ไทย
English
中國人
The U.K. government is open to the possibility of Manchester City's owners being compelled to sell the club, should the Independent Football Regulator (IFR)—established in 2025 and granted authority to step in during situations like this—determine it to be the appropriate course of action.
City have been found guilty on nearly all charges brought against them for violating financial regulations, following a lengthy Premier League investigation and hearing conducted by an independent commission. The club maintains its innocence and has lodged an appeal, a process anticipated to wrap up sometime in January 2027.
U.K. prime minister Andy Burnham has struggled to openly criticize Manchester City. During his previous tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester—a position he held from 2017 until this past summer—he embraced the broader impact of Abu Dhabi investment in his city, extending well beyond the football club itself.
Even following the guilty verdict, which detailed "sham" contracts used to disguise owner investment and artificially inflate spending beyond permitted limits, Burnham stated he would be "really concerned" if Sheikh Mansour were forced to relinquish the club. "They've been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester and building Manchester City into the global force that it is."
Yet Manchester City was transformed into that "global force" through nine years of systematic cheating. The club began manipulating its finances just one year after the 2008 takeover and only ceased once City had established a position of dominance built upon a foundation of dishonesty.
This is not a matter of minor rule infractions, or even on-pitch misconduct—the players themselves competed and won match after match in complete good faith.
Independent Regulator Has Power to Remove Man City Ownership
Lisa Nandy, the U.K. government's culture secretary, strikes a firmer tone than Burnham.
"I want to be crystal clear that, whilst we are really grateful to investors who come from all over the world to invest in our clubs and help to ensure their viability and their success, they are custodians, both of their clubs and of the game," she told talkSPORT.
"They have a responsibility to play by the rules and uphold the rules."
The government itself will not directly intervene in the proceedings. The initial guilty verdict has been delivered and it will now fall to the appeal panel to oversee. Nandy is unequivocal that the government's sole role is to ensure that integrity is upheld and safeguarded.
"That is the right and proper role governing, it's to protect that integrity and put the fans back at the heart of football where they belong," she added. "That's what we've done with the Football Governance Act and the Independent Regulator, and it's now for football to step up and make a determination in this case, and really meet this moment."
Among the Regulator's key responsibilities is shielding clubs from harmful or rogue ownership.