Man City likely to argue £900m extra revenue came from the Abu Dhabi government not owners in appeal
Manchester City to argue £900m extra sponsorship came from Abu Dhabi government, but guest sees multiple contradictions
The video examines Manchester City’s likely appeal argument that around £900m in extra sponsorship income came from the Abu Dhabi government rather than the club’s owners. The guest says that claim was rejected in the original hearing and conflicts with Etihad Airways’ past submission and City’s own position at the Court of Arbitration for Sport; a player stresses unity and trust in the club.
- Manchester City will argue at appeal that almost £900m in extra sponsorship income came from the Abu Dhabi government, not the owners — This is the central argument City are expected to use to separate the funding from their owners
- City’s claim that the money came from the government rather than the owners is unlikely to hold up — The independent commission rejected that explanation at the 2024 original hearing and called it a story concocted after the event to conceal a disguised funding scheme
- Etihad Airways’ 2015 filing directly contradicts City’s claim that the Abu Dhabi government paid — In its submission to three US departments, Etihad said the assertion that the Abu Dhabi government paid for its Manchester City sponsorship was false and that the airline had funded the sponsorship from its own liquidity
- Manchester City’s 2020 position at the Court of Arbitration for Sport contradicts its current claim — When appealing a two-year Champions League ban under UEFA financial fair play rules, City argued the funding did not come from the Abu Dhabi government; Etihad’s then chief executive James also said the sponsorship was paid from Etihad’s own funds
- The idea that the Abu Dhabi government, not City’s owners, provided the money does not stand up — City’s majority owner Mansour is also Abu Dhabi’s deputy prime minister, the club chairman is chairman of Abu Dhabi’s Executive Affairs Authority, and three of the six board members also sit on that authority
- The squad is very united and everyone trusts the club, so the outside noise has not knocked them off course — The club told everyone immediately, which kept the players calm; he has been happy to see the team spirit and support from players, staff and fans, with the focus staying on football
► Subscribe to Sky Sports News: http://bit.ly/SkySportsNewsSub ► Watch Sky Sports with NOW: https://bit.ly/NOWSkySportsYT Kaveh Solhekol discusses a well-sourced article that appeared in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday which claimed to have “full details” of the “irrefutable evidence” Manchester City will use to try to clear their name after being found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules by an independent commission. The article was timed to be appear on the morning of City’s first home Premier League game since the guilty verdicts. City briefed that their “irrefutable evidence” is going to be that the £900m extra revenue between 2009 and 2018 came from the Abu Dhabi government and not the club’s owners. Defender Marc Guehi also reiterated his faith in the club. premierleague football mancity ► For the latest developments on this story: https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/topstories ► For the latest transfer news: https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/TransferCentre More from Sky Sports on YouTube: ► Sky Sports: http://bit.ly/SkySportsSub ► Sky Sports Boxing: http://bit.ly/SSBoxingSub ► Sky Sports Cricket: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyCricket ► Sky Sports Darts: https://bit.ly/SubSkySportsDarts ► Sky Sports Football: http://bit.ly/SSFootballSub ► Sky Sports F1: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyF1 ► Sky Sports Golf: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsGolf ► Sky Sports Premier League: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsPL ► Sky Sports Retro: http://bit.ly/SkySportsRetroSub ► Sky Sports WSL: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsWSL ► TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skysportsnews ► X: https://x.com/SkySportsNews ► Website: https://www.skysports.com ► To enquire about licensing Sky Sports content, you can find out more here: https://www.skysports.com/more-sports/news/31754/11434270/license-sky-sports-footage
Transcript
Well, let's get some more on Manchester City. They of course were found guilty of breaking more than a hundred Premier League rules. They deny breaking any rules and are appealing. We've got some more detail now on the arguments that they will use at that appeal. As you can see, Cavi Sol alongside me. Cavi, what can you tell us about this then? Look, I think one of the sort of big arguments city will be using at the appeal is that this extra sponsorship um income uh almost 900 million pounds did not come from their owners. They will argue that it came from the Abu Dhabi government. Now, I think there are a few problems with this because this is something they already argued at the original hearing in 2024 and the independent commission dismissed uh that argument. They said it was an explanation that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to conceal the realities of the disguised funding scheme. Also, this argument that this extra funding uh came from the Abu Dhabi government and not the owners um appears to be contradicted by a submission. You have to bear with me here back in 2015 uh which Etihad Airways, one of uh Manchester City's principal sponsors uh gave to the US Department of Commerce, Transportation and State. Now that US department was looking into whether um airlines were funded by the state and Etiad Airways in their submission said the assertion that the Abu Dhabi government paid for Etiad sponsorship of Manchester City is false. Etiad funded the sponsorship from its own liquidity. So there you have it from Etiad Airways themselves saying we paid for the sponsorship not the Abu Dhabi government. Also the other problem uh with city's argument that the money uh came from the government and not the owners is that the court of arbitration for sport in 2020 when they were appealing uh against a 2-year ban from the Champions League for breaking UEFA's financial fair play rules. They argued exactly the opposite. They argued that the funding was not from the Abu Dhabi government. Uh the ETHAD chief executive at the time, James Han, uh said the sponsorship was paid out of Etihad's own funds. And it's also unclear what is the actual difference between Manchester City's owners and the Abu Dhabi government. Uh I know Manchester City have always maintained that they're not stateowned. they're statebacked or state connected. But for instance, the majority owner of Manchester City, Shik Mansour, he's also the deputy prime minister of Abu Dhabi. And the chairman, Calaldun Alumarak, is the chairman of uh Abu Dhabi's executive affairs authority. And if you look at the makeup of Manchester City's board, there are six men on that board. Three of them are also members of Abu Dhabi's executive affairs authority. >> Okay, Kabi for now. Thank you very much. Well, speaking to the media a short time ago, City's Mark Gay reiterated that he's got full faith in the club. >> It's been nice. It's been good. Get to see a lot of togetherness to be honest. Team spirit's been it's been really fantastic from every single person, every single player. Um especially the staff and the fans that are backing us. So to be honest, it's been uh it's been great to see. >> Obviously, it's not the only change room you're part of. How was it with England when when all this came out? And was it a discussion discussion point amongst the players then? >> No, not at the time. Um to be fair, the club notified everyone um straight away, so we're pretty calm. Um there's a lot of relaxed faces to be honest cuz we have a lot of trust and belief in the football club and and what's been going on here. Um the most important thing for us was just to focus on England, uh focus on the games at the time. >> You sound like you're kind of proud of the reaction of the team. Is that fair? >> Yeah, I mean it can be very easy to to listen to the noise and be affected by everything going on. But like I said, I'm so I'm so happy to to see the team spirit, the team bonding, um everyone taking to what's happening and then just focusing on the football.