Burnham should be ‘investigated’ over ‘extraordinary’ Manchester City comments

· Football365

Andy Burnham is the latest individual in the firing line as the Manchester City furore continues unabated; it is ‘an appalling look’.

Andy Burnham is the latest individual in the firing line as the Manchester City furore continues unabated; it is ‘an appalling look’.

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Ignorance is bliss

Had a few days away there. Don’t think I’ve missed anything major, have I? No? Nothing at all right?

Good good.

Gary AVFC, Oxford (A nod to the chap in Porto airport who was perusing Football 365).

Hi mailboxers,

I’ve been away in a place with a limited phone signal and no notion of WiFi (I was in Wales). Just wondering if I’ve missed any important football related news over the last week?

I can’t seem to find anything interesting, so I guess not?

Stu – Gooner in France

The fire sale

So, as we look forward to this brave new world where a shamed club is expelled from major competition, the question turns to where players will go.

I watched a clip of Agbonlahor having a crack at it, and while I disagree with much of what he suggested, it does make you wonder.

Obviously players like Haaland won’t struggle for suiters – presumably Real or Barca to lead the chase, and probably for Donnaruma too – but there are others like Foden.

Would any major club in the UK be interested? Liverpool already have a creative player who doesn’t deliver, Arsenal have superior first XI and youth prospects. Chelsea maybe? Spurs would be hilarious. Enzo seems a natural fit for Atletico Madrid, especially since Real aren’t interested.

As a United supporter, I wouldn’t mind picking up a left and right back – O’Reilly or Ait Nouri and Rico Lewis would be very handy additions. Anderson? I think we’ve moved on, so maybe back to Newcastle or to Villa? I’d take Cherki but I don’t think he could recognise his hate is actually love.

So, question for the mailbox is who from that squad would you want?

Badwolf

Memories

I’m a Man City fan, therefore I’m sure I’ll get a lot of abuse, but I don’t really care, and I suspect most Man City fans are used to that as well.

However, I’m not writing into support what has happened, in fact, I’m appalled by the stance our owners/higher ups have taken. Seemingly now they want to create a siege mentality of us against the world. It’s not though, when the curtain draws on this, it’ll be the fans that are left hurt and disappointed. It’s you (owners/higher ups) against everyone, including the fans. If you truly cared then you would accept the verdict and accept what punishment comes our way. If you really cared about Manchester City, then rather than carrying on this charade, you’d work hard to fix the reputation of the club (if that’s even possible).

Fans of other clubs have been very quick to tell us that our memories of the achievements of the players and coaches no longer means anything. Maybe. Maybe not. I can only speak for myself, and even though I’ll never forget my elation when Aguero danced through the QPR back line and beat Paddy Kenny at his near post to clinch our first Premier League title, or my relief when Rodri smashed home the winner against a resolute Inter Milan to finally clinch the Champions League, I can’t pretend that watching those moments back fills me with happiness anymore. I used to watch those moments with such pride. They’d cheer me up during a bad day, because I could just, if only for a moment, remember how much joy I felt in those moments. Today I watched those moments again, and I just felt empty. Not angry or sad, just empty.

I, and most of our fans, don’t deserve for the club to be eviscerated by this. If all we as fans are guilty of is standing by our team, then any fan of any club would be guilty of the same crime was the shoe on the other foot. If you disagree with this point, you’re a liar. Football is tribal, even against common sense you back your club. Come what may, I will always be a Man City fan, the atrocious actions of billionaires won’t change that.

Jack

Some perspective, please

I read this morning, “Nothing short of destroying’ Manchester City ‘is acceptable for what they’ve done“. Which left me thinking, “What who has done?”.

Not the fans; not the operational staff, many who have been there for years before the current owners; and not really the players. So who should suffer?

Clearly the club has to be punished, but the real punishment should be applied to those who purported the crime. And herein there is a ray of light.

Over the last few days I’ve spoken to a number of friends – a lawyer, a CFO of a FTSE Top 100 company, and a Tax Partner – all are of the view that the law has been broken (primarily fraud) and the executives of City should be charged. The maximum penalty for fraud is 10 years, which seems about right.

Surely this is the most appropriate and fairest of all punishments.

Rob

Just a quick response for cryarse Colin who must be a troll sticking up for the plucky underdogs fighting the PSR rules forced on the league

PSR came in after the cheating period started and city themselves voted in favour of the “protectionism racket”.

It’s possible to be against the principle of PSR restrictions while accepting city are determined, twice convicted cheats. They are two very different things. City’s owners are cheats and everything they have done is built on fraud and should be removed.

Andy, formerly London now Cambridge (via everywhere)

Liverpool can save football, Burnham and the Western world

In a world where the true dependence on middle eastern money surfaces off the back of the Man City debacle, there are signs of new world order reality coming through.

It’s called bullying.

Etihad Airways immediately threaten the Premier league, it turns out that Manchester as a city wouldn’t survive and the UK defence investment initiatives, pulled away, might would see us flying Spitfires again.

It’s way more than football.

Thank God, when it comes to football, the self anointed defenders of the faith, Liverpool, are up against City next. Liverpool can save us, by bringing it back to football.

