Would love to get a comment from @etihad on this. You are one of the biggest airlines in the world who annually carry 22 million passengers.
Two days ago you threatened to sue the Premier League. You disputed the IC’s finding that you has entered into sham contracts to help defraud football. We were told that it was Abu Dhabi, not City’s owner, that had paid the sponsorships on your behalf.
Two days later, @Telegraph publish information from you sent to the US government in 2015 — where you claim:
“The assertion that the Abu Dhabi government paid for Etihad's sponsorship of English Premier League football club Manchester City is equally false”
This comes across as problematic to me. The world is not always a beautiful place. Football is an amazing game that kids love to play. When we get older, football becomes the ‘opium for the people’. An escape from reality. Something beautiful. The game of football is actually called the beautiful game.
When we look at the track-record of @UAE, @InAbuDhabi, and @etihad in football — it’s horrible.
It might be beneficial for the ego of some sheikh — but is it worth it? Can’t you leave it alone?
Guardiola was there for a decade. A decade. His friends were in key management positions. He came out and backed the ownership this week. His family are in business with the owners. He has a social conscience. He is not a stupid man.
I’m sorry, but no.
1/. The #ManchesterCity judgment potentially raises very serious questions about how alleged accounting failures went undetected for 9 years.
Today, I’ve written to the Financial Reporting Council asking what it will investigate, how quickly it can act, and whether it has the powers and resources it needs.
These continued references by Man City to ‘the opinion’ of the commission are weird.
You mean an independent legal panel of experts who spent years poring over thousands of pages of evidence and listened to a host of witnesses.
🚨🚨| NEW: Premier League investigators reportedly argued Manchester City 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 PSR by nearly £100m in 2017/18, Guardiola’s first title winning season.
[@TheAthleticFC, @jwhitey98]
🔺 Update: Manchester City’s defence that their principal sponsorship deals were funded by the Abu Dhabi government and not the club’s owner may be undermined by a statement made by their principal sponsor Etihad to a US investigation in 2015 | ✍️ @martynziegler, @Lawton_Times https://t.co/TuLxvmEP36
🚨🚨 BREAKING: Real Madrid has requested that Barcelona be STRIPPED of ALL titles won during the years in which the Catalan club paid off the VP of refs, Negreira.
They want Barcelona STRIPPED of EVERYTHINg they won between 2001 and 2018.
UEFA are now OFFICIALLY investigating, and could BAN Barcelona from their competitions. @diarioas
Hello @etihad, I’ve just been quoted £4000 for return flights to Abu Dhabi.
Can you please clarify if I need to pay the full amount? Or do I pay £115 and the Abu Dhabi Government pays the rest?
Andy Burnham's intervention in the Manchester City affair was inappropriate, injudicious and badly, badly misjudged. It felt like a nod to the power of nation state ownership of English football clubs. It felt as if the Establishment was going in to bat for its buddies.
Just a reminder for anyone interested in Abu Dhabi in Manchester. We conducted a forensic investigation into the deal with a range of findings that seem more relevant than ever....land deals, tax payments, offshore companies + 'sweetheart deals'
https://t.co/CVSRnDAcRQ