Manchester City's owners are in the spotlight again, but if they are not forced to sell a number of experts think they are unlikely to leave
Manchester City's ownership has transformed the club and the land around it
Manchester City's ownership has transformed the club and the land around it
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Manchester City's cheating scandal has thrown the spotlight onto the club's owners. While it has always been maintained that Sheikh Mansour's purchase was not connected with the government of the United Arab Emirates that he serves as vice-president and deputy prime minister, the workings of the Abu Dhabi government are central to the legal arguments between City and the Premier League.
Amid reports that the UAE are considering a U-turn on some planned investments in the UK, prime minister Andy Burnham has been under pressure to disclose the extent of his relationship with Mansour and City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak given the working relationship from his time as Manchester mayor. As this investigation from the Manchester Evening News makes clear, it is a long and complicated history.
City remain confident in their "irrefutable" evidence but should the appeal uphold the original decision of the independent commission, there is a chance that the owners could be forced out. David Kogan, chair of the independent football regulator has said this week that they "have the power to ask an owner to step away from a club if we believe that they run a club in a way that is neither fit, fair or done with propriety,”