The eyes of the footballing world will be focused on Manchester City this weekend as the team launches their most determined bid yet for Premier League glory in an away match at Tottenham.
Yet hundreds, even thousands, of miles away from the sporting action at White Hart Lane, the club will be quietly working away, as they do 365 days a year, seeking victory in far less glamorous - but even more vital - arenas. In the back streets of Manchester, not to mention New York, Sierra Leone and so many others, City has embarked on their most ambitious programme of community and charity work to improve the lives of the less fortunate.
The headlines might have been all about the superstar signings since "The Blues" were bought by the Abu Dhabi United Group two years ago. But, away from the hype and razzamatazz of the sports pages, the soul of the club is being invested in the lives of very ordinary people. An article in The Times commented recently: "The club's Abu Dhabi owners may be determined to build a team capable of sustained success on the field, but off it they are no less committed to using their wealth to create a legacy of social development through City."
Garry Cook, the club's chief executive, explained: "A lot is made about the money the owners have invested in the playing squad, but they very quickly recognised the work the club does in the community and were determined to take that on and invest in projects that can really make a difference to people's lives in the long term. "Of course, we want a hugely successful team on the pitch and we are working towards that, but off it there is a genuine commitment and desire to ensure Manchester City gives something back through football. The club has big ambitions on and off the field."
Central to this effort is City in the Community (CITC), a registered charity first formed in 1986 to forge links between the club and the people of Manchester. In the past year, some 200,000 people of all ages have been involved in CITC schemes in one way or another, ranging from disabled children between 5-16 who have taken part in the football activities under the One City Disability Project, to a high school programme in which students are taught the business model of the club.
The scope of CITC's programme was further expanded recently with the inauguration of the CITC Foundation and CITC Giving, which will support nominated charities with practical help and grants of up to £25,000 (Dh143,000). Sarah Lynch, managing director of City in the Community, said: "Manchester City has a long and proud history of serving our community, through the excellent work of City in the Community and also through the many successful relationships we have built with local charities and good causes throughout the region.
"CITC Giving and the CITC Foundation will be a grant-giving body helping local organisations to create projects which will have a real and lasting impact on the people with whom they work. We are very excited to be a part of a club who places its local community at its very heart." A principal beneficiary of City's largesse over the past year has been the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. The club donated £500,000 to an appeal to build a new hospital and has pledged to continue support for a new foundation, launched in February, to provide excellence in treatment, care and research for children's illnesses.
Many of the players, too, have pet charities. Earlier this year, the goalkeeper Shay Given staged a fashion show in Manchester to raise funds for cancer research, and the likes of Carlos Tevez, Wayne Bridge and Emmanuel Adebayor strutted their stuff on the catwalk. The midfielder Craig Bellamy has established a charitable foundation in Sierra Leone, a nation that boasts its own Manchester City Sierra Leone FC, which the club supports with kits and soon, thanks to the Blues in Business fundraisers - a group of City fans in business in Manchester - a mini-bus.
City has also given coaching support to various teams in emerging footballing nations, such as Royal Thuanda Zulu in South Africa; has started a football academy in India; and, since last summer, has been supporting a programme to involve thousands of New York children from deprived neighbourhoods in football training sessions. The latter started when a City fan in New York asked the club if it could help. City has spent £500,000 to build an all-weather pitch at a school in Upper Manhattan; it has also provided a coaching staff for the next three years and created 30 football scholarships for "financially incapacitated" children in New York City.
"It demonstrates the long-term commitment of the owners to use Manchester City as a force for good, and we are very proud of that," said Mr Cook. dsapsted@thenational.ae
