M

It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll

[AFCAMDEN @AFCAMDEN]

The way City/Abu Dhabi are behaving with the UK government - threats, intimidation, aggressive lobbying - can we rule out that they haven’t behaved this way with players, clubs and referees in order to get their own way? Becoming a bigger stain on our game with each passing day.

[Oliver Holt @OllieHolt22]

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.

[Adam Keys @adamkeys_]

The Premier League is one of the greatest brands the UK has ever created, yet the Prime Minister has spoken out in favour of a nation state who have actively cheated it for a decade. On top of this, their, now proven, off the books payments break the actual law. Weak leadership.

[Daniel Storey @danielstorey85]

Etihad threatening to sue. UAE reportedly intimating that UK investment could be pulled. A Prime Minister couching any criticisism. If this sorry saga doesn't convince you that state ownership of football clubs should never be allowed, nothing ever will.

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

“I would be really concerned to lose them.” Prime Minister Andy Burnham on the possibility of Manchester City’s owners selling up. What?! These are owners found guilty of serial breaches of the Premier League rule-book by three judges on an independent commission after a lengthy investigation. Owners who outraged other clubs and countless fans by flouting the rules and inflating sponsorship income with the Disguised Funding Scheme.

Owners who misled auditors and regulators, who threaten to bring this Premier League season – and, potentially, future seasons - to a standstill by their appeal, deny, delay tactics. Owners who are patently not proper custodians of a famous, historic club. Owners who many hope will sell up and ship out after bringing such shame and sham contracts to the game.

So these are astonishing, alarming comments from the PM. “I do actually thank the City Football Group and the wider ownership for the money that they didn't just put into the Etihad and the campus around it but also into the city," Burnham told the BBC’s Chris Mason.

Come on, PM. Read the room. Read the commission’s report. Read the belligerent statements from the Abu Dhabi owners and their chief executive like Ferran Soriano. Rather than thank CFG, perhaps thank the diligence of the Premier League in seeking to enforce its rules and protect the national sport. Perhaps thank the three judges for their pain-staking work in sifting through reams of evidence and coming to their considered conclusion.

Burnham spoke as a politician seemingly with one eye on diplomatic and trade links. He spoke as a former mayor whose city benefited from investment in east Manchester by Abu Dhabi. “They've been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester and obviously the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.” And how was that building financed?

Burnham spoke as a politician and not the football fan that he truly is. The lifelong Evertonian is usually pretty sound on football matters. He misread the mood of many fans not wanting the possible return of drinking in Premier League stands but that was a rare misstep. This is far worse. This makes him look out of touch with the prevailing mood. He was speaking at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Maybe he should head to Anfield on Sunday week and witness the anger felt towards City.

Burnham did add that he wasn’t getting involved in the process and that City had a right to appeal if they felt harshly treated. But how does the PM’s sympathetic words for controversial owners help the independent football regulator charged by Government with leading the fight against those who risk the credibility of their club, who play fast and loose with the rules and who damage the integrity of the national sport?

How frustrating if Burnham’s words embolden City's owners and Soriano further. Bit of an own goal by No 10.

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

Manchester City owners’ damaging strategy of appeal, deny and delay will inflict untold damage on countless people. It will inflict damage on this season’s Premier League which is effectively on hold with an unpunished City still involved. It inflicts further damage on the reputation of the world’s most popular sports league. It casts a cloud over the league for seasons to come, for as long as they drag the sport through the courts which they could do.

City owners’ refusal to accept responsibility in the face of overwhelming evidence against them further hardens anger towards the club. The strategy inflicts further damage on a 146-year-old club whose reputation was made by the honest endeavour and thrilling football of that outstanding team of the late 60s and 70s. The actions of City’s current owners risk trashing a historic club’s reputation.

Appeal, deny, delay inflicts further turmoil on the lives of their supporters. City fans’ innate defiance may waver when getting called cheat relentlessly. City fans didn’t cheat. Their club owners did with “sham contracts”, according to the findings of a long, forensic review by an independent commission. But it is City fans facing the consequences of their owners’ book-cookery – in the stands, on the streets, at work. A storm of scorn.

Do City owners also not think of their head coach, Enzo Maresca, and how every press conference will be an inquisition? Every player interview? Every arrival at an away stadium?

Do they not think of all the vital work done by City in the Community, the club’s charitable wing currently trying to celebrate 40 years of helping disadvantaged local people, and how their conduct impacts that?

Appeal, deny, delay damages Abu Dhabi’s own reputation. Do they actually care about football? About pressure on innocent, hard-working staff? About integrity? City’s owners have done plenty of good in East Manchester but that work now seems tainted.

Do they not care about the millions of people in this country who love football. Some may now, because of sham contracts and appeal, deny, delay, simply turn away from the national sport?

Do the owners worry about the UAE’s image? The behaviour of City’s owners is now a diplomatic issue between the UK and the UAE. And good luck to our new ambassador to the UAE, Geraldine McCafferty, who took up the position last month and will need all her diplomatic skills acquired in Sarajevo, Bogota and Beijing.

If they had a shred of responsibility, City owners would call off the lawyers, accept the independent commission’s findings, take the punishment and seek some settlement with the Premier League over compensation to other clubs. Appeal, deny, delay helps nobody.

