'Man City aiming to set a new standard in football'

The owner of the Premier League giants has cast an eye over his 10-year tenure at the club and still has great ambitions for the future

A decade after Sheikh Mansour took over Manchester City, he has boasted that the Etihad club can become the world’s greatest and set "new standards" in football.

City claimed the Premier League title last season under the stewardship of Pep Guardiola, whose side picked up a record 100 points and were widely praised for the flamboyant style in which they played.

However, the Citizens have yet to win the Champions League, despite a massive investment from their owners, yet the Sheikh remains bullish over what they can achieve in the years to come.

“The journey for City was always about trying to complete our work in a way that saw us achieve benchmarks that had yet to be set within football,” he told the Daily Mail.

“To do that we had to look at everything and make sure that every part of the organisation, and what it did, moved to a new standard for football.

“We're not there yet but we have come a long way, and I think people who know me well will tell you that if we ever do look like we are getting there, we will set new standards and targets to aim for.”

The reality that Guardiola has put in place, meanwhile, is one that he appreciates greatly.

“It’s beautiful, intelligent and passionate,” he said. “It's the kind of evolved game that I had hoped we would one day achieve.”

When asked to pick out highlights of his tenure, he picked out an FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester United from 2011 as a critical fixture.

“That was the moment I knew we had arrived at a new level in our climb to where we wanted to be,” he said.

“The team was deliberate in its performance that day. I don't think I ever felt nervous, simply because the team were playing with the right mentality.”

Meanwhile, he spoke of his memories of City’s dramatic title success in 2012, when they scored twice in the dying seconds to overcome QPR 3-2 at home and whisk the crown away from United, who stood on Sunderland’s pitch ready to celebrate.

“The QPR game for me was exactly as it was for everyone else,” he said. “I don't think we will ever see anything like that again. My hope was that we would compete for the Premier League every year, so it was a feeling that I knew we had to get used to quickly.”

City have made an unbeaten start to the current campaign but were held against Wolves last weekend. On Saturday, they host Newcastle.