Burnham Warns Manchester City Owners' Exit Would Be a Blow to the City

Andy Burnham has expressed serious alarm at the prospect of Manchester City's owners walking away from the club in the wake of a damning verdict from an independent commission, saying he would be "really concerned" if they chose to sell up.

The prime minister said the matter remains "contested by Manchester City" and took the opportunity to commend the club's owners, who have controlled the Etihad Stadium outfit since 2008, for the money they have poured into the wider Manchester area.

His comments came after an independent panel concluded that City had breached the bulk of the Premier League financial rules they had been accused of breaking — a ruling the club is widely expected to challenge.

City have consistently rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing, and they now have until 2 October to lodge a formal appeal against the findings.

The case has also drawn the attention of the Independent Football Regulator, which the government established in 2025. The regulator said the matter had thrown up "serious issues" and indicated it would examine its options once the disciplinary process runs its course — including the possibility of removing the owners' licence to run the club.

At the heart of the commission's conclusions was a finding that City had put in place "sham contracts" with a series of commercial partners as part of a scheme designed to conceal secret funding worth in excess of £830m.

The Premier League responded forcefully, accusing the club of having "systematically" broken its rules across a period of close to ten years.

A sanctions hearing will now be convened to determine what punishment City should face, although it could take months before the panel sits. The club retains the right to appeal both the guilty findings and any penalty imposed, a scenario that leaves both City and the Premier League facing a prolonged period of chaos and uncertainty.

The range of possible sanctions is broad. City could be hit with a substantial fine, have points deducted, be expelled from the Premier League altogether, or even be stripped of the eight trophies they lifted during the period covered by the charges.

The scale of the commission's conclusions — and the bluntness of the Premier League's language — has prompted some supporters and commentators to ask whether the current owners can realistically remain in place if the club is found to have deliberately broken the rules over nine years.

Asked by the BBC's political editor, Chris Mason, whether he feared City's owners might now sell the club, Burnham replied on Wednesday: "I would be really concerned to lose them."

He went on to describe the ownership group as "such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester and obviously the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is."

Burnham, who served as mayor of Greater Manchester until June, added his thanks to the City Football Group and the broader ownership structure for the investment they had made — not only in the Etihad Stadium and the campus surrounding it, but also in the city itself.

He said he was "of course" confident that his own dealings with City's owners during his time as mayor would withstand scrutiny.

The prime minister's remarks landed amid widespread shock across the football world at the sheer scale of the independent commission's findings and the severity of the Premier League's criticism of the club's conduct.

Burnham was speaking to the BBC from Hill Dickinson Stadium, the home ground of Everton, the club he supports. Everton themselves previously fell foul of the Premier League's financial rules, receiving a ten-point deduction in November 2023 for less serious breaches — a punishment later reduced to six points on appeal.

Reflecting on that experience, Burnham said: "Everton was in this position a few years ago and you might remember that I fought for Everton in that situation because I still hold the view very firmly that they weren't fairly treated in that process."

He drew a parallel with City's present circumstances, noting that many people had been quick to declare Everton guilty at the time, and suggesting that with hindsight more observers would now regard the handling of that case as unfair.

For that reason, he argued, it would be wrong of him to take sides now, given what he had learned from the earlier episode.

Burnham described it as "frustrating when people rush to judgement," while acknowledging that there was "a lot at stake" for City's supporters, for the club and for Manchester as a whole.

Even so, he maintained that it would be inappropriate for him to intervene in the process.

City responded to the commission's verdict with a statement saying they were "both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission," and they continue to insist they are innocent of all the accusations levelled against them.

The affair remains live and unresolved, with the appeal window, the looming sanctions hearing and the regulator's parallel interest all ensuring that the final chapter in one of the most consequential cases in Premier League history is still a long way from being written.