Manchester City’s financial case has spilled beyond English football, with the United Arab Emirates reportedly threatening to pull billions of pounds of investment from the United Kingdom after the club was found guilty of 114 financial-rule breaches.
City have lodged an appeal against the decision of an independent commission appointed by the Premier League. The charges concerned alleged financial irregularities across the period from 2009 to 2018, and the ruling has prompted a political as well as sporting response around the club owned by Abu Dhabi interests.
Investment warning linked to City case
The UAE has warned British Prime Minister Andy Burnham that major investment could be withdrawn in retaliation for the verdict against Manchester City.
The money at risk is understood to include private funding sought by the British government for a proposed technology corridor between Oxford and Cambridge, a project presented as the country’s answer to Silicon Valley.
Burnham, formerly mayor of Greater Manchester, had initially said he would be “very concerned” if the UAE chose to sell City following the commission’s findings. Downing Street later changed its position, stressing that no club was above the rules.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak met trade secretary
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Manchester City’s chairman, met Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds two weeks before the Premier League’s announcement.
Al Mubarak was aware at the time of that meeting that City had been found guilty, although the full details of the ruling had not yet been published.
City’s appeal means the case remains unresolved on the football side, but the threat of an investment withdrawal has given the dispute a far wider dimension than the Premier League itself.
