Hold up, Manchester City just dropped a bomb with their appeal strategy: they’re gonna claim their massive sponsorship deals were actually funded by the Abu Dhabi government, not the club’s owners. This wild argument comes as part of their appeal after an independent commission found them guilty of breaching financial rules.
The £830.69m Question That City Can’t Shake
So, here’s the deal. On Tuesday, it was confirmed that an independent commission slapped City with a guilty verdict on all charges related to breaching the Premier League’s financial regulations. We’re talking about a period from the 2009-10 season all the way through 2017-18. City has been denying guilt this whole time, and they signaled they’d appeal by Friday. The commission’s original finding was that the club artificially inflated revenue. How? Through “sham” sponsorship agreements, cooked up with help from their owners. Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), which is Sheikh Mansour’s private investment company, apparently “topped up” the value of commercial deals. This was a “disguised funding scheme” to the tune of a mind-blowing £830.69m. The idea was to make the club *look* like it was complying with Premier League and Uefa financial rules.
A New Twist: “It Was The Government!”
Now, for the curveball: sources are telling BBC Sport that City’s appeal board will hear evidence claiming the money for those sponsors actually came from the Abu Dhabi government. Not ADUG. Why does that even matter? Because Premier League rules actually *allow* state-owned bodies to sponsor clubs. This is a huge distinction for City. The independent commission, though, already shot this argument down as “untrue” in its findings. They straight up said, “We concluded that it was an ‘explanation’ that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to obscure and conceal the realities of the disguised funding scheme.” Oof. City’s chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, mentioned “irrefutable evidence” over the weekend that he says backs up the club’s innocence claims. City’s argument is that the commission’s decision has “clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.” This is gonna be a battle, for real.
Etihad’s Fury and What Happens Next
And it’s not just City fighting. Their principal sponsor, Etihad Airways, is reportedly considering legal action against the Premier League. Etihad is fuming, claiming the release of the commission findings had “damaging implications” for them, even though they weren’t named in the redacted findings. The UAE’s state-owned national airline said it “categorically rejects any finding, conclusion or implication that suggests the airline has ever been involved in improper commercial arrangements.” It’s worth noting that Etihad is owned by a sovereign wealth fund, L’Imad, which is chaired by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, the son of the UAE president. The Premier League hasn’t commented on any of this. So, what’s next for Manchester City? They’re heading into this appeal with a bold new argument. The stakes couldn’t be higher as they try to prove those “material errors” and clear their name.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by BBC Sport.
Leave a Reply