Dear oh dear. Andy Burnham’s claim that he met senior Manchester City figures on just one ‘significant’ occasion is unravelling at lightning speed. Indeed, Mr S can now count four occasions on which the then-Manchester mayor rubbed shoulders with higher-ups at the club, which has now been found guilty of 100 Premier League rule breaches. So much for transparency…
As first revealed by The Sun, a deleted register of interests shows that Burnham enjoyed hospitality from club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak on two occasions while serving as mayor. And today The Times found he also met chief executive Ferran Soriano and former chief operating officer Roel de Vries in 2023 and 2025 respectively.
The latter two chinwags took place at Manchester’s Co-op Live, one of Europe’s largest indoor arenas, which is part-owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group. According to The Times, Soriano met Burnham there following the completion of the arena’s roof in 2023, while the 2025 rendezvous was to celebrate the Brit Awards. How cosy!
It comes after Burnham responded to the Man City verdict by declaring he would be ‘really concerned’ if the club’s Emirati owners sold up. Following a fierce backlash, Downing Street scrambled to insist that the Prime Minister believes ‘the initial judgment is serious and there can’t be any suggestion that anyone is above the rules’. Burnham insists the Premier League probe was never raised with him.
For a Prime Minister already on the defensive, the mounting revelations are proving to be quite the political own goal…
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