Inside the Man City effort to take on Sky and BT in growing media battle for fans

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

This time last year, Manchester City fans were getting giddy about a lanky Norwegian sat on a sofa. Twelve months on from recreating an iconic childhood picture to announce his signing, and on top of breaking the Premier League goal record and winning the Treble, Erling Haaland has provided Blues with possibly the best impersonation of John Stones it is possible to do.

The connection between the clip and the pictures will be lost on most, but City Studios - the filming location for both - is becoming ever more important as the club looks to grow its fanbase and revenues.

A small, unassuming block with a floor of 98 square metres next to the first team building, the studio is mentioned in the latest annual report from the club for its flexibility: "filming can be split across five backdrops, turned into a fully bespoke shooting space and there is even space to drive in a car." As more and more people have used the building, studio manager Kimberley Walker-Jones - who moved from a similar position at Liverpool FC TV - has found her calendar busier and busier as internal departments and external companies ask to use the space.

Three different shows is a quiet day, and they range from standard interviews with first-team players and mock interviews with EDS players that coach Brian Barry-Murphy has set up, to a City in the Community safeguarding lesson that interacted with dozens of schools at the same time, and sponsors shoots including dressing up physio beds to create a makeshift spa for Phil Foden to advertise Emirates Palace. Read next: Man City fans boycotting Arsenal game need wider backing to make point "A lot of our commercial partners use us to create that content because we're so close to the fans, we understand