Man City not 'above the rules', says No 10 after backlash to Burnham remarks
The prime minister said he would be "really concerned" if the club's owners sell up after Premier League rule breaches.
By BBC News
No 10 has said Manchester City are not “above the rules” after backlash over Andy Burnham’s comments about the club’s Premier League breaches.
The row follows Burnham’s remarks on Wednesday, when he said he would be “really concerned” if City’s owners decided to sell up after the club was found guilty by an independent commission of most of the 115 charges it faced.
In an interview with the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason, Burnham said he was “not getting directly involved in the process” and said it had to be handled independently by the Premier League.
He added that the club’s owners, led by Sheikh Mansour, had been “a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester” and in turning City into a global force.
A No 10 spokesman later said: “As the Prime Minister made clear, the initial judgement is serious and there can’t be any suggestion that anyone is above the rules.”
The spokesman also stressed that the case remains an ongoing independent process and should be allowed to run its course.
Burnham has since said it would be “wrong” for him to intervene further and that it would be inappropriate to jump to conclusions before studying all the detail.
City were found guilty by the independent commission of most of the 115 charges brought against them, with the Premier League saying the club had “systematically violated” its rules for nearly a decade.
The case remains contested by Manchester City, and the outcome of any further process is still to be decided.