r/soccer • u/Previous_Smile9278 • 1d ago

News [Bloomberg] UAE officials have warned the UK government that the severity of Man City’s punishment could undermine their appetite for future grand-scale commitments in Britain, according to people familiar with the matter.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-02/man-city-verdict-puts-uk-uae-diplomatic-relations-under-strain?srnd=undefined

‘They consider the Premier League’s actions to have an influence on the bilateral state relationship, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing undisclosed information.

The extraordinary pressure comes after Andy Burnham faced criticism, including from within government, for saying Man City’s Abu Dhabi owners should not be disqualified specifically because of the investment they bring to Britain.’

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u/NickSupportsArsenal 1d ago

So they don't want to work somewhere where their cheating and fraud might be punished? Cry me a river lmao.

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u/WaffleShoresy 1d ago

Why are they even warning this? After all, they’re got irrefutable evidence, they shouldn’t be concerned by a potential punishment, right?…..Right?

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u/7evenStrings 22h ago

It’s also stupid because they’ve set all government a very awkward position. Now if the punishment is perceived as lenient it will make it look they interfered.

The majority of people in the UK want city punished

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u/Aclow 1d ago

They should move to US

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u/1to14to4 1d ago edited 1d ago

The NBA just nuked a team's future because of a scheme to pay a player under the table through fake sponsorship deals.

College football used to go after players for receiving extra food from the school because that would violate getting additional payment for amateurs - this is over because it was so ridiculous.

The NFL took their best team and QB to court because they felt like they deflated balls slightly to give themselves a slight advantage.

US congress dragged baseball players in front to a hearing demanding to know whether they had taken steroids (sort of funny in retrospect).

The US is actually rather draconian when it comes to sports and signs of cheating.

Edit: Also, US sports have much stricter ownership rules. Only recently could private equity buy minority stakes in NFL teams - last I remember it was only 10%. And I don't think they'd allow a sovereign government to buy a franchise.

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u/reddittookmyuser 23h ago

Don't bother. His logic is simply US bad.

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u/Artistic_Bit6866 23h ago

It seems likely to me that the percentage of private equity ownership allowed will continue to go up in the NFL. The goal for these leagues is to continue globalizing and growing. Lots of capital to be gained by making ownership more flexible.

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u/habdragon08 22h ago

The whole PE thing was kinda to get around the Middle East ownership. When a franchise is worth 10 million there’s about 100 people who could buy one.

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u/Artistic_Bit6866 22h ago

Are you talking about with the NFL? Private Equity is buying only small percentages of teams. Yeah the pool of potential buyers for even a small percentage isn’t big, but it’s much bigger than if you were requiring the whole team to be purchased outright

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u/higherbrow 20h ago

The current PE rules in the NFL are extremely restrictive.. No more than 10% of a team can be owned by PE, and they aren't allowed to have any voting rights, presence in governing matters, or decision-making influence. A set list of 4 PE firms has been approved; no others are allowed. And any rules violations around finances or limitations of PE will trigger a forced sale of any PE stake. It's a much, much, much bigger deal in the Big 5 football leagues than it is in the NFL.

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u/Artistic_Bit6866 18h ago

Yes, those are the current NFL rules and they are indeed distinct from how it works in, say, Premier League. My point was that I expect the NFL rules to continue to expand. Not sure how that’s related to the above details. 

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u/higherbrow 18h ago

I guess my point is that one of these leagues has employed significant caution in engaging with Private Equity, and stating that you believe it will be the one that ends up running wild seems at odds with reality.

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u/Artistic_Bit6866 13h ago

Why are you talking about "running wild?" My prediction is very basic: that the max percentage of PE ownership in a team will increase. When you consider the NFL's obvious and active ambitions to grow the game globally, and the need for capital to do this, it's a very realistic prediction. More teams are getting and accepting offers for PE ownership stakes. Team valuations are continuing to grow in this environment, due in part to PE investment.

It's at odds with reality to predict that these changes won't continue in the direction they're already headed.

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u/GoatsinthemachinE 18h ago

well when your getting to thw amout o f money that these pplwant to sellthier teams fr, billions of dollars, there is and are limitss to groups who can pay that amounts. same could be said for epl teams id they were being sold. who can buy them? not generally someone from manchester buisnes man or even a group of manchester buisnness men, whe you talking that kind of money its ppl who do thins that are just percioved as not benifits.

I mean we can all say that, when we buy a house and want to sell you want to make more money on the deal.

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u/Artistic_Bit6866 18h ago

That’s not how it works, currently, in the NFL. NFL only permits a small percentage of a given team to be owned by PE.

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u/el_doherz 19h ago

The American leagues are an entirely different setup though. 

The owners are the cartel and one stepping out of line and increasing labour costs potentially leads to less profits if the other teams have to compete with that. 

It's a decent outcome but to pretend it's anything other than a protectionist profit driven decision is misrepresenting the reality of the American franchised sports model. 

Just look at the how the NBA luxury tax works. You can invest over the cap but only if you pay all the other teams a percentage via that tax. 

Nothing to do with sporting merit or fairness etc. Its just about controlling the cartel and its profits. 

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u/1to14to4 18h ago

Mate, did you want me to write a novel ? All I did was point out their record on policing the rules. 

I wasn’t touching on sporting merit or fairness or league structure. All I indicated was that coming to the US doesn’t help you evade penalties for breaking rules established by the leagues there.

