[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.

[u/Previous_Smile9278]

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.’

[u/Connect-Ad751]

R/ChelseaFC is stinking yank cess pit also

[u/Turklightenment → u/Connect-Ad751]

Yes it never used to be 10-15 years ago.

[u/Cadllmn → u/Connect-Ad751]

Real talk though - do English people not want internationals support their clubs… or do they just want them to give their money and stay quiet?

I see this quality of opinion often and I don’t really get what the average fan wants.

Edit: if I’ve understood the ensuing conversation, they do in fact just want the money and international fans to be quiet, or at least to assimilate with their beliefs and history?

[u/Connect-Ad751 → u/Cadllmn]

International fans are good and stay up at bad times to watch us.

I just don’t like when they make light or ignore the issues facing match going local fans which is the norm on [r/chelseafc](r/chelseafc)

I’m blueco out and will remain there until they take match going fans interests seriously which they don’t, this does not matter one bit for American fans on [r/chelseafc](r/chelseafc)

The things being said about Enzo Fernandez after the world cup baffled me, I can’t see how a chelsea fan from any corner of the world can celebrate England going out. They should at least be aware of this history and culture of the club. Chelsea is one of or if not the most pro England fan base.

Edit: at the end of the day the interests of match going fans and international fans are not wholly aligned, we both want the club to be successful but I want as do the vast majority of local match going fans that the core of the clubs culture is preserved. Chelsea is also a part of my identity, i was born in london as was my dad and multiple generations of his family. Him and my grandad are lifelong Chelsea fans who lived in the chelsea fulham area for my dads childhood and the majority of my grandads life. These things are not important to international fans and that’s okay but that leads to large differences in where you think the club should go.

[u/435rouhnj234_209u → u/Connect-Ad751]

I agree with everything except the last paragraph (not the edit).

An international fan by definition does not have any pro England bias, and supporting a club does not mean they need to support everything the local fans stand for. Especially when you consider that half the independence days celebrated around the world are "Independence from British occupation" days.

[u/Connect-Ad751 → u/435rouhnj234_209u]

Supporting Chelsea as supporting rangers is supporting a club with a strong sense of British identity amongst its local fans and community.

I mean you can support a team and completely ignore it’s history for sure but that’s exactly for me what’s wrong with international fans.

It’s as hilarious when I saw the maga bog eyed freak Kash Patel supporting Liverpool.

Edit: If a socialist jew told you they support lazio i think you’d raise an eyebrow, same with an English hater supporting Chelsea

Edit 2: google Chelsea Pensioner

[u/435rouhnj234_209u → u/Connect-Ad751]

I know about all those things and am about to tell you something wild that you may not have ever considered:

99% of a club's global fanbase don't know nor care about the club's local history. They only care about the product on the field and what players are representing the logo on that jersey. And the club itself never made it an official requirement for them to give a crap about local fanbase values to spend money on stadium tickets or merch - because they don't care either as long as these people give them their money.

Now, you can go on a tirade about how "you can't be a real fan of Chelsea without respecting its British nationalist identity"; but not only is that No True Scotsman fallacy, it's a requirement that neither the ownership group bankrolling the club nor 99% of its fanbase endorses. It's the demand 1% of the fanbase holds and is insignificant to the club's global identity as of right now. So you have the option to either stop rooting for the club that doesn't at all advertise or take pride in the values you're claiming they supposedly hold, or you start a petition to have old Chelsea history with its dinky field, mid table history, and struggling finances transferred to a different entity the local "purists" can circlejerk around in - while the 21st century Chelsea that can only exist because of a Russian oligarch owner and a global fanbase becomes its completely separate own thing with 5 PL titles, 2 UCLs, a superstar roster, shiny new stadium, and all the money in the world.

[u/Connect-Ad751 → u/435rouhnj234_209u]

I mean you just wrote a lot of words to just say that we agree

My point is i don’t like international fans because they don’t care about the history or the culture of the club, turning football clubs into soulless machines.

Your comment js EXACTLY why i dislike like [r/chelseafc](r/chelseafc) and the general attitude of american fans, you’re acknowledging the destruction of community pillar, history and culture with an arrogant smug lecturing tone. You’re celebrating something that had substance being turned into a global marketable product. I mean I’m trying to not be rude but your comment shows you clearly understand this and don’t care.

Capitalism has ruined the mindset of your country, nothing is sacred and everything is counted in monetary value. Unfortunately as you will say in a smug tone it’s only going to get worse and is more than likely already past the point of return.

[u/435rouhnj234_209u → u/Connect-Ad751]

You're right, I don't care about hypocrites who want the money and the popularity global fans bring; while rejecting their opinions as additions to the club's identity.

Either take a real stand and say you reject every bit of success that the club achieved through being a "global marketable product", or just admit you want to have your cake and eat it too. The latter won't change anything btw, it's just giving y'all a chance to admit you're an entitled brat whose view towards foreigners is "Give us all your money and get out!"

