreover, in terms of club revenue, a graph explains that in 2019-20, the clubs profits were down -£166 million, but increased to £2.4 million the next season. Meanwhile, the team also rose to fourth place in the list of most valuable football brands in Europe.
Finally, City’s followers on social media increased by 28% reaching 24.7 million, noting this as a ‘key area’ of growth. Interactions on twitter went up by 245% whilst on TikTok, the team had 39 million interactions in its first full year.
