Abu Dhabi's ownership of Manchester City, bought in September 2008 just days after Lehman Brothers collapsed, helped soften the emirate's image during the financial crisis. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan's purchase came as Gulf sovereign funds were pouring money into stricken banks and other entities. Soon after, Abu Dhabi investors put more than £3bn into Barclays as the British bank rushed to avoid a taxpayer bailout, and the UAE became a growing presence across the UK economy, from ports to fibre-optic networks and offshore wind farms.
Manchester City went on to sign star players and win eight Premier League titles as well as the Champions League. Other Gulf backers followed, with Qatar taking over Paris Saint-Germain in 2011 and a Saudi Arabia-led consortium buying Newcastle United in 2021.
Now the club faces an existential crisis. An independent panel found Manchester City guilty of charges brought by the Premier League over breaches of its financial rules, concluding that the club artificially inflated its financial position by more than £900mn over a nine-year period through "sham" commercial deals and overstated income. The findings amount to one of the biggest scandals in Premier League history, and the club could face sanctions including fines, huge points deductions and even expulsion from the league.
The verdict also strains the relationship between the UK and the UAE. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who wants to keep investment flowing, said he would "be really concerned" to lose City's owners, given their heavy investment in Manchester. Politics has repeatedly threatened Abu Dhabi's British investments, including the backlash to an Abu Dhabi-backed bid to acquire The Telegraph in 2023. As one former western official put it, "It's like a game of snakes and ladders." Man City has rejected the ruling and lodged an appeal, and Whitehall is weighing the fallout of any sanctions.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing