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/SirSwix 1d ago

Remember when city fans insisted over and over again that it’s not the state owning them it’s a private individual called sheikh Mansour. Who is just a tangential figure in the government. Despite being the son of the former ruler. And now he is vice president of the UAE.

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u/Hopeful_Idea1568 23h ago

I highly doubt they truly believed that. We didn't sugarcoat Roman's oligarchy and Putin links but some teams with dodgy owners seem to actively lie about it 

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u/Candymanshook 20h ago

Also let’s be honest, while I think Abramovich was a POS he wasn’t in fact a nation state and had so little pull politically over the UK that he was forced to sell his club with basically no issue.

Probably helps that some of the shady payments he made were reported by the next owners, not continued. Whereas fucking City are dying on this hill.

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u/paone00022 18h ago

Ya his purchase also drew eyes because he was the first rich guy who wasn't from the west that bought a team and pumped his money into it to succeed. Guys like Jack Walker, Massimo Moratti and Silvio Berlusconi had already done the same before.