Andy Burnham is to make public all of his dealings with Manchester City in his role as Greater Manchester mayor after his initial comments in apparent support of the club's owners drew some criticism.
Mayor's Response to Criticism
Manchester City, who today (October 11) made their return to the Premier League with a 3-0 victory over Liverpool, were found guilty at the end of September of breaching 115 Premier League financial regulations between 2009 and 2018. The club has maintained their innocence and appealed against the verdict.
Mr Burnham said last month he would be “really concerned” if City’s Abu Dhabi owners sold the club in the wake of the finding, crediting them with being “a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester”, reports PA.
Downing Street sought to clarify his comments afterwards, saying the Prime Minister was clear the judgment is serious and that where wrongdoing is established, those responsible should face the consequences.
Call for Transparency
Leader of the Conservative Kemi Badenoch had urged him to publish “everything” related to his work with the club as Greater Manchester mayor.
Now, Mr Burnham has said he would “put out there” everything he had done to work with the club’s owners as mayor in an interview with the Rest is Politics podcast to be released on Monday.
He said that “the football issues are different from the investment issues”.
“But I see now people trying to conflate these things. I’ve been asked by the leader of the opposition to publish details of my meetings, which I’m happy to do.
“I will quite clearly put out there everything that I have done working with them in my previous role as mayor of Greater Manchester.
“None of it is recent, actually, in terms of the meetings I had. I only had one significant meeting, actually, and that was in 2021. That is right and I will put that all out there.
“But the football issues, they are serious and have to be dealt with, and the process is independent and it has to run its course. But I think everybody should separate the investment issues because they’re not the same thing.”
Premier League Findings and Political Pressure
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 required to pay only a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The commission found that the remainder was funded by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd, which majority-owned the club.
Shadow sports minister Louie French called for Mr Burnham to also “come clean” about any meetings since becoming Prime Minister and urged Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy to respond to questions.
“The Prime Minister must publish every contact between his ministers, officials and Manchester City since he walked into Number 10, the Prime Minister must also explain why he inappropriately intervened in this case, and Lisa Nandy must answer the questions I have put to her in full.”
