Can Watford halt Manchester City’s FA Cup march?

Manchester City, the UAE-owned megaclub who finish the season as champions of the Premier League and winners of the Carabao Cup, are closing in on their bid to be the first ever team to win the English domestic treble.

But to complete this historic achievement on Saturday and lift the FA Cup, winning the oldest national football competition in the world, they must first vanquish the plucky squad of Watford FC, the Hornets of Hertfordshire.

Manchester City’s ultimate owner, Sheikh Mansour, an Emirati royal and deputy prime minister of the UAE, is one of the wealthiest people involved in world football, with The Telegraph estimating his individual net worth at $17bn. The club itself, with annual revenue in the past year of $635m, according to Deloitte, is the fifth-richest football club in the world.

While the money involved throughout the top flight of English football is eye-watering, there is a clear contrast with the finances of Watford FC (2018 turnover $163m).

It is owned by Gino Pozzo, who lives in Watford, just north-west of London, and is heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the club.

The Pozzo family fortune came from their Freud tool-making business, sold to Bosch in 2008.

Gino’s father also owns Udinese Calcio in Italy, and formerly owned Granada CF in Spain, setting up a structure that allowed the three clubs to exchange players – giving footballers valuable playing time in a variety of leagues while allowing the clubs themselves to shape their squads to the requirements of their domestic competitions.

Watford had a 2018 wage bill of $109m. Manchester City spent $308m on players and staff that year. Watford’s highest ever fee paid for a player was $24m, for Andre Gray from Burnley, in 2017.

Manchester City’s current squad, assembled and financed at the cost of more than $1bn, includes 10 players for whom City paid between $47m and $76m.