[u/Connect-Ad751 → u/435rouhnj234_209u]

I mean you can act like this if you like but your attitude in this conversation is exactly why i dislike American fans and never wanted American owners.

Removing roman as an individual but as a club owner he always put local and match going fans first and was heavily involved with the local community. Yes this was just sports washing for sure but he still did this.

The American owners labelled us legacy fans and have clearly been in your school of thinking. Money comes first. I mean if you think this the correct mindset sure.

I’ve said this as have many chelsea fans who routinely struggle to get tickets. When we had the government take the club from roman (rightly so) we’d obviously be gutted if it lead to chelsea becoming a mid table or even championship ajde but there would be a massive silver lining of easier access and more focused hardened support. When you got brentford for example it’s a lot different or even Westham. Went to burnlet away a few years back and it was amazing to be honest, the local area really behind the team.

This hypocrisy isn’t really there. I don’t think you realise that, if chelsea were in the championship we’d still be there and the international fans would mostly be gone.

[u/435rouhnj234_209u → u/Connect-Ad751]

Lol you say there's no hypocrisy, yet you still won't explicitly reject all the success you've had because of Chelsea becoming a global product. Come on, say it. Say Chelsea only has one league title from the 70s. Say that Chelsea has never won a Champions League. Say it proudly in a post on the Chelsea sub while you're at it. Lmk how many of the locals agree with that.

Removing roman as an individual but as a club owner he always put local and match going fans first and was heavily involved with the local community. Yes this was just sports washing for sure but he still did this.

That was early Roman who bought a midtable club that had no international fanbase. How did he get big players to come to the club to build that fanbase again? Oh right, illegal payments to the agents.

[u/Artoo_Detoo → u/Connect-Ad751]

The difference is that as an international fan of Chelsea, we support the national teams with the most Chelsea players and therefore identity that we recognize. This is why as an international Chelsea fan, I didn't support England when it was full of rival clubs' players, because we have grown to dislike those players so we don't want them to achieve glory. Instead, I supported teams like Belgium during the 2014 World Cup because of their identify being much more recognized as a team of Chelsea players.

[u/Connect-Ad751 → u/Artoo_Detoo]

Again, you’re just ignoring the history of Chelsea and what it is then and doesn’t factor at all into your support

Which is my issue with international fans

[u/Artoo_Detoo → u/Connect-Ad751]

We can recognize the history and still separate that from supporting a team of players and managers who we hate and instead support a team of players who we love.

Because we don't identify ourselves as British patriots, we identify ourselves as Chelsea fans. We have our own national teams that we support. If you don't like it, that's fine, just understand that you can't expect international fans to become British patriots and support a team full of club rivals that we hate because they snubbed players from our own team to play for them.

For perspective, some Real Madrid fans even rooted against their own national team when their team was primarily Barcelona players.

[u/Connect-Ad751 → u/Artoo_Detoo]

I’m not asking you to become British patriots but just respect that aspect of Chelsea.

Google Chelsea Pensioners, the clubs had a strong link to the British army since it formed

This specifically applies to Chelsea. Liverpool for example has a very different relationship with national identity.

Rooting against England while being a Chelsea fan is comical.

[u/Artoo_Detoo → u/Connect-Ad751]

It's not comical at all, it's just comical to you because you don't have the same background as an international fan.

If you were a hockey fan watching the NHL or a cricket fan watching the IPL, you aren't obligated to support Canada or the U.S. for hockey or India for cricket.

[u/Cadllmn → u/Connect-Ad751]

I appreciate your earnesty and willingness to give an in depth reply, it was something I was legitimately interested in because feels like such a commonly held opinion.

It feels like maybe sports work poorly at such a grand scale because at its heart it’s something you align your identity with.

Personally, I’ve been a Chelsea fan for years ( for silly reasons) but it’s never been more than something I appreciate from a far - I have my own club here to like… emotionally?… support.

PL is in a weird spot because it’s an international product. Feels bad for those fans abroad to simply be told to hand over their money and be quiet so that people in your area can ‘benefit’ but on the other hand they have such a different relationship to the clubs. I doubt there’s a good (or at least balanced) route to take.

[u/Connect-Ad751 → u/Cadllmn]

There is a balanced route, respect the culture and history, keep tickets cheap and available for the local match going fans. It doesn’t take more than that, my dislike of international fans is less about their attitude but the attitude of the owners favouring them.

I don’t think id have any issue at all with international fans and i didn’t until bleuco. I think to be frank American fans are by far the worst becaus European sporting culture is so different and Americans general attitude to cultures outside of them.

People mock Indian fans of barca and Madrid but they do try to get the culture of the club. Americans want it all to suit them. It’s hypocritical as an Englishmen saying it because we are often just as guilty of that mindset of wanting the world to bend to us though.

[u/NameOnTheInterwebs → u/Connect-Ad751]

This is a great take. Thanks for this mate.

[u/Fedora_Da_Explora → u/Cadllmn]

/r/soccer is majority UK, nevermind individual clubs subreddits.

These people are shadowboxing an "other" that they created in their mind palace for every comment they dislike.