Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he would be "really concerned" to lose Manchester City if its owners decided to sell the club, following the guilty verdict in the Premier League financial rules case.
Burnham, an Everton supporter, said it would be wrong to "leap to judgment" about Manchester City and expressed confidence that his dealings with the club while mayor of Greater Manchester stand up to scrutiny.
Burnham's response to the verdict
He said Manchester City, found guilty of charges related to breaches of financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18, should be able to "contest the situation if they don't think it's fair."
The Premier League said an independent commission found City arranged "sham" commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the period, which were part of a disguised funding scheme, whereby those companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees. The commission found that the remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
Concerns over ownership and scrutiny
The Prime Minister thanked City Football Group – the club's holding company – for the money it had invested into Manchester, and said he would be "really concerned to lose them" should they decide to sell up. However, he said he would "keep my distance" should the United Arab Emirates government make representations to him over the dispute.
Asked by the BBC if all his dealings with Man City while he was mayor will stand up to scrutiny, he said: "Oh indeed, I do actually thank the City Football Group and the wider ownership for the money that they didn't just put into the Etihad and the campus around it but also into the city, but yes of course."
Appeal and next steps
The club has said it intends to appeal "on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe." The Premier League said that now the charges have been proved, the issue of sanction will be addressed separately in a further hearing with the independent commission.
Further "sham arrangements" the club was found to have entered into enabled them to record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred, the Premier League's published statement said. The scheme was found to have inflated revenues and reduced costs by more than £900 million during the affected period. The commission concluded: "By its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the Premier League rules."