[ben @matchdayben]

Manchester City when asked for the “irrefutable evidence”

[one @ONE_AMN]

People were actually trying to call Arsenal cheats because they didn’t like the way we played football last season and rooting for Man City to save football. Arsenal derangement syndrome

[Charles Watts @charles_watts]

Talk of one relegation, a £100m fine, European bans. It’s just nowhere near enough. This is the biggest scandal the Premier League has ever seen. We’ve all spent 15 odd years watching and spending money on a sham every week.

Honestly, not one single trophy they’ve won should be allowed to stand.

[Riccardo Calafiori @richy_calafiori]

earned ❤️

[Gabriel Magalhães 6 @biggabi06]

Earned it. ❤️

[Tim Stillman ⭐️⭐️ @timstillman_]

Surely the day has come when we stop paying attention to this guy. Not interested in reporting this news by his own admission but happy to repost the quotes of the owner and Rodri. In a right thinking world this guy’s credibility is unrecoverable. An embarrassment.

[David Ornstein @David_Ornstein]

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Manchester City found guilty on virtually all charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations. #MCFC expected to appeal against verdict issued by independent commission. Sanctions undecided, process ongoing @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/Muxqp4beK9

[HandofArsenal @HandofArsenal]

Imagine [allegedly] going to court with 757337 lawyers and saying “we make similar revenue to Real Madrid ( with our 37 fans)

If I am Florentino Perez, I am pressing another 114 charges.

Prem Clubs have been studying serious compensation for months.

[Adam McKola @AdamMcKola]

I'd have sympathy for City fans if they didn't all collectively have their head in the sand twerking for a nation state.

[Zohran Kwame Mamdani @ZohranKMamdani]

114

[Andy Burnham @andyburnham]

In a difficult and dangerous world, a decade on from Brexit, there is a risk that Britain loses the confidence to lead and stand up for its values.

I’m not prepared to let that happen. It is more important than ever that Britain stands for something.

We have called for years for a two-state solution in the Middle East, but we must recognise that those words are meaningless unless we back them up with action.

For too long, we have been hesitant to act, fearful of being accused of being anti-Israel.

Today we are announcing carefully judged, targeted steps that are not aimed at the Israeli people, but at the unacceptable policies of the current Israeli government.

The suffering of the Palestinian people is a scar on the conscience of the world. Innocent Palestinians, including children, continue to be killed in Gaza. And there is still a humanitarian crisis, with far too little aid getting in.

The scale of destruction is hard to comprehend. More than 70,000 people lie dead - at least 20,000 of them children. Families and communities have been torn apart. Millions displaced. And the population of Gaza is now penned into just one third of the territory.

I know that people across the UK feel very deeply about this issue - and so do I.

Before I became Prime Minister, I said our country’s response had been too slow and simply not good enough. That’s why I committed to changing the government’s approach.

I will not stand by as the horrific suffering continues to grow and the prospect of a two-state solution - the best hope for peace and stability in the region - comes under attack.

More settlements have been approved under the four years of this Israeli government than in the previous 20 years. The UN has reported more than 1,500 incidents of settler violence so far this year, aimed at driving out Palestinians. And the situation is growing worse, fast.

The Israeli government has now approved 104 new settlements since it took office in December 2022, and ahead of the October elections in Israel, it is allowing tenders for the construction of the E1 mega settlement to go ahead. This would cut a swathe through the heart of the West Bank - snuffing out the hope of realising a two-state solution. It cannot be allowed to happen.

That’s why we are announcing a new package of tough measures to put pressure on the Israeli government:

First, we will ban the trade in goods with illegal settlements in Palestine.

Second, we have formally changed the view of the British government to say for the first time that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful - independent of, but in line with, the conclusion of the international court of justice.

And third, we will sanction individuals and companies that support, facilitate or profit from illegal settlements. That includes any businesses or investors that take part in the construction of the E1 settlement.

In addition, we are announcing a new package of desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza.

We are taking these steps because it is the right thing to do.

I have condemned the monstrous terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 in the strongest possible terms - and continue to condemn Hamas. However, it does not justify the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza or the West Bank.

The measures we are taking are about targeting illegal settlements and increasing the pressure on the Israeli government to change course. We are not imposing sanctions on Israel as a whole, which would punish the Israeli people, many of whom disagree with their government’s position.

The Israeli people are not responsible for the actions of their government. And nor is the Jewish community in the UK. Blaming British Jews for the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is wrong, plain and simple. And it is antisemitism, plain and simple.

I met the representatives of the Jewish community just last week. I know the fear they live with day by day. My government will stop at nothing to ensure they are safe and to stamp out antisemitism in every part of our society.

The measures we are announcing today are about protecting the only solution that could see the Israeli and Palestinian people living side by side in peace and security - something that people up and down the UK desperately want to see.

The government I lead will keep working with our partners around the world to keep that hope alive.

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

Nigel Farage and other senior members of Reform UK have been filmed by undercover reporters celebrating secret new foreign donations.

Channel 4 News and @Verbatim_Media, a group of investigative journalists, can today reveal a plot to break the law on party funding at the highest levels of Reform UK.

You can watch the full investigation here: https://t.co/f1g358fN2Y

Channel 4 News approached Reform UK, Mr Farage, Mr Jukes and Mr Orr for comment on the findings of this investigation. They did not comment but we understand they deny the allegations in full.

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

Exclusive: Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donations

Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation.

🔗 Read the exclusive story on Substack:
https://t.co/CghgCNvXxl

[Verbatim @Verbatim_Media]

Our yearlong investigation reveals Nigel Farage courting illicit funding as part of a plot to bring foreign money into British politics, orchestrated by his top aides and caught on hidden camera.