Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:Forget making any fucking excuses to anyone why you support City.
I do agree though that from financial point of view usa is the wrong market to aim at. Far east is DEFINITELY the market we should try to tap into. Chinese are almost like virgins when it comes to football support and that's one sixth of world's population there. Chinese love football, are just getting into Premier League and is massively growing economy. Extended tour there might actually impress some people. Also, you see groups of Chinese travelling all over Europe these days so they'd bring in some extra match day revenue as well.
Another wise business plan would be to target India, Pakistan and rest of via area. Make us friendly club for anyone from there and first and foremost Asian community in Britain.
Then there's Japan. Those people LOVE to spend dosh. I went to Chelsea game some five years ago (we were playing in London the very same weekend) and honestly people here moan about day trippers but it seemed to me that at least where I had ticket, I was sitting with half of Asia and to say they were impressed with relatively dull 0-0 is an understatement of the century.
Now as far as the USA goes, there are fanatic supporters there as we can see from this very site but I don't feel there's really that much growth potential. They have their own sports with big crowds and I feel that for the masses in usa the franchise nature of their sports makes the biggest appeal of club football, deep rooted heritage and loyalty for life and beyond, go missing. In country as big and as diverse as USA there are bound to be people who are deep into it but as far as growth goes, those people are too few and far between to create any massive markets.
Still, from marketing point of view it's better than doing pre-season tours in Sweden or Germany. That is just pointless as people there already support clubs, either domestic or English.
I wasn't looking for excuses, just interested. I'd perhaps expect an excuse from the multitudes who live in Bristol and support Liverpool etc, considering there are so many teams between home and their chosen club, but not for an overseas team. I'm sure everyone has a few overseas teams they follow, although perhaps not to the passion that many on here show. I always look for Motherwell's results for instance, as my dad once worked for a firm based there and took me up there in the summer holidays when I was about 7. Not particularly rational and I don't really pay any attention, but when the results are coming through on a Saturday, I'm always pleased if they win.
If everything goes to plan, we'll attract a lot more overseas supporters going forwards, but the ones who've supported City since Fifa 05 etc can at least state categorically that they aren't a glory hunter in years to come.
I agree with you about the need to extend to the likes of China and India though. That region has around a third of the world's population and most are probably just finding their way into football and have no particular allegiance to any team. If we're looking to make money, I suspect that could be a better bet than the USA, not that we should ignore any potential market. The other thing with Asia is that, with so many people, statistically, the next Messi or Pele is more likely to come from there, if you accept that the raw talent is something you have to be born with. To date, there has been less opportunity to flourish than in south America or even Africa, but if that changes, there could be a huge pool of future talent.
