It’s been a campaign of unprecedented highs on the pitch, with Pep Guardiola’s men winning the Treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.
On top of that, our EDS and Under-18 sides achieved the ‘treble treble’ – three titles in succession in their respective leagues.
But, off the field too, it’s been a period of unparalleled success.
Earlier this month, we were named the most valuable football club brand in the world as we topped the ‘Brand Finance Football 50’ report for the first time.
The 2023 edition detailed a 34% positive growth in the brand value since the COVID-19 pandemic as we overtook Real Madrid in top spot, becoming, in the process, the first English club to hit the report’s summit in five years.
That followed us topping the Deloitte Money League for the second successive year.
Now, we look set to surpass £700 million in revenue, an achievement Soriano is immensely proud of.
Our CEO was speaking at the exclusive reveal of OKX as Official Sleeve Partner at the Etihad Stadium today and said: “The commercial appeal of the club has grown spectacularly. We already know that our revenues this last season are going to be over £700 million, more than €800m and close to $900m.
“This will be the historic British record, but could also be number one in Europe and the world.
“This has been developing over the last decade and it’s based on the football that we play. Marketing plays a part, but it is ultimately down to the product, you have a good football team or you don’t and we have a good football team that plays good football and wins.
“That helps us sell more merchandise, to give you a number, in our club channels this season that has just finished we’ve sold 80% more than the previous season. But in the first weeks of this season we are selling over 80% more than the previous season again!
“As an example, in the four days after the Champions League final we sold the same that we used to sell in a month.
“It comes with winning and playing good football and then naturally more people want to watch the games, more people want to buy merchandise, more companies want to associate with us.
“It has happened before to other clubs, it’s happening now to Manchester City. We play some of the best football in the world, people want to watch, they fall in love with us and they become fans.
“That brings commercial opportunities which bring more money that we then invest in better players, better facilities and a better club in general. It is a virtuous cycle.”
Ferran has pinpointed ‘hard work’, ‘intelligence’, ‘resilience’ and ‘consistency’ as key aspects of our success on and off the pitch over a number of years.
City have won 20 major trophies in the last 15 years, including a first Champions League triumph in our Treble-winning 2022/23 campaign.
Under boss Guardiola, we have earned 14 major honours, including five Premier League titles in six seasons and three top-flight triumphs in the past three campaigns.
Ferran is proud of these achievements – and our elevation to the most valuable football club brand in the world – but insists it’s not by chance.
He continued: “Hard work is behind the success of the club. I haven’t seen anyone be successful without working very hard. I see it in our football people, Pep Guardiola is so smart in the way he manages the team but I can assure you he comes to the office early and leaves late. We need to continue to work to stay where we are.
“If you look at the last ten years, Manchester City has been on a journey to get to the top – I say at the top not to say we are number one but we are in the group of top clubs in the world.
“We were already in this place before winning the Champions League but winning it is important and symbolic.
“The question is how do we stay there. We will because we will continue to work, we will not be complacent and we have a platform from where this is possible.
“Obviously at the start of this decade there was a need for a lot of changes, but if you look at what we’ve done over the last few years, the level of investment in players, it’s very prudent and well thought.
“We’re not the top Premier League spenders of last year, or the last three years, or the last five. We have a very good platform, we know what we need, we take our time and we have developed enough intelligence. And if we don’t like a deal, we walk away, we never panic.
“We haven’t done anything that is out of the ordinary, we had a plan, we put a lot of work in, and we have a lot of talented people.
“The additional thing we might have done is not deviated from the plan. We take conscious decisions and are consistent and patient. As an example, we had two coaches in 10 years (Manuel Pellegrini and Pep Guardiola) and one Football Director (Txiki Begiristain). Part of the success is being resilient, consistent, enduring the challenges and not panicking when we lose.”
Ferran knows that climbing to the top of the mountain is difficult – but he stresses that staying there is even harder.
But it’s somewhere he wants City to remain and believes it can be achieved with a humble approach and total focus.
On targets after the Treble, he added: “To stay in the same position at the top.
“We’ve done this over the last ten years, so why can’t we do it for another ten? That is our agenda, we will continue to be humble and work very hard and try to have the best talent in the industry working for Manchester City.
“This season we were named the most valuable brand in world football. This is quite an achievement, if you think about where we were ten years ago, but we can’t go upwards from there. “There’s nothing above that. It is about staying here.
“When I started at the club, more than ten years ago, in one of my first appearances I said the target was to win, on average, one trophy per season. I was quickly reprimanded by our comms team. They told me that it was too ambitious, there was no need to commit and we would be accountable for that.
“I think we won 17 trophies in the last 10 years, so we got 1.7 per season on average. We did the job.
“If there is something more difficult than winning, it is to win again. Because when you win, even if you are super committed, it is natural to lose a bit of focus.
“And even just 5% less focus can make you lose a game. Our goal is to stay focused as a very solid, mature top football club, as a very good football team and the best brand in football.”
