{"id":787848,"date":"2026-09-30T21:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787848\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T21:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:42:11","slug":"andy-burnham-admits-to-concern-if-manchester-city-lose-their-owners-after-guilty-verdicts-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787848\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham admits to \u2018concern\u2019 if Manchester City lose their owners after guilty verdicts | Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Burnham has said he would be \u201creally concerned\u201d to lose Manchester City\u2019s owners as a result of the club being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League rules.<\/p>\n

On the day that the Independent Football Regulator confirmed it has powers to investigate the suitability of the Abu Dhabi United Group to own an English club after the damning judgment of an independent commission<\/a> regarding \u00a3900m of sham contracts, the prime minister praised City\u2019s owners for their investment of billions of pounds into Manchester.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be really concerned to lose them,\u201d Burnham said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester, and the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do actually thank the City Football Group and the wider ownership for the money that they didn\u2019t just put into the Etihad [Stadium] and the campus around it but also into the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burnham insisted he would not get involved in the Premier League\u2019s disciplinary process, despite the potential impact that punishing City could have on the UK-Abu Dhabi trading relationship, which is worth around \u00a330bn a year.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Burnham appeared to express some sympathy for City\u2019s plight by referring to his previous involvement in campaigning on behalf of Everton, who in 2023 were docked six points<\/a> by the Premier League for breaching profitability and sustainability rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t intervene more in the process,\u201d he said. \u201cIt 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\u2019s ongoing, and because it\u2019s still contested by Manchester City then I think it\u2019s right that I don\u2019t say much more.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverton was in this position a few years ago and you might remember that I fought for Everton in that situation. I still hold the view very firmly that they weren\u2019t fairly treated in that process. I remember people proclaiming Everton guilty at the time and, with hindsight, I think more people would say that wasn\u2019t fair the way that was handled.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement released earlier on Wednesday the IFR chief executive, David Kogan, confirmed the regulator is monitoring the City case and could take action. \u201cThe independent commission\u2019s decision raises serious issues,\u201d Kogan said.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |Every weekday<\/p>\n

Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n

Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis includes taking account of findings made by the leagues. However, as the proceedings remain ongoing between Manchester City and the Premier League we will await further developments.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham has said he would be \u201creally concerned\u201d to lose Manchester City\u2019s owners as a result of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-787848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}