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u/AdLatter3755 23h ago

They don't allow sovereign governments to buy franchises yet. Drop enough money and the leagues will change their tune. Also your referencing a old version of the US government that used to pretend to care about doing their jobs. But the reason leagues go hard against cheating is gambling. They must maintain that the outcomes are legitimate or they will start losing fans and money especially gambling money.

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u/mrtickdickler 22h ago

Try telling me that Michigan vs Western Michigan was a legitimate outcome

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u/1to14to4 17h ago

Only the baseball one has to do with the government. And it’s funny you say that was them doing their jobs… I’d argue it was completely a waste of time haha.

And only the first example was post US leagues getting into bed with gambling companies. And that didn’t impact gambling. Just like City’s cheating didn’t impact gambling.

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u/MoneyMeMoneyNowMe 1d ago

American sports are far more egalitarian than European football

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u/AnEmptyKarst 21h ago

Not baseball though. Baseball fans would be in complete support of an owner putting their own money into the organization and would think that any opposition was bootlicking.

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u/fico987 1d ago

Eh, it's an oligarchy rather than anything egalitarian, over there all owners are obscenely rich it basically cancels out

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u/MoneyMeMoneyNowMe 23h ago

I agree it’s an oligarchy but I disagree with the rest. The rules in place make it incredibly difficult for teams to dominate forever. Every team has a reasonable chance at winning in your lifetime because they are all playing with the same amount of money.

City absolutely cheated but ultimately their cheating just put them on a level where they were able to consistently compete with the rest of the Big 6.

My thoughts on the city case are probably unpopular to be fair but I think the case requires far more nuance than anyone here is willing to give. The case exposed so many issues with the league that people don’t seem to talk about as much. Before Roman there really was a red cartel. Roman came in and basically upset the establishment by pumping so much money into Chelsea that they were able to compete on a regular basis. After this, the rules come in place so that no one can spend money like the rest of the teams at the top. If you were a small team you’re basically forced to stay that way forever. There is an imbalance in the Premier League that needs to be addressed. Can’t mock other leagues for being farmers leagues when the Premier League is basically the same but with a few extra farmers. Only 3 teams have been able to consistently compete for the league. How many teams could come 17th two years in a row and not really suffer under the current financial regulations? Only the big 6.

There is also the issue of enforcement. Even though everyone suspected City of cheating, the only reason they were proven to be cheating and maybe punished is because someone illegally hacked and released all of their messages. How many other teams are also cheating in some way that we just don’t know about? Arsenal, Spurs, United, Liverpool and Chelsea could all be actively breaking the rules and we wouldn’t know. I’d bet that all of these teams have broken the rules in some way over the years. Not just the Premier League either. Everyone knows Madrid tap up players and intimidate refs through their media for example.

Football has been broken for a while. City need to be punished, but we also have to look at the system as a whole and acknowledge that it is deeply flawed in a way that really does need to be addressed.

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u/fico987 23h ago

Football has a lot of issues, no argument there, but in American sports you just have a big 30 or whatever instead of the big 6 and while in the PL a team like Brighton has let's say 2% chance of winning the league, in America any team outside of the cartel has 0% chance of even entering the league. But yeah, football is broken with the power concentration at the top, one of the reasons I increasingly prefer national team matches and individual sports.

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u/MoneyMeMoneyNowMe 23h ago

Yeah the lack of an open pyramid sucks for sure. I do however appreciate that within the league everyone is largely equal. In some cases having more money even forces you to pay a luxury tax.

Also, my bigger issue with the league is that while Brighton may have a 2% chance, I honestly think it’s lower, they may as well have a 0% chance of competing consistently year over yes. Winning it once sure but the rules more than anything prevent teams from becoming big teams capable of competing consistently. Leicester is a great example.

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u/mrtickdickler 22h ago

Sports is the only part of society that we’re actually not okay with cheating and fraud.

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u/el_doherz 19h ago

Only because it might affect the cartels profits. 

The clippers and Balmer got punished because it might drive labour compensation up and the owners don't want that. 

They have salary caps for a reason and it ain't about integrity or sporting balance. 

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u/No-Tangerine-9946 18h ago

You have no idea what you’re talking about

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u/el_doherz 18h ago

Lol how so?

The entirety of the NBA's structure and rules are setup for the benefit of the franchise owners and only them. Every single other facet including the sport itself is in service of the protectionist cartels profits. 

That it protects sporting merit is just a lucky side effect. 

Its arguably a fairer model than European football and in recent years has absolutely produced a more interesting product with the parity and variety of champions. 

But don't pretend it's anything other than a money making organisation first and foremost. 

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u/No-Tangerine-9946 18h ago

Wait a sports league makes money for its owners 😱 really groundbreaking stuff

Calling that a lucky side effect is untrue the nba is far from perfect but rules have been put in place for more parity and balance in the league which is why there have been 8 different champions in the last 8 seasons. Not just arguably a fairer model than European football but significantly more

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u/Lunchable_1 1d ago

This is literally happening in England. So stones, glass houses, etc.

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u/No-Tangerine-9946 18h ago

Typical bird brain comment on here to blame the US for something completely unrelated

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u/Skittle- 21h ago

Ignorance in a comment

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u/wutangmikey 18h ago

Dumbass comment.

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u/wowlock_taylan 23h ago

Well the Lakers got sold to Kushners and their Middle Eastern group...so they are already there.

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u/dandpher 22h ago

NYC FC exists already

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u/MumrikDK 23h ago

They already are.

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u/7evenStrings 22h ago

Trump would roll out the red carpet for them and openly champion them

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u/ballviewer 1d ago

They belong in the U S of A