Manchester City's ownership could sell up after the Premier League's guilty verdict.
Manchester City's ownership could attempt to offload the club following their guilty verdict, according to a specialist in United Arab Emirates affairs. City have been ruled guilty of breaching Premier League financial regulations across a nine-year timeframe. An independent commission found them guilty of 114 of the 115 allegations brought against them, concluding they had employed "sham" contracts to conceal funding exceeding £830million. City have consistently protested their innocence and have lodged an appeal. However, City's ownership have come under intense scrutiny, with the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) cautioning they possess the authority to remove them from the club.
The club is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates.
While City are not formally owned by the UAE, Sheikh Mansour and club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak are fundamentally connected to the Middle Eastern nation and its capital Abu Dhabi.
Christopher M Davidson, author of Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond, suggests Sheikh Mansour will dispose of the club he has controlled since 2008 should City's appeal fail to restore their reputation.
"Once there's some time to digest this, my feeling would be that they would extricate themselves," he told The Athletic. "I think primarily it would be seen from a political and cultural aspect.
"The ruling family of Abu Dhabi would feel that they had been embarrassed and disgraced by this ruling, and the best way of moving forward would be to sell now to cut the losses, as it were, rather than allow this to be a festering, lingering problem where the ownership of their club would be forever tainted in England. I can't see any scenario where they would continue."
Speaking to the club's official website in June, Al Mubarak insisted there was "no intention to sell" City. He added: "Manchester City and this group within the football world is a pinnacle and these sorts of jewels you don't sell."
Manchester City v West Ham United - Premier League
Khaldoon Al Mubarak and former Man City manager Pep Guardiola (Image: Getty)
However, Sheikh Mansour could potentially be forced out before making a voluntary exit, with the IFR issuing a statement last week outlining its authority.
"The IFR has powers to assess the suitability of owners, directors and executives and we will use these powers where appropriate, in the interests of protecting the sustainability, honesty and integrity of English football where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing by individuals," they said.
The prospect of City's owners deciding to sell up has also been flagged by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who dealt with them during his time as Mayor of Manchester.
He told the BBC: "I would be really concerned to lose them. 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."
The independent commission possesses the authority to impose a substantial points deduction on City, an unlimited financial penalty and an extended transfer embargo.