Football news – Manchester City branded ‘arrogant and disrespectful’ by Chinese state media
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ByEurosport
Updated 22/07/2019 at 14:59 GMT
Manchester City have been accused of “arrogance” following their Asia Trophy appearance in China last week.
Leroy Sane of Manchester City walks out before the Premier League Asia Trophy Final between Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Hongkou Football Stadium on July 20
Image credit: Getty Images
The Premier League champions beat West Ham 4-1 in Nanjing before losing to Wolves on penalties in Shanghai on Saturday.
On Monday, China’s state-run press agency, Xinhua News, ran a comment article on their English-speaking website with the headline: ‘Chinese fans' love for Man City goes unreciprocated on home soil’.
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Leroy Sane featured in Manchester City's new away strip
Image credit: Getty Images
The piece explained how Wolves had made fan interaction the “cornerstone” of their trip to China, while West Ham and Newcastle had sent out players to attend an Under-12 tournament.
It added: “In contrast, Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano gave a presentation entitled "City Football Group: Creating a Truly Global Football Footprint" that focused on how the club could best commercially expand into China and look to relieve Chinese football fans of their money.”
It went on to accuse City’s press operation of being “woefully lacking”, claiming the Chinese media felt “ignored and sidelined during the duration of the trip”.
The article ended: “While the other clubs were here chasing hearts and minds among locals, extracting cash from the pockets of fans has appeared to be the only consistent goal for Man City here in China. Engagement with genuine ordinary fans was seen as a chore rather than a privilege, and it's baffling to think how any team manager could assume that this is a viable way to make inroads in the exploding Chinese sports market.
“For Manchester City, they saw their recent success as a reason not to treat Chinese and foreigners with the same respect. Above all, it was an orientalist expectation on display by the Manchester City press relations staff that Chinese media would operate as an extension of their PR department, rather than as serious football journalists.
An attitude of arrogance and the belief that they were the main attraction to the Premier League Asia Trophy was misplaced and stood in direct contrast to the other clubs. Wolves could not do more to engage with fans and even Newcastle, despite arriving under a cloud of off-field negativity, treated China with the utmost respect and dignity. Today those clubs leave China with a new-found respect and new fans; Manchester City leave China with neither.
City have refused to comment on the article, the Guardian reports, but it is understood the club feel their experience in China was a positive one.
On Monday, City published an article on their website with the headline: ‘Bernardo and De Bruyne amazed by reaction in China’.
“It makes us feel like we are doing good work,” said Bernardo Silva, speaking at a fan event at the flagship PUMA store in Shanghai.
People like us. And to come here to China and get this support is just amazing, so we’re very happy to be here.
Kevin De Bruyne added: “We went to the Old Town in Shanghai and it looked really nice.
“It’s a very busy city, so lots of traffic, but the people are very friendly. We have a lot of people following us, so that’s a good thing.
It’s very nice to see that even on the other side of the world people are just crazy about you and it gives you a good feeling.
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