Andy Burnham, now prime minister, has praised Abu Dhabi United Group as "such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester," but critics argue this overlooks the public cost of the city's transformation. The comments come after Manchester City's owners were found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League financial rules.
Trade missions and transformation
In July 2016, Manchester City player Yaya Touré entered a small bar near Beijing's Workers' Stadium, smiling as dozens of Chinese fans rushed toward him. The club had just won its sixth trophy under the ownership of Sheikh Mansour's Abu Dhabi United Group, making the team international megastars and magnets for investment.
On a trade mission led by Sir Howard Bernstein, civic leaders brought club legends such as Mike Summerbee and Sun Jihai to charm football-mad Chinese businessmen who saw the club and the city on the rise. A decade later, Manchester is transformed, with estate agents advertising £15,000-a-month penthouses in a city-region growing faster economically than any other in Britain.
Burnham's intervention and reaction
On Wednesday, Burnham said he would be "really concerned" to lose Abu Dhabi United Group as the club's owners. He said he would not get involved in the Premier League's disciplinary process but appeared to express sympathy for City's plight by referring to a similar investigation into Everton, the club he supports.
"I remember people proclaiming Everton guilty at the time and, with hindsight, I think more people would say that wasn't fair the way that was handled," he said. One Burnham ally described the comments as "absolutely mad" and his "biggest mistake so far," risking being seen to influence the disciplinary process.
A No 10 spokesperson later said: "As the prime minister made clear, the initial judgment is serious and there can't be any suggestion that anyone is above the rules. He also stressed that it is an ongoing independent process."
Manchester Life partnership scrutiny
When Abu Dhabi took over Manchester City in 2008, the club already had a new stadium built with taxpayers' money for the Commonwealth games in 2002. In 2014, Manchester city council announced a "£1bn deal" with Mansour to transform land between the stadium and the city centre, creating Manchester Life, which included more than 1,000 private rented apartments and 395 built-for-sale homes, but not one social or affordable home.
Researchers at the University of Sheffield, in a 2024 assessment, said the council appeared to have leased land to Abu Dhabi at a cheaper rate than comparable developments, calling it "selling the family silver too cheaply." They found all property, estimated at £350m, is controlled by Jersey-domiciled subsidiaries and owned by Abu Dhabi interests, describing it as a "transfer of public wealth to private hands."
Council defends partnership
Manchester city council has rejected the criticisms, saying they ignore that there was zero market interest at the time of sale and that the land is worth more now because of Manchester Life's investment. The council said it receives significant financial return through profit-sharing arrangements.
A report by Greater Manchester combined authority revealed that of 10,974 homes built across the region in the nine years to 2024, only 679 (6%) were classed as affordable. Anti-gentrification campaigner Hayley Flynn said luxury flats in Ancoats had not benefited the existing community, pushing residents out with developments for "influencers."
Tim Heatley, co-founder of developer Capital & Centric, said Abu Dhabi had "a major impact on that particular area of the city," but believed the region's economic upturn would have happened without the football investment. Manchester City, which denies any wrongdoing, won eight trophies between 2009 and 2018, the period under investigation, including three Premier League titles.
