MANCHESTER, England, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would be “really concerned” if Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners decided to sell the club after they were found guilty of serious breaches of financial rules.
Burnham praised the ownership group led by Sheikh Mansour for its investment in Manchester since taking over the club in 2008.
“I would be really concerned to lose them,” he told the BBC. “They’ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester and obviously the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.”
The Premier League said on Tuesday that City had used “sham” commercial contracts as part of schemes to inflate revenue and understate costs by more than £900 million ($1.2 billion) over nearly a decade.
City have denied wrongdoing and said they will appeal.
Burnham, who was previously the mayor of Greater Manchester, drew parallels with Everton’s battle with the league’s profit and sustainability rules, when he argued the club he supports had not been treated fairly.
Everton received a 10-point deduction, that was later reduced to six points, after being found to have breached the league’s financial rules over a three-year period ending in 2022.
“It would be wrong of me to leap to one side given the experience that I’d had before,” he said.
With sanctions yet to be determined and appeals expected, Burnham acknowledged there was “a lot at stake” for City, their supporters and Manchester, but said it would be inappropriate for him to intervene in the disciplinary process.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing. editing by Ed Osmond)
