Andy Burnham has pledged to release details of every interaction he held with Manchester City FC's ownership group throughout his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester. The commitment came as questions about his earlier comments drew added attention following the Premier League's conclusion that the club had violated the league's financial rules over the course of eight years.
When asked whether a potential sale of Manchester City by its owners — a group headed by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family — was a matter of concern to him, Burnham told a television news outlet that losing them would be a matter of real concern. He also credited City Football Group for the financial investment directed at the Etihad Stadium and the surrounding area, describing the organisation as a central contributor to Manchester's development and to the club's rise as a force in world football.
Speaking on the podcast The Rest is Politics, Burnham maintained that his words had been accurate and called on listeners to treat the football-related matters and the questions around investment as separate issues. His view was that the sport's credibility depends on a consistent set of rules that applies to everyone, an expectation he said he believed most people across the country would share.
Burnham went on to address remarks made the previous week by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who had called on him to release records of every meeting he held with Manchester City officials during his time as mayor. Badenoch put the view to a broadcast outlet that he ought to, and when pressed for detail on what the action should cover, she replied that everything ought to be included, adding that her only surprise was that it had not happened sooner.
Public records requests under freedom-of-information law represent one avenue through which that material could be obtained. On his podcast, Burnham gave his word that the request would be met, while noting that his dealings with the relevant parties had been limited. He indicated he had no objection to fulfilling the opposition leader's request for a disclosure of his meeting records, and pledged to make his full record of collaboration with them during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester openly available.
Burnham noted that those encounters all took place some time ago, and that a single session held in 2021 stood as the only gathering that carried any documented substance.
The portion of his quoted statement reading "And that is right, and I will put that all out there" preceded a separate development on 1 October: Manchester City lodged a formal appeal against the Premier League's ruling that the club had violated the league's regulations. Figures released by an independent commission indicated that the club had drawn on more than £830 million in undisclosed financial support across the nine-year stretch from 2009 to 2018 — a period that coincided with a run of on-pitch achievement.
Manchester City's appeal notice characterised the panel's findings as containing identifiable errors across matters of law, principle, and fact, rendering the finding unreliable on several distinct grounds. The club denied any wrongdoing in connection with the Premier League's charges, pointing to what it described as an extensive body of evidence underpinning each of its positions in the matter.
