United in talks to buy Central Coast Mariners & relocate them to Sydney

[Zoo]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[horsechoker]

Where's Sudnet?

 

[Brwned]

feck off with that idea, global football franchises ffs

 

[RedTiger]

I've always wanted united to own a secondary club but I always thought it would be a NASL or USL side in the states. I can't really see the benefits of owning an Aussie club, then again what do I know?

 

[Bastian]

Wonder how the locals feel about losing their club.

 

[mazhar13]

I'm shocked that the Glazers would be open to such an investment, but I guess seeing how much City paid to buy Melbourne Heart, it won't be as expensive as I thought it'd be.

Relocating Central Coast Mariners would be a scummy move, but we're talking about the Glazers here; they won't care one bit.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

No thanks.

 

[Zoo]

Phalan used to be sporting director there. Think he still has an advisory role with them.

 

[RedTiger]

Where's Sudnet?

I think that's what Aussies call Sydney... Or it's a typo

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Franchise FC. F*ck the Glazers.

 

[adexkola]

Surely this is a joke, right?

You would expect this from one of the evil trifecta who have ruined football, not one of the noble knight traditional big clubs...

 

[Mickeza]

What would be the benefits of owning another club? And do clubs buy other clubs...The owners of city buy other clubs but City themselves don’t right!?

 

[OleGunnar20]

Naff. How I wish the Americans had never caught wind of 'Soccer. Their franchise obsessed influence can only bring bad things.

 

[horsechoker]

This is the only way we'll get Phil Jones off the books.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

You wouldn't wish Glazer ownership on your worst enemy, broke or not.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Can we buy Haaland for that club and loan him to United

 

[mazhar13]

Surely this is a joke, right?

You would expect this from one of the evil trifecta who have ruined football, not one of the noble knight traditional big clubs...

United won't be the first team to have done this outside of City. Atlético de Madrid is one other notable example. Their first foreign club was Atlético de Kolkata, which has since separated from them. Currently, Atlético own two teams: one in Mexico (Atlético San Luis) and one in Canada (Atlético Ottawa, formerly Ottawa Fury FC).

United probably see some value in this after seeing how it's worked out for both City and Atlético de Madrid. I wouldn't be surprised if other privately-owned clubs start to get involved in this in the future.

 

[Champ]

What would be the benefits of owning another club? And do clubs buy other clubs...The owners of city buy other clubs but City themselves don’t right!?

Money.
Easy way to loan/transfer players.
Easy way to launder money...etc

 

[sullydnl]

I know nothing of Australian geography. How far a relocation would that be?

 

[adexkola]

United won't be the first team to have done this outside of City. Atlético de Madrid is one other notable example. Their first foreign club was Atlético de Kolkata, which has since separated from them. Currently, Atlético own two teams: one in Mexico (Atlético San Luis) and one in Canada (Atlético Ottawa, formerly Ottawa Fury FC).

United probably see some value in this after seeing how it's worked out for both City and Atlético de Madrid. I wouldn't be surprised if other privately-owned clubs start to get involved in this in the future.

I mean the actual act of relocating a club from its original location. Surely this should be the third rail.

 

[lysglimt]

I know nothing of Australian geography. How far a relocation would that be?

Give or take 50 km

 

[RedPed]

How about using the money to invest in the stadium/squad you feckers!

 

[mazhar13]

What would be the benefits of owning another club? And do clubs buy other clubs...The owners of city buy other clubs but City themselves don’t right!?

To answer your second question first, Manchester City don't own any other club. Their parent company, City Football Group, does. However, Atlético de Madrid owns their two clubs in Mexico and Canada.

Here are a couple of benefits I can think of:

• Promoting the primary club's brand across these other clubs and boosting its profile (benefit for the club)
• Extra revenue and/or savings (tax savings, mainly) for the owners (benefit for the owners)

Naff. How I wish the Americans had never caught wind of 'Soccer. Their franchise obsessed influence can only bring bad things.

Whilst they've had franchises around for a long time, this whole idea of football franchises started from Ferran Soriano, a businessman from Barcelona. He had this idea back when he worked under Joan Laporta at Barcelona, but Laporta wasn't too supportive of it. At City, however, he's been able to realise his vision of a global club brand. Since then, Atlético de Madrid followed suit.

