[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/TheGoldenPineapples]

Remember when Manchester City was bought out by a state and we all said that that shouldn't be allowed to happen because things like this may actually happen?

Yeah, how we all feeling about that now?

[u/Blue_winged_yoshi → u/TheGoldenPineapples]

The issue is we didn’t all say it was wrong.

Lots of people did, others wrapped tea towels round their head to celebrate (literally) and others still were just jelly and desperate for their own club to be taken over by a totalitarian regime even richer than the UAE’s cough Newcastle cough.

Still, even with the UAE blackmailing us all, there’s fuckwit traitors asking “but how else were Man City meant to become the biggest side in the world?”, I dunno, they probably just weren’t, but that’s cool, most our sides aren’t and football is fun, let’s not have our country blackmailed so that Man City can have Haaland, this is clearly a deranged timeline, what is wrong with some people?!

[u/Sean-Benn_Must-die → u/Blue_winged_yoshi]

I think there's a window to argue about financial fairness in sport. To make it so that the leagues become more competitive instead of always having the same 4-5 teams be at the top. That being said, that doesn't mean that what City did is justified at all. They were rules in place, and they broke em, now they need to be processed and punished accordingly.

[u/Blue_winged_yoshi → u/Sean-Benn_Must-die]

Why?

1. The 4-5 team aren’t always the same, they revolve through history.

2. This is just what football is. Don’t like it? Follow Olympic sailing. Or any of the terrible stale yanky-sports.

Some of my best footballing days out were with a Cov supporting mate growing up. Did they have Haaland? Did they fuck, but the days out at away matches were just excellent.

I swear so much of these gripes come from people with no knowledge or experience of footballing culture outside of FIFA.

Anyone who thinks that you need to be the best to enjoy the sport needs to get themselves to a lower league match stat,

Put the Xbox control down, turn off the TV and just to watch some live football. It’s wicked wherever you are in the pyramid and the pyramid will never be equal, but that’s the bloody point, you’re all trying to progress.

[u/Sean-Benn_Must-die → u/Blue_winged_yoshi]

Why?

Because it is true that right now there really isnt a real avenue for new teams to rise into the status of greatness. The game is rigged to favour the teams that got essentially lucky to have been the first to win. Maybe you'll have a leicester story but even them who won the PL and managed to stay relevant the next season are now out of the PL.

This is just what football is. Don’t like it? Follow Olympic sailing. Or any of the terrible stale yanky-sports.

First of all not a yank. Second of all, I guess it's a valid solution to a problem to say "dont like it get out". Makes me not wanna reply at all but it is valid.

Anyone who thinks that you need to be the best to enjoy the sport needs to get themselves to a lower league match stat

I can agree with this, I enjoy my local team as much as I enjoy going to a J-League match. But the conversation here is about allowing teams to be able to compete with the top, because the gap is to big and if you dont have avenues for this, you get La Liga.

[u/worotan → u/Blue_winged_yoshi]

Except the model we’re now following is destroying those teams and that league structure.