SKY BLUE THINKING

In the 1975 Norman Jewison film Rollerball sports teams were run by companies. In the case of Houston, the featured team of the story, they were run by The Energy Company. A conglomerate that make decisions about the team based on expedience and the benefits of corporate-run society while expounding the importance of respecting executive decisions.

This was a view of a 2018 sporting world and highlighted the role that sport would play in corporate perceptions and influence.

Jewison predicted corporate influence but may have missed a trick in not foreseeing the role of nation states. Which brings us to Manchester City. 

A club that currently sits on top of the domestic league with an impressive recent run of form that shows little sign of abating. This is a club with a squad of players that has been accumulated at great cost from the bottomless coffers of the 78% majority ownership of the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), and the 12% ownership of the American firm Silver Lake and Chinese firms China Media Capital & CITIC Capital.

Having the resources that they do, alongside a new stadium that they didn't have to pay for, has benefitted the club, as it has given them carte blanche to obtain the services of the premier football manager in Europe and more or less buy whoever he wants them to.

It would be naive to suggest that money doesn't make the football world go round, and supporters of all top flight clubs should acknowledge their own clubs use of a pound note, but you cannot discount the financial advantages the current league leaders have.

Unfortunately they are a team with no personality. They are automaton like in their performance. They have no endeavour and their swashes are kept casually unbuckled.

It's not that I dislike Manchester City; they don't have enough about them to dislike. They are neither hero or villain in the way that other clubs have been. I'm indifferent to them. Their trophy wins have been met with a shrug of the shoulders, their bland shirts a fitting wallpaper to their triumphs.

Yet to reach a final, let alone win a Champions League, one can't help but feel that Manchester City have yet to make their mark with the footballing world in general. I don't suppose their fans care though, as they have bizarrely gone to war with EUFA with all the chip on the shoulder arrogance of a TFL Bus Driver.

When a staggering-$1.42 billion has been spent on the rebirth of Manchester City one would feel that the ownership expect a Champions league Trophy as this is the crowning achievement in club football. And if they do win this ultimate of crowns will that victory be met with a disinterested yawn from outside the Ethiad?

But should Guardiola fails to deliver on the biggest stage will he be dealt with like Jonathon E in Rollerball? will the ownership in their glass towers simply get a new manager with which to play their game of thrones? The City fans are enjoying their success and probably haven't questioned the morality and ethical ambiguity of being owned by an all powerful corporate nation state who make decisions from on  high. Maybe Jonathon E was right when he talked about 2018 in 1975:

"I've been thinking,Thinking a lot -- and watching. It's like people had a choice a long time ago between having all them nice things or freedom. Of course, they chose comfort."-Jonathon E.