 

[mazhar13]

I mean the actual act of relocating a club from its original location. Surely this should be the third rail.

I see what you mean, now. Yeah, that's incredibly scummy, and I'd hate for United's image to be tarnished because of this, but the Glazers probably won't care one bit.

 

[SwedishFish]

Why do we need a club in Australia? What good will it do exactly?

 

[Adnan]

Why do we need a club in Australia? What good will it do exactly?

It will help is lure the best Asian talent, which is a market that we need to exploit. It would prove to be a lucrative one to exploit if we end up signing the next big thing from Japan, South Korea or China etc.

 

[calodo2003]

Smacks of plastic.

Please don’t do.

 

[Crustanoid]

Priorities ffs. As said earlier-what about the stadium? What about the squad? Pricks

 

[FatTails]

Fantastic. On top of being able to find tax efficiences, boosting our profile internationally, and being to able to register players under different entities, this will make sure we don’t miss out on the next Tim Cahill.the GOAT

 

[Zlatattack]

So we can buy an Australian club but not my muppet list?!

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Why not invest that money into the team you absolute parasites

 

[red thru&thru]

A step in the right direction. We've needed to do this for a while. Hopefully Europe & South & North America are next places.

 

[Adnan]

A step in the right direction. We've needed to do this for a while. Hopefully Europe & South & North America are next places.

Absolutely agree.

This should've happened earlier, but it's good to hear we're looking into it. The location is also good due to the potential of picking up top young talent from Australia/Asia.

 

[mazhar13]

Why do we need a club in Australia? What good will it do exactly?

On top of what Adnan said (primary reason), it also gives us the following benefits:

• Greater reach for sponsors, therefore opening up bigger deals for United
• Greater access to the Australian market
  • Make it more likely for future generations of fans to support United
• High-quality facilities in what should be a familiar environment for United

As stated in this Guardian article:

Fernando Pons, a sports business partner at Deloitte in Spain, sees this as a prime example of what consultants have dubbed “glocalisation” – a concept that implies taking a global product, but adapting to local markets. “A Girona or New York City fan will almost certainly also become a City fan,” he said. It also means that the advertising for Nissan, SAP and Wix that is seen at the Etihad stadium in Manchester will be replicated in Melbourne or New York – and that players from the US or Australia will be able to travel off-season to the world’s most advanced training centre, built on 34 hectares of land beside the Etihad and equipped with sophisticated extras such as hyperbaric and hypoxic chambers that can simulate high altitude or boost blood oxygen levels.

 

[48 hours]

Not fussed if we buy them, but relocating a team is the act of a cnut.
Glazers obviously think it’s like an NFL franchise

 

[Hectic]

If you're going to do it then don't half step, relocate them to Milton Keynes and change their name to the MK Mariners.

 

[redrobed]

So they won’t spend on improving our playing squad but will buy a whole other club in a farmers league. That’s the Glazers for you

 

[KiD MoYeS]

A step in the right direction. We've needed to do this for a while. Hopefully Europe & South & North America are next places.

Absolutely agree.

This should've happened earlier, but it's good to hear we're looking into it. The location is also good due to the potential of picking up top young talent from Australia/Asia.

What about the supporters of the club in question? Clubs aren't there to be bought and sold by Man Utd and the Glazer mafia just because it further enhances the franchise. This is gross.

 

[RedTiger]

On top of what Adnan said (primary reason), it also gives us the following benefits:

• Greater reach for sponsors, therefore opening up bigger deals for United
• Greater access to the Australian market
  • Make it more likely for future generations of fans to support United
• High-quality facilities in what should be a familiar environment for United

As stated in this Guardian article:

Another point: we have one of the best academies in the world but 99% of the players won't make it here. Having a secondary club at a lower level allows the club to not have to release all the players but some of them can be moved on to the secondary club.

 

[Adnan]

What about the supporters of the club in question? Clubs aren't there to be bought and sold by Man Utd and the Glazer mafia just because it further enhances the franchise. This is gross.

That's a question for the Australian authorities.