Picture this, Liverpool kick off, give the ball to Haaland… and let him walk it into the net. Liverpool kick off again, give it to Haaland… you get the picture.

Then, every other team does the same, this will crystalise things pretty quickly. Fines etc mean nothing, football refusing to play against City… that’s the sure fire answer. No-one to sue, no government involvement, just football reclaiming itself. It’s the only way out of a world crisis.

Thank God for Liverpool because, as we all know… ‘This means more…’ Never more than now… let’s see.

Steve, Melbourne

Burning Burnham

This is not a political email in anyway but the UK prime minister defending the city owners is a disgrace.

So it’s ok to cheat and commit fraud once you put some of your money into investing in the country that you are cheating and committing fraud in – it’s like saying yeah the Nazis did terrible things but at least they build nice motorways and infrastructure.

There should be a huge backlash to his comments and an investigation to see if his palms were greased when he was mayor of Manchester.

Also now there would be a huge surprise if 15 clubs back a plan to relegate city because of commercial revenue seriously?? So it really is all about money not football not the fans not the fans what were cheated out of celebrations and happiness.

For some people football is there life. They talk about “they can’t take away the memories of the city fans” what about the rival teams fans. I can still remember were I was when that aguero goal went in, I was in my kitchen with my head in my hands with tears in my eyes and why because they cheated.

I’ve been watching the premier League all my life or as much as I can remember as its creation coincided with my coming of age and if city get off lightly slap on the hand or fine or 10 point deduction I’m done with the premier League, it will be the final nail in the coffin for me.

Kenneth Dublin

I am completely baffled by some of the commentary surrounding the City case. The defence being mounted for their actions is unbelievable. Granted, the appeal is still pending, so the final outcome isn’t set in stone. But judging by the initial ruling and the evidence on display, they are guilty of nearly every charge. Let’s not split hairs, this is corporate fraud. They manufactured an unfair financial advantage, lied about it, broke league rules and domestic laws, and have rightly been called out by an independent panel. Any defence mounted by supporters is nothing more than blind faith, hoping against hope that they can somehow pull a rabbit out of a hat. What we are witnessing is pure desperation in plain sight: former managers, players, and pundits frantically clinging to the world that existed before their cheating was made official.

Beyond that lies the issue that worries me most, Prime Minister Burnham’s comments. This case goes far beyond routine corporate malfeasance, state ownership directly ties it to diplomatic relations between nations. Setting aside that this is precisely why nation states shouldn’t own sporting institutions to begin with, Burnham seems to have forgotten he is the Prime Minister of the country, not the Mayor of Greater Manchester. If the guilty verdict stands, having a Prime Minister express sorrow because a fraudulent organisation got caught is an appalling look.

Second, the narrative of their ‘vital contribution’ to Manchester needs scrutinising. The stadium and initial regeneration were funded by the taxpayer. A private entity then developed the area to turn a profit on flats, hardly an act of pure charity. The capital funnelled into these projects effectively drained resources from elsewhere due to the financial imbalances their rule breaking created.

I understand Burnham has personal ties as both a football fan and the city’s former mayor, but he must recognise that this verdict transcends sport. It is an existential test, does the rule of law still mean something in this country, or do we simply concede that the ultra wealthy and well connected can act with complete impunity? This dynamic will only worsen in the coming decades as cash strapped, debt ridden states bend over backwards for hyper wealthy elites, multinational corporations, and autocratic regimes that exert growing control over civic life. It might sound dramatic, but giving Manchester City a pass is no different from letting Big Tech monopolies ignore the law simply because they have the capital to brush off the consequences, we all know how that is ending up, a lost generation of youth for whom social media has had profound negative effects.

The punishment must be severe, proportionate, and definitive. Otherwise, it is just another nail in the coffin of the idea that our society is governed by laws rather than wealth.

As for our Prime Minister, perhaps say less.

Adam

Hello my pedigree chums,

Andy Burnham’s response to the Manchester City verdict is quite extraordinary….. City have just been found guilty by an independent commission of systematically breaking Premier League financial rules for nearly a decade, involving sham contracts, misstated accounts and more than £900m in artificially inflated revenues and reduced costs. The commission also found “concerted efforts” to frustrate the investigation.

Yet almost immediately Burnham is worrying about Abu Dhabi walking away.

Burnham says he would be “really concerned” to lose City’s owners because of everything they have done for Manchester. Nobody disputes the investment, but what on earth has that got to do with the punishment for breaking football’s rules?

Especially given the history here. When James Cleverly was Foreign Secretary, he requested an update on the City case. The British Embassy in the UAE also sought updates, while parts of the correspondence were withheld because releasing them could damage UK-UAE relations. That doesn’t prove interference, but it certainly makes transparency important.

Sheikh Mansour isn’t simply another billionaire owner; he is Vice-President and Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE. Khaldoon Al Mubarak chairs City and Mubadala and has held diplomatic status in Britain. Lord Pannick represents City while also sitting in the House of Lords and has participated in debates concerning football regulation, having declared his interest.

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