"THE BIG ERROR IS..." John Pienaar EXAMINES Andy Burnham COVERING UP Man City link accusations!

talkSPORT

John Pienaar on Andy Burnham's Manchester City links and the political fall-out

The clip looks at Andy Burnham's connections with Manchester City and the Abu Dhabi owners, and whether his handling of the City charges has damaged him politically. John Pienaar says Burnham's biggest mistake was not simply saying rules are rules, and warns that a lenient outcome for City would badly damage trust in the game and the Premier League.

John Pienaar joins Max Rushden and Charlie Baker to discuss the latest on Manchester City and Andy Burnham. Subscribe: https://youtube.com/c/talkSPORT?subconfirmation=1 🏆 Ready to win? Check out the latest prizes at talkSPORTwin.com Enjoyed this YouTube video? 😍 🖥️ talkSPORT's Website: https://talksport.com/ 📲 talkSPORT's X/Twitter: https://x.com/talkSPORT 📷 talkSPORT's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talksport/?hl=en 👤 talkSPORT's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/talkSPORT/ 📱 talkSPORT's Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talksport ? 🔴 Download the talkSPORT app HERE! - https://talksport.com/apps/ 🔎 Want to see if you feature on our YouTube channel? Check out our Best talkSPORT callers playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFVMnSsi04LGLa9pS9xDvme-Gjmlu2 talkSPORT PremierLeague

