Prime minister Andy Burnham has said he would be “really concerned” to lose Manchester City’s owners as a result of the club being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League rules.
The new Independent Football Regulator (IFR) has the power to oblige an owner to sell the club if they are found guilty of serious wrongdoing. It is also possible that Sheikh Mansour, the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates who is the owner of City, could decide to sell as a result of the scandal.
City’s owners invested heavily in Manchester, where Burnham was mayor before becoming prime minister, and he told BBC News: “I would be really concerned to lose them \[City’s owners\]. They’ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester. Obviously, the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.
“I can’t intervene more in the process. It would be wrong for me to do that. It would be wrong, I think, to jump to a conclusion before having really studied all of the detail, but obviously it’s ongoing, and because it’s still contested by Manchester City, then I think it’s right that I don’t say much more.”
Burnham pointed out that he had campaigned for Everton after they were docked six points in the 2023-24 season for a breach of Profitability and Sustainability Rules. He added: “I fought for Everton in that situation because I still hold the view, very firmly, that they weren’t fairly treated in that process. I am not privy to all of the points of contestation between City and the Premier League, and I believe you know those are arguments that are still going on.
“I remember people proclaiming Everton guilty at the time, and you know, with hindsight, I think more people would say that wasn’t fair, the way that was handled. So it would be wrong of me to leap to one side given the experience that I’d had before becoming prime minister.”
Burnham said he was confident his dealings with City’s owners when he was the mayor of Manchester would stand up to scrutiny. “Oh indeed, I do actually thank the City football group and the wider ownership for the money that they didn’t just put into the Etihad and the campus around it, but also into the city,” he said.