Fred The Red

[Oliver Holt @OllieHolt22]

Manchester City danced with their own notoriety at Anfield and embraced their shame. A club found guilty of cheating is prospering. It was another bad day for the English game https://t.co/BvuUHZD5MQ

[Fred The Red @jb_111_]

@markgoldbridge New manager needed asap

[Rui Pinto @RuiPinto_FL]

This is also what football is all about. Appreciate it!

[Louie French MP @louie_french]

Breaking news that Andy Burnham oversaw a £55m taxpayer loan linked to Man City’s owners.

He’s clearly compromised and must come clean on all his financial links to the club’s owners.

English football fans deserve so much better than this sorry mess.

https://t.co/dfmbDdhMBc

[Rui Pinto @RuiPinto_FL]

"In public, Infantino always insisted on sticking to the rules, as though he were a kind of saint taking on the financial doping administered by the evil fat cats. But now the full hypocrisy has been exposed.

To the outside world, Infantino has always given the impression of only wanting what was best for football and never what was best for himself. The papers, together with interviews with a dozen experts and FIFA insiders, suggest another mindset typical of an autocrat, according to which what's best for him must always be best for everybody else, too."

https://t.co/pCb93qDlu0

[utdreport @utdreport]

David Ornstein on how PL clubs have reacted to Man City being found guilty:

“Many of the clubs feel very angry because they feel they have been the victims. They want retribution, revenge in terms of potential legal actions.” [@ViaplayFotball]

[Mark Goldbridge @markgoldbridge]

I'm LIVE https://t.co/LPqZkjviRC

[Peter Geoghegan @PeterKGeoghegan]

🔴NEW: As Man City found guilty of breaking 100+ financial rules, Democracy for Sale can reveal the chair of a lobbying firm paid by the UAE – whose vice-president owns City – is advising the UK government on sport and foreign policy...

FULL STORY:
https://t.co/3ms76JF4yp

[utdreport @utdreport]

David Ornstein: "I don't see how Manchester City would continue in the Premier League" [@ViaplayFotball]

[UnitedMuppetiers @Muppetiers]

Moving forward, it is the responsibility of every fan base in the Premier League to make the environment as toxic and uncomfortable around City games as possible until punishment is doled out. These games should hardly even be going on until the sanctions are made.

[Miguel Dantas @MikeD9605]

🚨Portugal kept Rui Pinto (@RuiPinto_FL) in the dark for 83 days after deciding to end his protected-witness status, then gave the Manchester City whistleblower just 10 days to find somewhere safe to live and support himself. Now, under mounting pressure, authorities are reviewing the decision. So why did they wait almost three months to tell him? Story with @ed_aarons for @guardian
https://t.co/ZUtqgwK0w1

[utdreport @utdreport]

Man City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak met a senior UK government minister to discuss the UAE’s investments in Britain just days before the club’s guilty verdicts were announced.

Al Mubarak asked to meet Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds on 14 September in his capacity as CEO of Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, sources tell Bloomberg [@alexwickham]

[Alex Wickham @alexwickham]

**EXCLUSIVE**

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak met a senior UK government minister to discuss the UAE’s investments in Britain just days before the club’s guilty verdicts were announced.

Al Mubarak asked to meet Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds on 14 September in his capacity as CEO of Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, sources tell Bloomberg.

The pair held a private meeting in Downing Street on that date, the people said. Al Mubarak talked about current and future UAE investment in Britain, they said.

The conversation covered the full range of the relationship including defence, security, intelligence and trade, they said.

Eleven days later, on 25 September, the Athletic reported Man City had been found guilty of breaking Premier League rules.

On 29 September, the Premier League confirmed Manchester City had been found guilty of artificially boosting its balance sheet by more than £900 million.

The fact of the meeting so close to the verdict will raise further questions about the UK government’s handling of the case.

Andy Burnham has faced criticism, including from his own ministers and officials, after he publicly suggested Man City’s Abu Dhabi owners should not be disqualified from running the club because of the investment they bring to Britain.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Emirati officials have warned the UK government that the severity of the ruling could undermine their appetite for future grand-scale commitments in Britain.

https://t.co/kEZiAWiFEV

[Alice @AliceTalksFooty]

Does anyone believe Man City just miraculously stopped cheating in 2018?

If it was £900m in inflated revenue between 09-2018 I do wonder what the real figures are between 2018-2026.. because there 21/22 revenue does not match the size of the fan base.

I think future investigations are needed. Or just kick the owners out of football so this does not happen again.

[Simon Stone @sistoney67]

‘Sham’. https://t.co/is04eFzyWf

[James Ducker @TelegraphDucker]

#MCFC have been accused of potentially avoiding paying about £12m in income tax and national insurance in relation to Roberto Mancini’s salary, according to new claims published on Thursday

https://t.co/BfBgaBycMX

Link to report by @DanNeidle and Tax Policy Associates team below ⬇️

[Melissa Reddy @MelissaReddy_]

Poor - and biased - response from Andy Burnham on Manchester City being found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules by an Independent Commission.

He says “I can’t intervene *more* in the process,” which requires an explanation in itself.

Then offers commentary on previous proceedings he felt was unfair, AND states he wouldn’t want to lose the club’s owners who have “been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester. Obviously, the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.”

How was that force built?

And on the investment into the city itself, per a 2022 Guardian report: “Nine sites were sold to Sheikh Mansour at a fraction of their value, and well below what other plots nearby fetched. They were on leases lasting 999 years, well beyond the norm. And the fund shifted what had been public assets to companies registered in Jersey.

“That walk along the water from New Islington into Ancoats now passes blocks of privatised land owned in an offshore tax haven, which yields millions upon millions for a key member of the wealthy elite running a surveillance state halfway across the globe. One of the greatest cities in the world has sold itself to a senior figure in a brutal autocracy – and not even for a good price.”

[Adam Keys @adamkeys_]

Bloomberg warned weeks ago that political pressure would be applied from the UK to the UAE, and it is happening in front of your eyes. This is the very definition of sportswashing and why nation states should not be allowed to own football clubs. Andy Burnham cannot interfere.

[John Ruddy @jruddy99]

Is that where we at? Saying to billionaires it's ok to cheat and use your money to subvert out national game, just so long as you help regenerate a city centre?

[Reds March @UtdRedsMarch]

Andy Burnham is ex mayor of Manchester.

Highly possible he would have received "Abu Dhabi special under the table funds" just like Mancini.

Sheikh Mansour might be blackmailing Andy Burnham right now to save his Sham club.

I hope God punish these frauds and drive the Sheikh Mansour mafia out of the English football.