Manchester City's owner Sheikh Mansour has been thrust under the spotlight after the club was found guilty of serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules
Sheikh Mansour
Manchester City owned Sheikh Mansour could sell the club in the wake of the cheating scandal(Image: Getty Images)
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Manchester City's owners could try to sell the club in reaction to their guilty verdict, according to an expert on the United Arab Emirates.
City have been found guilty of breaking the Premier League financial rules over a nine-year period. An independent commission found them guilty of 114 of the 115 charges levelled against them, finding they had used "sham" contracts to disguise funding of more than £830million.
City have always maintained their innocence and have launched an appeal. But City's ownership have been thrust under the spotlight, with the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) warning they have the power to strip them of the club.
The club are owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the deputy prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates. While City are not directly owned by the UAE, Sheikh Mansour and club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak are inextricably linked to the Middle Eastern country and its capital Abu Dhabi.
Christopher M Davidson, author of Abu Dhabi: Oil & Beyond, believes Sheikh Mansour will sell the club he has owned since 2008 if City's appeal is not successful in clearing their name.
“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.”
Sheikh Mansour, Owner of Manchester City and the City Football Group, and Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of Manchester City, Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City, look on prior to the UEFA Champions League 2022/23 final match between FC Internazionale and Manchester City FC at Ataturk Olympic Stadium
Manchester City's top brass are facing serious repercussions (Image: Getty)
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Speaking to the club website in June, Al Mubarak said 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."
It is possible that Sheikh Mansour could be pushed before he jumps, with the IFR releasing a statement last week explaining their powers.
“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.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of Manchester City, poses for a photograph with the Premier League Trophy and Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City
Manchester City have enjoyed a period of huge success on the pitch under the current ownership(Image: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
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The possibility of City's owners cutting their losses has also been raised 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 has the power to hit City with a huge points deduction, an unlimited fine and a lengthy transfer ban.
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