5 reasons why Manchester City will dominate English football for a long time

#2 Network of clubs

The Etihad Stadium

The UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations have proven to be a thorn in the flesh for Manchester City and considering the sort of investment that is needed to ensure that the club continues to be competitive in the near future, City will have to keep outspending their rivals for the foreseeable future.

Enter City Football Group, the parent company that owns not only Manchester City but also New York City FC in the MLS, Melbourne City FC in the A-League, Yokohama S Marinos in the J1 League in Japan, Club Atletico Torque in the Uruguayan second division and lastly, the La Liga club Girona FC.

This network of clubs could allow Manchester City and their owners to circumvent the FFP rules for many years to come, as legally nothing can stop players from any of these clubs to play for the other (except for Girona and City, in which case it would have to be a loan deal). For instance, David Villa played for New York City FC and the swiftly switched over to Melbourne City FC when the A-League was underway.

City had already shown what it could do with such an arrangement when New York City FC bought Frank Lampard from Chelsea and then loaned him back to Manchester City. Theoretically, the club can do this for far bigger deals. If FFP rules prohibit them from completing a £200 million deal, they can structure a deal with one of the other clubs and then loan the player back to City.

That way, the club can continue to spend heavily without worrying about falling foul of the mandarins at UEFA. This is yet another instance of City creating a structure that is probably going to help the club dominate English football for years to come.