Britain's prime minister reveals for the first time details of his secret meetings with Manchester City's owners
After being accused of collusion
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been dragged into the "sham contracts" storm engulfing Manchester City, after the club was found guilty of the most serious financial breaches in Premier League history.
Burnham has now promised to publish details of all his dealings and meetings with the club's Emirati owners, bowing to sustained pressure from the opposition.
900 million "sham" pounds
The Premier League dropped a bombshell when it announced that Manchester City had used "sham" commercial contracts as part of an organised scheme to inflate revenues and understate costs by more than 900 million pounds, the equivalent of 1.19 billion US dollars.
City have denied any wrongdoing throughout, insisting in an official statement that the independent commission's opinion contained "clear material errors". Earlier this month the club lodged a formal appeal, hoping to overturn the ruling and dodge penalties that could run to a points deduction or even relegation.
Opposition pressure forces Burnham to disclose
From the pitch to parliament. Opposition politicians have rounded on the Prime Minister over his initial response to the guilty verdict.
The Liberal Democrats demanded Burnham immediately disclose any meetings he had held with Manchester City's owners, representatives of Abu Dhabi or related entities, while Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called on the government to publish details of all meetings between Burnham and prominent figures at the club.
The Prime Minister's response: I will explain everything
Burnham responded on "The Rest Is Politics" podcast, due to be broadcast today, Monday, with extracts published by the "Reuters" agency. He will reveal the full truth, he says.
"The leader of the opposition asked me to publish the details of my meetings, and I am happy to do so and I will," Burnham said. "I will set out with complete clarity all the work I did with them during my previous time as Mayor of Greater Manchester."
None of it was recent, the Prime Minister stressed. "In fact, none of these contacts were recent. As for the meetings I held, I held only one significant meeting, and that was in 2021."
He served as Mayor of Greater Manchester from May 2017 to June 2026, a period that saw a major expansion of the Abu Dhabi group's investments in the city.
Last September, after the guilty verdict landed, Burnham voiced concern that the owners might sell up. He described them as having been "a major partner in building modern Manchester" and "in turning the club into a global force". The comments drew widespread criticism, with some reading them as taking sides in a serious financial case.
