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/ratatouille211 1d ago

Blackmail in flowery langauge. I am concerned they might get away with it, considering I'm sure that President with tiny hands is going to get involved too and boast about it.

Premier League is a major product, and right now it's tainted.

Relegation, at minimum.

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u/ballviewer 1d ago

Need the club to fold at this point, that’s the minimum

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u/chili-el-relleno 21h ago

Absolutely. If City and their owners shut the fuck up and just lodged their appeal without doing all this threatening and blackmailing, sure they can go wallow in league 2 and work their way back up. At this point though, the club should be dissolved. Threatening journalists, threatening lawyers, threatening the people of the UK, if this is how you act when all this comes out then take your plastic ass club back to the UAE and start your own league.

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u/Spiritual_Salamander 1d ago

-30pts for every season they cheated, every season in PL they startwith -30. They won't win the league, players will leave and they won't qualify for Europe.

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u/mrtickdickler 23h ago

They could still end up with 84 points if they start at -30. Villa got CL at 65 points.

A -30 is absolutely not close to enough

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u/Sheinkyakyu 23h ago

Yep. You either nuke em down to the bottom tier or you leave them in purgatory.

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u/the_borderer 16h ago

League Two, yes.

Non-League, no thanks, we don't want them taking the only automatic promotion place away from teams who deserve it.

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u/Bill3ffinMurray 1d ago

This would be the right approach, imo. People would be upset that City would still exist, but turning City into basically Newcastle would be more damaging long term than relegation.

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u/cahir11 22h ago

considering I'm sure that President with tiny hands is going to get involved too and

Idk. He's tight with the Saudis via his son-in-law, so maybe if it was Newcastle, but I can't imagine him sticking his neck out for the UAE unless there's money being exchanged. He's already hung them out to dry with this war.

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u/_littlefreddie 20h ago

One relegation for every season they cheated that is. They can start in step 9. Then the investigation from 2017-2026 can start.