Regulator has ‘power’ to force Man City sale

The English Independent Football Regulator (IFR) would have “absolute power” to force Manchester City’s owners to sell if they are found to have run the club improperly, the watchdog’s chairman has said.

English Premier League leaders City have been found guilty of more than 100 charges of breaking Premier League financial rules by an independent commission from 2009 to 2018.

The club have appealed and deny any wrongdoing, but face a severe sanction unless they overturn the verdict.

A corner flag is pictured inside Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, on Tuesday.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters

Owned by Emirati Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, City have blossomed into the dominant force in English soccer since a 2008 takeover.

“We have the power to ask an owner to step away from a club if we believe that they run a club in a way that is neither fit, fair or done with propriety,” IFR chairman David Kogan told The Rest is Football podcast.

Asked if an owner could refuse to divest, Kogan added: “No. We’ve got absolute power to do so.”

Kogan also said last week he would resign if there is any political interference in any investigation the IFR might undertake into City.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has come under criticism for his initial comments on City’s guilty verdict, saying he would be “really concerned” if the club’s Abu Dhabi owners left the club following the verdict.

Downing Street subsequently had to backtrack, insisting no one was “above the rules.”

Burnham, who was mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 to June, has since published all his dealings with the City hierarchy.

However, the case poses a delicate balancing act for the British government in preserving its longstanding ties with the Emirates without interfering in the independence of the disciplinary action against City.