Surprisingly, Manchester City’s intentions in Melbourne were never known, hiding behind Melbourne Storm as they too looked for a stake in Melbourne Heart.
As a relatively new club, Heart has never been able to keep its popularity alive like its older league rival, Melbourne Victory, and success stories like the newest club Western Sydney Wanderers shows the right formula does exist.
With the premise it would become the ‘alternative’ Melbourne team for fans not happy with Victory, it seems it was never enough to sustain a club.
Now, with the world’s richest club coming in to rebrand and reshape, hopes are high.
In an apparent $11 million dollar deal, Manchester City will hold a controlling 80 per cent stake, while Melbourne Storm will hold the other 20 per cent.
It’ll be a complete 360 for the club. The board before leaving will give a few words of advice to the new crew, but nothing will be binding.
There will most likely be a name change, with the parent club keen to introduce their namesake by calling Heart Melbourne City.
The red and white jersey could be a thing of the past as City’s iconic sky blue uniform could be integrated, but with Sydney FC adorning the same colour, it might not go down well with the League.
A complete rebrand, including a new emblem, colours and new team and new staff is more than likely on the cards.
Melbourne Heart players who will be out of contract next season will be some of the first to go. With a name like Manchester City behind the team, any
football great around the world will be looking to get a spot and will attract quite a few internationals hoping to show themselves to the Premier League club.
The thought on everyone’s mind when news broke of the deal is whether we’ll be seeing the Premier League club visit our shores for some high profile friendlies.
If Heart is to take on one of football’s best, there has to be some improvement with the club and that will take time. After only just securing their first win after 19 games last week, Melbourne Heart still languishes at the bottom of the ladder.
With a name like Manchester City on our shores, the profile of the A-League can only go up.
The story made international headlines, and with the possibility of football superstars putting Australia on their radar, FFA CEO David Gallop’s dream of
making football one of Australia’s premier sports might be closer than he thinks.
“It’s another sign that the world is taking notice of Australian football,” Gallop said.
“Football has moved into the mainstream of Australian sport and is ideally placed to benefit from the boom in football across Asia.
“Manchester City and their partners will bring a high level of expertise in football and sports business matters and that can only strengthen the Melbourne Heart and the Hyundai A-League as a whole.”
Melbourne Heart says out of respect for the coaching staff and the players in the middle of the A-League season, the new ownership group will not be making any major announcements until mid-2014.
