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Opinion
A home derby, a first home game of the season, only a smattering of City fans in the Yarra End, no active support to mention; it looked as these occasions so often have recently, like a Victory home game.
Ten years of ownership by the City Football Group and it feels Melbourne City are slipping into an obscurity of their own making.
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It was always going to be difficult to be the second A-League team in Melbourne but Melbourne Heart made a good crack at it. A high-profile coach and perhaps more importantly an iconic home kit of red and white stripes (apparently modelled after Sheffield United).
That kit attracted a lot of their early members, who followed Premier League Clubs such as Arsenal, Manchester United, and Liverpool. They could relate to the red and white.
The club managed a core supporter base of about 5000 members but after a disastrous start to the 2013-14 season, it was clear new investment was needed – and they got it.
The football world was shocked when Manchester City announced they had bought Melbourne Heart. So were the supporters.
Immediately the core supporter base was divided; many Manchester United supporters just walked there and then. I was not one of them – you don’t change your club, do you? There was a major campaign launched: ‘Keep the Red and White,’ but Manchester City had other ideas.
Over the next few years it became clear what Manchester City, soon to be the City Football Group (CFG), had in mind. It was world domination. If you don’t believe me read Manchester City’s plan for global domination in The Guardian (15th December 2017).
Their plan, conceived by CEO Ferran Soriano, was effectively the Disney-fication of football and Melbourne City was one of the first franchises in that empire.
Unhappy that great football brands like Manchester City were unable to raise revenue from their overseas fans, the plan was to have ‘shops’ (i.e. football clubs) around the world that looked and played like Manchester City, and through which the local supporters could contribute their money and their devotion to the parent club.
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It was a bold idea backed with unlimited finances, but it was never going to work. It had been tried once before with a Chivas franchise in the MLS but they had folded, ironically in the year Manchester City purchased Melbourne Heart.
I will skip over the years of the gradual decline in City’s supporter base. CFG somehow imagined they could rebuild it with new supporters who did not know the history of the club. Over the years it became clear that the association with Manchester City was an albatross around the nec’ of the club and very little mention is made of its connections to the parent club these days.
Melbourne Heart were unlucky that they were the first cab off the rank in Soriano’s bold experiment. Perhaps with hindsight the CFG would have been more inclined to build on what already existed rather than ignoring the supporters’ wishes.
CFG perhaps saved the club from a constant struggle to survive but it is now a bland corporate entity that has magnificent facilities but no heart and soul. Mickey Mouse after all is just a cartoon!
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