Manchester City's chairman believes that the club are beginning to be a benchmark for others after their 2021/22 financial report saw them report record revenue and profit.
The return of fans, record partnership deals and considerable sales in the transfer market meant that City's revenue jumped up another £40m on the previous year to hit £613m. A profit of £41.7m is more than double their previous best.
City actually saw their broadcast revenue down by about £50m from the previous season, not helped by playing one fewer round in the Champions League but also largely because the previous financial report included more than one year's worth of money owing to the delay to the 2019/20 season caused by the pandemic. However, commercial revenue from sponsorship deals and concerts at the Etihad - something else unable to be held during the pandemic years - rose by nearly £40m and matchday takings shot up from practically nothing to £54.5m as football moved out of pandemic restrictions to give City a new record revenue.
City revenues exceeded neighbours United's for the first time ever last year, and while that may not be the case this year - United can also expect the return of a much-higher matchday revenue in addition to major new partnerships such as their kit deal with TeamViewer - the Blues have shown that they are still heading in the right direction.
That was also highlighted by £67.7m generated in profit from the sale of player registrations including Ferran Torres, Angelino, Jack Harrison, Gavin Bazunu and Lukas Nmecha. City can expect even greater returns in that regard next year given the profit made on Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and a clutch of academy players, although the wage bill is also expected to rise following the arrivals of Erling Haaland and other summer signings.
On a micro level, the Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain broke the club record for the highest single matchday revenue while the Champions League group stages were the best attended since City first qualified more than ten years ago. In terms of global reach, there were more eyeballs on the team than ever before. Six hundred million viewers cumulatively watched City over the course of the season, an audience of 27 million for their league match against Liverpool in April was the most-watched game in any league in the world and the Blues also featured in three of the five most-watched Premier League games that year.
City CEO Ferran Soriano hailed the "beautiful football" played as the fundamental reason for attracting more fans and sponsors, while setting out with 'certainty' that the next decade will be even better for the club. And chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak is keen to move forward after achieving a major goal that was set internally following the takeover.
"In 2008, we gave ourselves the target of exceeding the benchmarks that had been set by others within football; and in doing so, to also exceed the new standards that we believed leading clubs would achieve in the time it would take us to catch-up," he said.
"Our aim was clear – to one day be the club that set the benchmark for others. The statistics and results show that in many ways we are beginning to achieve our long-term ambition.
He added: "But football does not stand still and other leading clubs continue to evolve and develop. We therefore need to constantly challenge ourselves to improve upon what we have achieved. This means innovating further in Manchester and beyond.
"Reimagining ourselves and how we move forward in Manchester and through City Football Group (CFG), the industry-leading, multi-club organisation that Manchester City sits at the heart of."