Andy Burnham vows to reveal all Man City dealings after being challenged by opposition

Andy Burnham vows to reveal all Man City dealings after being challenged by opposition Andy Burnham has pledged to publish details of his meetings with Manchester City figures due to criticism of his comments following the club’s guilty verdict in their Premier League case. The UK Prime Minister faced backlash after expressing concern about losing City’s Abu Dhabi-backed ownership if they were forced out for breaking the league’s financial rules. The 56-year-old praised their investment in Manchester despite an independent commission finding the club guilty of major financial breaches. A three-person panel found that City inflated commercial deals, concealed staff costs between 2009 and 2018, and didn’t cooperate with a Premier League investigation from 2018 to 2023. The alleged breaches gave the reigning English champions an unfair advantage worth more than £900 million, according to the commission’s findings. Speaking on The Rest Is Politics podcast , Burnham confirmed he would release details of his dealings with the club after being challenged by the opposition leader. “I’ve been asked by the leader of the opposition to publish details of my meetings, which I’m happy to do,” he said. “I will quite clearly put out there everything that I have done working with them in my previous role as Mayor of Greater Manchester. “None of it is recent, actually, in terms of the meetings I had. I only had one significant meeting … and that was in 2021.” Burnham’s original remarks sparked concerns about political interference in the case. Many critics questioned whether economic ties between Manchester and Abu Dhabi could influence the club’s punishment. The prime minister subsequently clarified that he recognised the seriousness of the commission’s findings and believed the independent process should be allowed to run its course. However, Burnham has refused to apologise for his initial comments, arguing that City’s football-related issues should be considered separately from the UAE’s investment in the UK. “I don’t think I misspoke,” he said, explaining that his attention had been on Labour Party conference commitments when he gave the original interview.