Transcript

We had Ed Malion on who is the co-owner of a Mexican side in their top division. >> Uh Kerataro FC, former sports head of the independent uh works of the Athletic as well. Um we were talking about the Man City charges and the impact it might have on the prime minister Andy Burnham. This is what he had to say. >> I think there's a nonzero chance this topples the prime minister. I just saw the way that Burnham reacted to that Man City news and the things he didn't say and it worries me about what went down in Manchester around the property deals. Why is it that he cuz you know when you and Star did this a little bit with I'm the Arsenal fan. I'm the Arsenal fan. Burnham has been I'm the Everton fan. I'm I'm I'm the the everyman football supporter. Like I am that guy. >> He's got a lot of historic tweets like taking the Mickey out of Chelsea or whichever club it happens to be. You can't suddenly turn around and be like, "Well, yes, this is bad, but also Abu Dhabi has been a great friend to the UK like real estate development economy. That doesn't play. It doesn't play." And I know you're prime minister now and I know it's it's different. But I look at that and I think he has not handled it well. And it worries me why he's not handled it well. >> Um uh let's talk to uh finally a professional broadcast on this show. God, we needed that. >> Yeah, I know. as well. Proper mustache, proper broadcaster, John Peanut, host of Drive on Times Radio. How are you, John? >> I'm well. Good to talk to you. >> Yeah, always nice to talk to you. It is f I mean, just from a political standpoint, you know, Andy Bernham has had probably quite a nice run of things since becoming prime minister, and this is the first sort of pickle where he must go, "Ah, this timing is >> it's terrible for him." I mean, it's it's hard to know how it will play out, but the timing is very unfortunate. Well, it's it's clearly not good. It's not going to be the biggest worry on Andy Bernham's radar because he's got a radar full of worries, right? I mean, the well, I could go through a list, but you know what they perfectly well what they are, whether it's the whether it's in foreign affairs, whether it's at home in the economy, all of that sort of stuff is big every day. This is not helpful. This is something you'd much rather wake up and it wasn't there. Problem is that it is there. And you now have, you know, the uh the the Etsy and the the Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi owners as as in so many ways potentially toxic. And when you're a politician, you don't want any toxicity, but you've got it. He was the mayor of Manchester and in that capacity. He dealt with this with this business and he dealt with them again and again. And his staff dealt with them again and again. We know that city um city staff were involved when when the the Manchester Malty staff were on trade trips for example. There were city executives there involved with that. We now know thanks to the son that there were two dinners where he was at the eti having posh dinners with the chairman of Manchester City. Where that stuff is concerned. I may be wrong about this. Maybe in this my political antenna is a bit on the blink, >> but I'm I'm less than not at all surprised about the idea of the mayor of Manchester turning up in the in the director's box dining room at the Yetiat. >> That's the job, isn't it? As a politician, try for the club and redevelop the city. >> It seems to me, and again, disagree if you if you want to, but that seems to me the standard PR for the company is to get on and try to get on and get on the right side of the mayor of the city that you're in. I mean, you won't see shorty too many too many, you know, boardroom dining rooms in in clubs around the country that doesn't invite local dignitaries like the local mayor from time to to time. >> Um, the the big error, I suppose, you know, looking back, and it's always easy easier looking back, was when when Andy Burnham made that point about he'd be concerned if if the Abu Dhabi dubby owners cease to be the owners of Manchester City. And in that he was wearing the hat of a of a former Manchester map but also of a prime minister >> who wants to get on with Abu Dhabi. It is a it's an investor. It's an imp it's a presence on the international map of some significance. So I guess the you know the switch in his head went off and he said I'll say something which is you know doesn't cast any aspersions on Abu Dhabi. Trouble is he would have been better off just saying look rules are rules and everyone's got to abide by them. And he wouldn't have been criticized for saying that. you know, he might have been under some PR pressure in the background from somewhere in the general direction of Abu Dhabi to say more, but that would have been much more the cautious cautious thing to say and he didn't say it even if it didn't seem especially you know egregious at the time. It is an unforgiving business, isn't it? >> Yeah. I I suppose none of us really know what happens in the corridors of power, right? And we we've heard Ble and Andy the the Secretary of State for Digital Culture, Media and Sport saying um the government will obviously stay out of this case. >> Yes. But if the if the sanctions are in any way lenient, >> yes, >> everyone will say, we have obviously no idea what is happening, what the British government and the Abu Dhabi government talk say, saying to each other, but if they're in any way lenient, every fan who every fan will think, I wonder what's happened there, rightly or wrongly. >> Yeah. Well, that's exactly right. I mean, you know, I'm a fan, you're a fan, >> we're all a fan. And if and if it looks as if Manchester City have got off lightly, well then people, especially football fans, you react with your gut first. >> And the and the sort of, you know, the grievance against a club with unlimited resources, you know, succeeding in the way that they did has caused them a moan and a sort of bad for time immemorial. And if Man City get off lightly, it would be look objectively I I you know, my my value as a as a football pundit is less than zero. But it would be such a stain on the on the game and the the suspicion I think before it fell on on um the government or the prime minister, it would fall on the business would fall on the game. would fall on the the premiership >> as having just look guarded their own back against against damaging such a valuable asset and that would go down in every stand in the country bar the Etia that would go down dreadfully badly >> and of course you know they'll be saying what about Andy Burnham in the background as you say we don't know anything un there but you know football fans like people generally you sort of tend to get angry first and then sort of look for the reason to be angry later >> you've been in this game long enough John to know to know how it is And is this about as bad as you ever remember it to do with the football club? >> To do with the football club, absolutely. I mean, by by a mile, you know, I mean, um, maybe I'm more of a of a culprit in this than most people, but I stand in the in the in the or I sit in the stand at Sah's Park watching my team Crystal Palace in any given game. I'm convinced everyone's biased against them. I'm convinced almost every referee is absolutely hopelessly corrupt. So, I'm the probably the wrong person to ask that, but in that sense, I'm a little bit typical. And that's the beauty of the game, I guess. And that's interesting when you hear like it's really interesting. I felt this about when the Saudis bought Newcastle, I was quite outspoken about human rights abuse in Saudi Arabia. Yes. And and and you know, and and also about any state ownership. And if you and with this with the charges, if you sort of try and tell football fans how to feel >> Yeah. >> like it is your instant rea. Well, actually in life, if anyone tells you how you should feel about something, you go, "Well, I don't want to feel that." And so I totally get how Newcastle fans don't want to hear me saying actually stop supporting your football. It's not what I >> would have said anyway. But like for City fans to go, I don't want you to tell me to be furious with my owners. I want to come up with this idea myself. I guess that is >> the first carry on. >> I just think the first instinct to a lot of fans is to defend the club. Yeah. >> Even if even if in your heart and more privately you think I've got doubts about this, I'm not happy about this. when it comes to going down to the to the ground, you you tend not to join the critics and you rather shove your own your own reservations. I mean, we saw at Anfield, didn't we, at the weekend, uh that the the City fans were so defiant, you know, while while the Liverpool booze were sort of flooding the ground, the the City fans were sort of back to the back to the pitch doing the sort of Posland dance, weren't they? And when they got the result, they thought they thought great. I mean, and I remember when you're talking about the Newcastle take takeover, um, lots of talk about that being taken over by Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia got lots of, um, issues over their heads when it comes to human rights and so many other things. But I also remember a lot of Newcastle fans just rallying round and and suddenly dressing as if they a shake of in in Riyad, right? I mean, it is it gets tribal almost almost almost whatever happens. >> And uh, on a palace front, was it uh, did you like getting one over on Glasnner at the weekend or do you miss him? Yeah, it wasn't I'll always support and and have a have a soft spot for Oie Ollie Glazner. How could you not, you know, an FA Cup um and the Conference League, you know, on in the in the Trophy cabinet that's forever I'd have been absolutely devastated if we had not won that game. And and I was so to that I mean I'm not even going to disagree. I mean, in the first half, for a good half of the first half, >> Palace were dire. I mean, just just indescribably dire. And I started to worry about everything. But then, you know, we we banned in a couple of goals before the half and and we duty by the end of the game, we were sort of bossing bossing the game. And that's what that's what you want to see.