Man City with their new owners is proposing a worldwide branding campaign soon, targeting the Asian market amongst other avenues.

Now, for a club that has yet to win anything in four decades, that’s a stretch. This mirrors the lofty ambitions of Chelsea a few years ago when that traitor Kenyon announced the exact same thing, but at least they did good by winning the league twice in a row and scoring good points on that.

But not even Chelsea can reach the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United, Liverpool, Bayern Munich or the Milan sides in terms of name and prestige, they’re still one short of a certain victory at the very least. Indeed, Celtic, a side from Scotland, engraved their names in footballing history with their Lisbon Lions all those years ago, and to this day could still be mentioned under the same breath with all those fellow European conquerors of yesteryear. Rapid Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade, Marseille, even the soon-to-be-awakening Nottingham Forest, those sides probably can’t match up with Man City or Chelsea on paper currently but having been winners of the most elite cup competition in Europe, they are truly recognised clubs.

A good European record will aid a side in all aspects – in footballing terms, staff dealings, economically and most importantly fame. The likes of Sevilla and Villarreal are attracting good players into their team and boosting their credentials because of this reason. Suddenly that Robbie Fowler penalty miss a few years ago could have changed things for City – looking at the possibilities, if that had gone in and City qualified for Europe, City could get a good UEFA Cup run that next season and win it, and there wouldn’t be as much turmoil as it had been in recent years, knowing they’ve won something finally. Of course that’s a bit too farfetched of a what-if scenario…

In my opinion, TV coverage alone is enough to attract new fans. Ultimately, people have different reasons on why they like a club. But most of them are despising football being nowadays more of a product than a sport, as projected in some quarters. This City advertising won’t work if they don’t do their business on the pitch first. Chelsea is a good example for them, both in success and in failure.