Man City chairman met senior UK minister days before guilty verdict emerged

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak met a senior UK government minister to discuss United Arab Emirates investment in Britain just 11 days before news of the club’s guilty verdict emerged.

Bloomberg reports that Al Mubarak held a private meeting with Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds in Downing Street on September 14.

However, the meeting was held in Al Mubarak’s separate capacity as chief executive of Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, rather than as City chairman.

The discussions reportedly covered existing and potential UAE investment in the UK, alongside the wider relationship between the two countries.

Defence, security, intelligence and trade were among the subjects discussed, according to the report.

There is no suggestion that Manchester City’s Premier League case formed part of the meeting.

Nevertheless, its timing comes under greater scrutiny following the publication of the independent commission’s findings against the Premier League club.

It was first reported on September 25 that City had been found guilty of almost all the charges they faced, before the Premier League officially published the commission’s conclusions four days later.

The commission found City guilty of all charges concerning serious financial breaches across nine seasons between 2009/10 and 2017/18.

It concluded that City used “sham” commercial arrangements to artificially inflate revenue and reduce costs, filed misstated accounts and significantly breached Premier League and UEFA spending limits.

City were also found to have committed multiple breaches of their obligation to co-operate with the Premier League investigation.

The club have consistently denied wrongdoing and on Thursday evening formally lodged what they described as a “comprehensive appeal” against the findings.

City maintain that the commission’s opinion contains “clear material errors” of law, principle and fact and insist evidence exists supporting their innocence.

Al Mubarak’s meeting also comes alongside the wider debate about the relationship between City’s Abu Dhabi ownership and investment in Britain.

UK Prime Minister and former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham recently expressed concern about the possibility of City losing their current owners, highlighting the City Football Group’s wider investment in Manchester.

Bloomberg also reports that Emirati officials have warned the British government that the severity of City’s case could affect the UAE’s appetite for major future investment commitments in the UK.

Al Mubarak occupies prominent positions in both worlds, having served as City chairman since the 2008 takeover while also leading Mubadala.

His meeting with Reynolds therefore adds another political dimension to a case already attracting attention well beyond football, although there is no evidence that City’s disciplinary proceedings were discussed.