British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has confirmed that he held meetings with ManchesterCity chairman KhaldoonAlMubarak during his tenure as mayor of Manchester. The announcement, made by the Greater Manchester Metropolitan Authority, comes after the sanction imposed on the club by the Premier League, which found it guilty of 144 financial irregularities committed between 2009 and 2018.
According to the statement, Burnham officially met with AlMubarak at the British government's Global Investment Summit in October 2021, an occasion the mayor described as an “official meeting” within the framework of the United Kingdom's investment attraction policy. In addition, the spokesperson for the municipal body noted that the prime minister had been invited on several occasions to club events, including informal meetings in the stands in 2019. These interactions are part of the international trade missions that the mayor led during his administration, where representatives of local clubs also participated.
The revelation comes after the leader of the opposition, KemiBadenoch, demanded that the British Government make public the relationship between Burnham and City. In response, the Prime Minister promised to publish details of his meetings with the club president. However, Conservative Party spokesperson LouieFrench criticized the statement for its lack of information and stated that full transparency had not been achieved.
ManchesterCity, which belongs to Sheikh MansourbinZayedAlNahyan's investment fund, has denied any wrongdoing and has appealed the decision of the independent commission that investigated the case. The sanction imposed by the Premier League includes possible fines, loss of points, relegation or even expulsion of the club from the competition, depending on the resolution of the appeal.
With the release of meeting records, attention now turns to the club's appeals process and how the relationship between the local government and ManchesterCity could influence regulatory decisions. The next steps will include the review of the documents submitted by Burnham and the commission's assessment of the possible influence of official contacts on the management of the club during the period of the alleged irregularities.