Andy Burnham orders review of his ties with Manchester City

Andy Burnham has ordered a “manual trawl” of his engagements with Manchester City Football Club after coming under pressure to clarify the extent of his interactions with its leadership. On Monday the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) said that the former mayor had only had one “significant” meeting with the club’s chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, and had met him one other time “informally in the stands”. 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Advertisement In December 2023 Burnham travelled to Japan with Danny Wilson, then Manchester City’s director of sales and now its managing director, and in September 2018 he joined other executives on a trip to China. In a press release about the visit, Burnham said: “The ambition of City Football Group matches that of the football authorities in China — it’s a perfect partnership.” Burnham with a Manchester City delegation as the club opened its second China office in Shenzhen In May 2018 Burnham also accepted two tickets to an Ed Sheeran concert at the Etihad Stadium worth £150. Top stories 1 US inflation hotter than expected as Iran war stokes fuel costs Economics Top stories 1 Should you buy shares in Vanguard LifeStrategy? Companies & Markets Manchester City has been found guilty of more than a hundred breaches of Premier League financial rules . The ruling, which the club is appealing, has fuelled scrutiny of its Emirati owners’ wider investments in the city and has led to calls for Burnham to release the details of any hospitality he received from the club. The Man City men who became ‘global enemies of football’ According to state-controlled United Arab Emirates media, Manchester City ’s owner, Sheikh Mansour, sent Burnham a personal congratulatory note when he became prime minister. Advertisement On Monday the GMCA released a statement saying that the former mayor had attended home games at the Etihad on “a small number of occasions”. It said that Burnham had met Mubarak “informally in the stands” at Vincent Kompany’s testimonial in September 2019, but that their only “formal meeting” was at a government-organised investment conference in October 2021. In July 2023 Burnham met Man City’s Ferran Soriano, stood behind his left shoulder, at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester It added: “Also during his time as mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of mayoral international visits. This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.” Burnham has insisted that the initial account given of his interactions with the club had been “comprehensive” and the occasions on which he dined with Mubarak at matches at the Etihad in 2017 and 2018 were “included” in the statement. However, he said that he had ordered officials at the GMCA to do “a more manual trawl of everything”, adding: “I want everything possible to be out there, there’s no question about that. Full transparency.” Burnham has faced criticism for his initial reaction to the Man City verdict, in which he told the BBC he would be “really concerned” if its owners sold the club, describing them as “a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester”. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, told him at prime minister’s questions this week that the issue was not “going away”. Advertisement An independent commission found that City had broken rules over a nine-year period to 2018 by creating “sham” contracts with commercial partners to secretly funnel more than £830m into football operations. During his time as mayor, Burnham had vowed to fight Manchester City’s corner in their legal battle to ensure the club received “fair” treatment, arguing that the Premier League had “proved that they can’t properly regulate football”. In 2024 Burnham told the Manchester Evening News: “Absolutely I will support Manchester City in securing fair and consistent treatment, and transparent treatment. I think that’s the issue that the Premier League need to reassure everybody on, that it’s going to be done in a fair way, in a consistent way. “We don’t know yet because there’s not much in the public domain, but obviously I will absolutely represent both Manchester clubs as best I can when they need my support. Obviously, on the basis of challenging where things have been done unfairly or wrongly, that’s what I will do.” Burnham, a lifelong Everton fan, accused the Premier League of “making it up as they go along” when his team were deducted eight points for breaching the league’s financial rules in 2023. Advertisement This week the shadow sports minister, Louie French, urged the prime minister to “come clean” about his ties to the club, warning he “cannot hide behind the GMCA”. He said: “We have been given precious little information about these meetings, what was discussed and what may have been agreed.” The club and the GMCA were contacted for comment.