UK government held discussions with Manchester City regarding 115 FFP charges in Abu Dhabi: Report

City won their fourth Premier League on Sunday

According to The Athletic, the UK government acknowledged that discussions regarding the Premier League’s charges against Manchester City took place at both its embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in London.

However, the government is not releasing the relationship as it may jeopardise the UK’s diplomatic relations with Abu Dhabi.

On the last day of the season, Pep Guardiola’s team defeated West Ham 3-1 to take home additional hardware. After facing 115 Premier League allegations for purported financial irregularities—which they vehemently deny—City have now been facing these claims for 15 months.

Furthermore, other reports indicate that a verdict might not come for at least a year. There have been 115 charges against City for breaking Premier League rules overall.

These violations are not all related to money problems. Thirty-five of them are connected to the club’s purported inability to work together with the Premier League’s inquiry from February 2023 to 2018.

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The financial claims date back to 2009, and German tabloid Der Spiegel featured them prominently in documents that were released. Manchester City have maintained that these stolen emails were obtained through illicit means.

Now, going back to Der Spiegel, the accusations focused on getting owner Sheikh Mansour to give the team more money through sham funding agreements, paying former manager Roberto Mancini to advise a club in Abu Dhabi, and giving players more cash than was recorded in the accounts.

Theoretically, this would have allowed Manchester City to sign more and better players than they otherwise would have.

During that time, they suffered defeats as finalists in the FA Cup in 2011 and 2014, winners of the Premier League in 2012 and 2014, and finalists in the EFL Cup thrice.

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