The British government pledged £50M ($78.3M) to "improve grass roots football facilities across the country" when Chancellor George Osborne opened Man City's new City Football Academy on Monday, according to Mike Collett of REUTERS. Speaking at the "stunning complex in east Manchester, Osborne said the government had taken note" of the FA's recommendations and was "making money available for all-weather pitches and coaching." Osborne: "The facilities available here are sadly not matched in every town and city across the country or in every community." Plans for a facility like the City
Football Academy were "first mooted when Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al
Nahyan of Abu Dhabi" took over the club in '08 and "they have
taken six years to come to fruition." The
complex, next to Etihad Stadium, "stands on an 80-acre site
that was formerly derelict but now comprises 16 pitches and a
7,000-seater stadium" (REUTERS, 12/8). In London, Andrew Bounds reported football and Abu Dhabi money have turned a "former industrial wasteland" into a £150M ($235M) training academy for Man City. Since buying the club in '08, Sheikh Mansour has spent more than £1B ($1.57B) to transform it from a "perennial relegation candidate to a top-flight trophy contender." City Chair Khaldoon Al Mubarak said that Mansour had pledged to build a "structure for the future, not just a team of all-stars" and that the academy is the "cornerstone" of that structure. Some 450 players, "from under-eights to the first team, will use the centre." Al Mubarak said that Mansour, who was not at the launch, "pledged to bring success on the field and to nurture young talent [at City] while at the same time remaining proudly rooted to the community in which it resided." The club has provided land for a new "sixth-form college, which 75 of its trainees will attend," and financed a £3M ($4.7M) swimming pool (FINANCIAL TIMES, 12/8). In London, Chris Wheeler reported Man City's Pablo Zabaleta, who signed with the club the day before the takeover in '08, said, "I’ve never seen anything like this. We came here with the Argentina national team when we played against Portugal last month and the players were very impressed with it -- even Lionel Messi." The facility was "officially opened on Monday" by 80-year-old former Man City captain and Manager Tony Book. City studied 70 different facilities across all sports in Europe, the U.S. and Australia, and "went through 19 different designs before settling on this one." Two thirds of the site is "dedicated to youth development." There is also a "secluded" pitch surrounded by buildings that "enables the players to work on set-pieces without being hindered by windy conditions" (DAILY MAIL, 12/8).
