Man City charges: Any political interference and I’ll quit, says regulator

The chair of English football’s regulatory body said Tuesday he would resign if there were any political interference over potential sanctions for Manchester City.

City has been found guilty of widespread breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules which could result in punishments including a massive fine, points deductions or even expulsion from England’s top flight.

Separately, the government’s Independent Football Regulator has the powers to force club owners to sell and can withhold a license to operate if they are deemed unfit.

An independent panel found United Arab Emirates-backed City had artificially inflated its revenue by more than $1bn over nearly a decade, circumventing fair-play rules.

Football regulator chair David Kogan said it was still awaiting the outcome of City’s appeal against the verdict.

The UAE is a big investor in the United Kingdom. Asked about the regulator’s ability to remain independent given wider relations between the governments, Kogan said “any form of political interference on the way we operate is going to result in my resigning from this role and I stand by that completely”.

“We’ve come under absolutely no political pressure whatsoever on this or any other topic. And I don’t expect to in the future,” he said.

Kogan’s comments came after UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would be “really concerned” to lose City’s current ownership. Burnham also said he would not get “directly involved in the process”.

City is accused of providing misleading information about its finances over a nine-year period from 2009-2018. During that time, it won three titles and signed some of the world’s best players. It went on to enjoy a period of unprecedented dominance of English football.

The guilty verdict represents the biggest scandal in Premier League history and raises questions over the future of the club, which is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE deputy prime minister and a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family.

The Independent Football Regulatory was established by the UK government last year to set governance standards in English football.

Part of that includes the issuing of licenses for clubs to be able to operate, which will begin from November.

Kogan suggested the guilty verdict would not impact the issuing of a license to City because its appeal is ongoing.

“A verdict once it’s gone through an appeal process will certainly be something that we would clearly be taking into account when looking at awarding a license or looking at the owners, directors and senior executives,” he said.