UK Prime Minister Burnham Pledges to Disclose Details of Meetings with Manchester City Owners

According to The Athletic, UK Prime Minister Burnham has pledged to disclose details of his meetings related to Manchester City.

In a damning “core ruling” published nearly two weeks ago, an independent commission found that Manchester City had artificially inflated commercial revenue and concealed costs between 2009 and 2018, as well as failing to cooperate with Premier League investigations between 2018 and 2023. The three-member panel said the club had gained an unfair advantage worth more than £900 million through these “false” contracts.

However, the day after the ruling was published, Burnham told the BBC that he was “very concerned about English football losing them”, referring to the Abu Dhabi owners behind Manchester City.

Burnham said: “They have been huge partners in the regeneration of modern Manchester and in making Manchester City the global force it is today. I am genuinely grateful to City Football Group and the wider ownership for the money they have invested not only in the Etihad Stadium and the surrounding campus, but also in the city itself.”

Burnham became Prime Minister in July after serving as Mayor of Greater Manchester for nine years.

His comments sparked widespread concern that political interference could be a factor in what has been described as the biggest scandal in Premier League history. Last week, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson was forced to clarify his remarks, stressing that Burnham acknowledged the seriousness of the “provisional ruling” and the importance of allowing the independent process to run its course.

Nevertheless, criticism of his comments continued, with scrutiny turning to his relationships with Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates during his time as mayor. Within football, there were also concerns that economic and political considerations could be taking precedence over sporting integrity.

Now, in an attempt to bring an increasingly damaging controversy to an end, Burnham has opted for full transparency. In an interview with The Rest Is Politics podcast, due to be released on Monday, he said: “The leader of the opposition has asked me to publish details of the meetings, and I am very happy to do so. I will make public everything I did in working with them during my time as Mayor of Greater Manchester. In fact, none of the meetings I had were recent. I had one significant meeting, and that was in 2021.”

Asked whether he regretted his comments about the Manchester City ruling and Emirati investment in the UK, Burnham replied: “I don't think I said anything wrong. What I would say is that my mind wasn't on all these issues at the time. I was thinking about the Labour Party conference, and I was doing interviews related to it. I wasn't connecting the two issues. You know, it was the question that linked them together.

“What I would say is that they are very separate issues. Football is different from investment. People will try to conflate the two, but I don't think they should. The football issue is serious, as the independent commission concluded, and as I said in my BBC interview.”

Burnham is an Everton supporter, and the interview took place at Hill Dickinson Stadium. His comments were seemingly influenced by Everton's recent experience with the Premier League's independent commission, which deducted eight points from the club across two seasons for breaching financial spending rules.

Speaking to the BBC, Burnham said: “I remember when Everton were declared guilty, and looking back, I think more people would now say that the way it was handled was unfair. So, given my experience before becoming Prime Minister, it would have been wrong for me to rush into taking sides.”