Former Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese has defended Abu Dhabi's investment in Manchester, saying the city has benefited significantly from its relationship with the owners of Manchester City.
Sir Richard, who serves as honorary president of Manchester City and led the local authority for 25 years before stepping down in 2021, helped oversee the huge regeneration of Manchester city centre, which has included major investment from the UAE and Abu Dhabi over the past two decades.
Investment defended despite Premier League verdict
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday morning (October 5), Sir Richard said he hoped Abu Dhabi would continue investing in the city despite the Premier League finding the football club guilty of breaching its financial rules.
"Though I'm an honorary president of the club I'm speaking on behalf of myself, I'm not speaking on behalf of the club," he said.
"Certainly the investment in Manchester from Abu Dhabi has been very significant. Starting with the fact they brought their training complex and their headquarters of the City football group from a rural setting right into the middle of the city, a mile and a half from the city centre, investing a way over nine figure sum in reclaiming lots of derelict, heavily polluted industrial land."
Sir Richard added that the relationship had given Abu Dhabi "real credibility" in Manchester.
"I think for the city, one thing about working with Abu Dhabi is that everything that they've promised, they've delivered. They have real credibility in the city. That's something we want to maintain," he said.
City verdicts furore continues
His comments come after Manchester City were found guilty by an independent commission of all but one of the charges brought against them by the Premier League. The club was found guilty of operating a scheme to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs by nearly £1billion across a nine-season period.
The commission ruled against City on every count of breaching financial regulations between 2009-10 and 2017-18, concluding that the club used "sham" commercial deals to disguise owner funding and arrangements to reduce operating costs, such as coaching staff and player wages.
City have strongly denied the allegations and have appealed the commission's findings. Sir Richard pointed to that appeal when discussing the impact of the verdict on Manchester.
"The club of course are still claiming very strongly that they're innocent and say they're going to prove their innocence. Certainly there is some way to go before we can finally conclude what the position is," he said.
"But certainly for the city to lose the contribution that they have made in a way that I don't think any other premiership club or any other football club has got anywhere near the contribution that they have made for their local community."
Asked whether Abu Dhabi's credibility in Manchester had changed, Sir Richard said many City supporters were waiting for the outcome of the appeal.
"There are a large number of fans who are still sticking with the club and are waiting for the final determination of this. I think you can't go back in time and what has been created in Manchester City is phenomenal really. That has to be maintained in some way, whatever the final outcome of the allegations against them," he said.
Abu Dhabi-Manchester deal 'was brokered by UK government', Leese says
Alongside the investment in City, the club has overseen a huge regeneration of east Manchester. The land around the Etihad Stadium has been transformed since the club first moved to the ground, including the building of the Co-op Live.
The club has also been building a new £300m entertainment zone known as Medlock Square where there is a Radisson Blu Hotel on the campus grounds, as well as more food and drinks spaces and a zip-line. There are also plans for a new 600-person capacity entertainment venue which was granted planning permission by Manchester City Council in June.
But Sir Richard's comments come amid renewed scrutiny of the relationship between Manchester City Council and Abu Dhabi. The BBC said a Manchester City Council review published in July identified weaknesses in documentation, monitoring and assurance around a deal between the city and Abu Dhabi.
Mr Leese defended the arrangements, saying the deal in question had been brokered by the UK Government.
"The deal that you're talking about was actually brokered by the UK Government. It was a deal that UK Government had done with the United Arab Emirates government," he said.
"It's at a time when development in Manchester had stopped, post-banking crash, post-recession - there's nothing being built at all. That deal allowed development to be kickstarted, particularly in the Ancoats area of the city and that gave the confidence for other developers to come in."
Asked whether there had been a lack of transparency, he said: "I don't think I do agree with that. All of this was documented through reports that went through the council's due processes. I think this demonstrated that the deal was a good deal and a good deal for Manchester."
It comes after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would be "really concerned" if Manchester City's owners were forced out of the club. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Burnham said: "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."
Mr Burnham's comments were followed by reports that the United Arab Emirates had threatened to withdraw billions of pounds in potential investment from the Oxford-Cambridge "corridor" project. The Telegraph also reported that the UAE was warning the Prime Minister about retaliation following the guilty verdict.
Sir Richard was also asked whether he feared Abu Dhabi could withdraw from Manchester and stop investing in the city.
"I certainly hope not. I don't know, is the honest answer to that question. I think certainly Abu Dhabi will be thinking they have been very badly treated given the contribution that they have made, not just to the city of Manchester but also to English football as well. I think they are people who are used to adversity and people used to adversity often keep going and I hope they do," he said.
Manchester City lodged an appeal against the independent commission's findings on Thursday (October 1).
