Manchester City announce first profit since Sheikh Mansour bought the club in 2008

Man City made a profit of £10.7m last season

MANCHESTER CITY have announced they are in profit for the first time since Abu Dhabi billionaire Sheikh Mansour bought the club in 2008.

 

But chief executive Ferran Soriano has warned manager Manuel Pellegrini and his players another season without trophies will be unacceptable.

City have been steadily reducing their annual losses since the Sheikh invested around £1bn of his personal fortune to take charge seven years ago.

But, for the first time, they have delivered a profit of £10.7m for last season - when they posted record annual revenues of £352m.

 

Signficantly, their wage-to-turnover ratio stands at 55 per cent, despite assembling the most expensive squad in the Premier League.

And City say they have no debt and no outstanding restrictions from UEFA are falling foul of their financial fair play regulaions last year.

But despite the brIght financial landscape, former Barcelona director Soriano said no-one at the club was happy at their failure to lift any silverware in a season when they finished runners-up to Chelsea in the Premier League, went out to Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League and made shock early exits in both domestic cup competitions.

 

He said: “In the 2014-15 campaign, Manchester City’s second place finish confirmed our position as the consistently most high-performing team in the Premier League over the last four years and once again we progressed beyond the group stages of the Champions League.

“These consistent results indicate that we are doing a lot of things right but they are not enough. We will never be happy about a season without trophies the priority and the focus of our work is to convert more of these opportunities into titles in the years ahead.”

As for the healthy financial figures, Soriano added: “In the same period, Manchester City delivered an annual profit of £10.7m on the back of a continued increase in revenue and and an on-going reduction in costs. The financial model and the strategic investment is proven to work.

“Manchester City is now a profitable, self-sustaining club competiting at the highest level in world football.”