Kieran Maguire issues ‘absolutely critical’ Man City claim after ‘£55m’ Etihad reveal
It is “critical” that Man City increase their matchday revenue at the Etihad Stadium as they are “substantially behind” Man United, Arsenal and Tottenham.
That is the opinion of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about City’s planned expansion of the Etihad Stadium.
Man City have announced plans to expand the Etihad Stadium to over 60,000 seats and also unveiled concepts for a new entertainment and leisure destination around the stadium grounds.
The Premier League champions currently boast the fifth-biggest Premier League stadium, but their expansion plans could see them leapfrog West Ham and Arsenal, whose stadium has a capacity of 60,704.
Uefa’s newly-introduced financial sustainability policies means by the 2025/26 season, clubs will be limited to spending only 70 per cent of club revenue on player and coach wages, transfers, and agent fees.
Maguire believes the increase in matchday revenue for City in their expanded stadium will help them continue their success under Uefa’s new rules.
“As we move towards the revised financial and sustainability rules that are being introduced by UEFA, increasing revenue is an area that is absolutely critical for any club,” Maguire told Football Insider‘s Sean Fisher.
“Revenue will dictate wages and wages is the biggest correlation to the final league position that we have as a guide.
“Man City only generated £55million pounds from ticket sales a year.
“It is reflective of the demographics of their fan base in the sense that they have more local fans than that.
“That’s not a criticism of Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea, but you price according to demographics and affordability.
“I think what Man City wants to do with the expansion is follow the format at Bayern Munich, where they earn as much money from the 6000 hospitality seats as they do from regular joes.
“City will be popular with corporates because they win football matches and they win trophies and people want to be associated with success.
“But at present, they are substantially behind Man United, Arsenal and Spurs who are all in excess of £100million a year”.
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