New York’s Bloomberg welcomes Man City’s investment

NEW York’s Mayor Michael Bloomerg has praised the vision and commitment of Manchester City FC for its investment in creating a new Major League football club in his city.

He told a televised press conference in east Harlem that the creation of New York City Football Club by the Manchester club, in partnership with the New York Yankees baseball team, would benefit local communities by “creating new jobs and business.”

“I could not be more excited to see two of the world’s most legendary sports franchises teaming up to do this”, he added.

Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano announced that former City player and captain of the US national team Claudio Reyna had been recruited as director of football for New York City FC.

New York City Football Club will be Major League Soccer’s 20th team, and will begin league play in 2015. A new stadium will be built in the borough of Queens.

Mr Soriano said the new soccer club would stay close to the community roots and values of its English ancestor by: “helping to improve the lives of people in difficult times”, as the Connell family had pledged to do in Manchester in the 1880s when they formed a club at St Marks Church, which later became Manchester City.

He said the move would boost Manchester City’s brand and profile in one of the world’s biggest and diverse cities: “This is a 19million population city. How many football clubs do we have in London? Six. There’s only one here and it’s based in New Jersey so the opportunity is in New York.”