Former Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow
Former Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow has been speaking about the Manchester City case(Image: PA)
Former Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow admits he doesn't want "to bury Manchester City" but has called on their owners to seek a settlement with the Premier League rather than drag out their case.
City have been found guilty of serious breaches of Premier League financial rules by an independent commission, but the club have confirmed they will appeal against the ruling.
The club strongly deny the breaches, which the Premier League allege occured between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons, with all-but-one resulting in guilty verdicts from the independent commission.
While City will appeal the verdicts, attention has now turned to what punishment the former Premier League champions may receive. That was also put to Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Asked by the BBC if he was concerned that City’s owners would now sell the club, Burnham said on Wednesday: “I would be really concerned to lose them. They’ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester and obviously the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.”
In response to his comments and City’s guilty verdicts, former Villa chief Purslow spoke on Sky Sports.
“I agree with the Prime Minister that anyone who has been around Manchester during the Abu Dhabi era has seen the staggering transformation that their investment has brought about,” he said.
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“But this is a case of respecting the rules, and they have been found guilty of systematically breaking them, with some of the most serious offences you could imagine in terms of how the results were presented.
“Once we allow nation states to own our football clubs, it is a completely logical consequence that, when we have a problem with that club, we are not just talking to Richard Masters of the Premier League; we are talking to the Prime Minister, because this has diplomatic ramifications. The owner is one of our key allies in one of the most dangerous regions of the planet, as well as a key trade and defence partner.
“Whether Andy likes it or not, he has been dragged into this, and he is being very diplomatic, saying that he has not looked at the details. He has been very diplomatic, and I am very struck by that.
“An appeal is an appeal, but there are a large number of guilty verdicts, and this is not, as an executive from City said, ‘an opinion by a Premier League guy’. It is a verdict from three judges.”
Purslow added: “I don’t want to bury Man City. I think it is a fantastic football club, and I think there should be a road to redemption. I don’t want to lose Abu Dhabi as the owners of City. I think they have been a net positive for the city of Manchester.
“But I do think it is not in the interests of our national game for this to simply be extended through more and more legal action. Yes, it is their prerogative, and nobody is saying that it isn’t, but another delay before we hear the sanctions leaves football in a terribly uncertain position.
“I hope the owners will consider that and work towards finding a settlement, rather than pursuing a strategy of essentially lawyering up until the end.”