Manchester City Have Nothing To Celebrate, Says Chairman Al-Mubarak
May 30, 2017
Manchester City’s chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak has insisted that there is “nothing to celebrate” from the club’s 2016-17 campaign, the first under manager Pep Guardiola.
Al-Mubarak was speaking to City’s inhouse media following the end of the Premier League season in which the club finished third.
City also suffered upsets in the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup, losing to Monaco and Arsenal respectively.
But Al-Mubarak was confident that the club was heading in the right direction and promised to back Guardiola with significant funds to boost fortunes on and off the field next year.
“There’s nothing that annoys me more than people either calling me or sending me a message congratulating me on third place,” he said.
“My answer was pretty standard to everyone, ‘Don’t congratulate me on getting third, there’s nothing to congratulate, only congratulate me if we win the league’.
“So, this is not the ambition, not at all. There’s nothing to celebrate. I think it’s something which is important, it’s critical, and I know it requires a lot of hard work, particularly in this league, to be in the top four, but our ambition is to win the league. And if not winning it, to go as close as physically possible to winning the league. I think this year, in that area, we didn’t do that.
“In a normal circumstance ending the season without a trophy would be a very disappointing season but it’s not, it really isn’t.
Right Direction
“I think while I would say not winning the league and not being within close range of winning the title is no doubt a disappointment, not winning either the FA Cup or the League cup is also, I think, a disappointment. We are team now that expects to win every year at least one trophy. And then to go further every year in the Champions League.
“So from that perspective the season has been a disappointment but if you look at it from a different lens we are truly going in a direction that is positive. I am very excited about how we are developing as a team, how Pep has taken the squad and really started a process of going through that natural cycle of development.
“We’ve gone through several cycles over the last nine years and we’re in the middle of one now but you can see where we’re going. I have high confidence that we are going in the right direction. You’ve seen many glimpses of us playing a type of football that is very exciting and very entertaining that I think the fans will grow to love and the results will come, I have no doubts the results will come.”
City have already made a number of key investements ahead of the new season. In March, they announced a partnership with Nexen Tire to become the Premier League’s first official kit sleeve partner.
The club has also lavished funds on player recruitment, spending £43.6 million Bernardo Silva from Monaco and £34.7 million for Benfica goalkeeper Ederson.
