UAE threatens to pull billions from UK unless Man City are cleared, putting Burnham under fresh pressure
From the Newshound archive · first published 3 October 2026.
An independent commission found Manchester City guilty on the majority of 115 charges, concluding that the club used "sham" contracts and "disguised schemes" to inflate revenue by £830million across eight seasons.
The UAE has warned the Burnham government it will scrap billions of pounds of planned investment — including a Silicon Valley-style tech hub between Oxford and Cambridge — unless Manchester City are cleared of financial misconduct. Emirati officials told the government that the Premier League's guilty verdict would "have an influence on the bilateral state relationship." City were found guilty of 114 charges and an independent commission ruled the club used sham contracts to artificially inflate revenues by £900 million over nine years. Burnham has already been forced into a humiliating U-turn after backing the Abu Dhabi owners, with Downing Street insisting no club is "above the rules."
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak met Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds in Downing Street just two weeks before the guilty verdict was announced.
The Liberal Democrats are calling on Burnham to disclose full details of his discussions with the Abu Dhabi United Group, as well as any hospitality he received at the Etihad Stadium.
City have lodged a formal appeal, arguing the verdict "contains clear material errors of law, principle and fact" and that sponsorship money originated from the Abu Dhabi government, not the club's owners.
