Downing Street says Manchester City is not above the rules after Burnham comments

Downing Street said on Thursday, 1 October, that Manchester City is not above Premier League rules after Prime Minister Andy Burnham faced criticism for saying he would be concerned if the club’s owners sold up. The response matters because an independent commission has found City guilty of most of the 115 financial-rule charges against it, while the club contests the findings and the process remains open.

Burnham had said in a BBC interview on Wednesday that he would be ‘really concerned’ to lose the owners, whom he described as a major partner in building modern Manchester and turning City into a global force. He also said he was not directly involved in the Premier League process, that it must remain independent and that it would be wrong to jump to a conclusion while the case was contested.

Conservative shadow sports minister Louie French criticised Burnham for publicly backing the owners while the proceedings continued. He urged the government to keep politics out of football and said fans would ask whether political pressure was being applied. His objection was to the prime minister’s expression of support for the owners during a case whose outcome could affect the club and confidence in how football rules are enforced.

What Downing Street said about Manchester City

A No 10 spokesperson said Burnham had made clear that the commission’s initial judgment was serious and that ‘there can't be any suggestion that anyone is above the rules’. The spokesperson said the independent process must be allowed to run its course and its outcome respected. ‘Wherever wrongdoing is established, those responsible should face the appropriate consequences,’ the statement said.

What the commission found and what City disputes

The commission found City guilty of most of the 115 charges it faced. According to the BBC, its findings included that the club arranged sham contracts with commercial partners to disguise more than £830 million in funding. The Premier League said City had systematically broken its rules for nearly a decade. City denies wrongdoing and is contesting the findings.

The Guardian reported that the commission reached its judgment after a 42-day hearing involving 7,000 pages of witness evidence, eight years after the Premier League began investigating the club. It said the commission rejected City’s explanation that the sponsorship payments at issue came from the Abu Dhabi government rather than the club’s owners. Those findings remain subject to the ongoing process; they do not settle the appeal or determine a punishment.

Burnham’s comments drew attention partly because of his previous relationship with the club as Greater Manchester mayor, a post he held until June. In his interview, he said he was confident his dealings with City’s owners would stand up to scrutiny. He also referred to Everton, the club he supports, and said he still believed it had been treated unfairly in its earlier financial-rules case. The Guardian reported that Burnham had criticised the Premier League’s handling of Everton in a 2023 letter.

What happens next in the Manchester City case

City is challenging the verdict, but the outcome is unknown. The BBC reported that the commission will hold a separate hearing to decide sanctions and that it could take months to convene. A large fine or points deduction are among the possible penalties it identified. No sanction had been determined in that report, so the commission’s findings should not be treated as a final result for the club.

The Independent Football Regulator’s chairman, David Kogan, said the case raised serious issues. He said the regulator had powers to assess the suitability of owners, directors and executives and would use them where appropriate while taking account of league findings. He also noted that proceedings were ongoing. Separately, Treasury Committee chair Meg Hillier wrote to HMRC seeking reassurance that it recognised the case’s potential tax implications, the BBC and Guardian reported.

The government’s statement adds a clarification to NewsJaws’ earlier report on Burnham’s concern about losing Manchester City’s owners. Its position now explicitly acknowledges the seriousness of the judgment and calls for the independent process to finish before the consequences are settled.