Andy Burnham Held Official Meeting with Manchester City Chairman During Mayoral Term

Prime Minister Andy Burnham held a single formal meeting with Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester, according to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The GMCA said the encounter occurred in October 2021 at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit, an event organised by the Department for International Trade.

Burnham also enjoyed an informal encounter with Al Mubarak in the stadium stands during a City home match in September 2019, when he attended Vincent Kompany’s testimonial as a guest of the club.

On Sunday, Burnham announced he would disclose details of his meetings with senior figures at Manchester City.

His pledge comes amid criticism of his comments following the club’s conviction on all counts of breaching the Premier League’s financial regulations.

A GMCA spokesperson confirmed that Burnham attended City home matches on a few occasions as a guest, and that such hospitality was declared in the standard manner.

The GMCA added that representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs routinely accompanied business delegations on overseas trips during his mayoral term.

Examples cited included Manchester United representatives travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire County Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and City staff assisting visits to China and Japan.

Shadow sports minister Louie French asserted that Burnham “cannot hide behind the GMCA” and “must take responsibility for this himself”, urging him to be transparent about his relationship with City Football Group.

“This falls far short of the full transparency football fans deserve,” French remarked.

He added, “We have been given precious little information about these meetings, what was discussed and what may have been agreed. If Burnham has nothing to hide, why is he being so tight‑lipped?”

“His bizarre intervention in defence of Man City’s owners has raised serious concerns among fans,”

An independent commission determined that City breached regulations over a nine‑year span from 2009 to 2018 by fabricating “sham” contracts with commercial partners to covertly channel more than £830 million into their football operations.

Burnham’s prior tenure as mayor of Greater Manchester has sparked scrutiny of his ties to City’s Abu Dhabi ownership, prompting Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to call for the release of all meeting details between the prime minister and senior club officials.

“I’ve been asked by the leader of the opposition to publish details of my meetings, which I’m happy to do and I’m going to,” Burnham told the Rest is Politics podcast., external

“I will quite clearly put out there everything that I have done working with them in my previous role as Mayor of Greater Manchester.”

“None of it is recent, actually, in terms of the meetings I had. I only had one significant meeting, actually, and that was in 2021.”

Initially, the prime minister told the BBC he would be “really concerned” should Manchester City’s owners decide to sell following the guilty verdict, before later denying that his reaction had “downplayed the seriousness of the findings”.

However, several Premier League clubs were so “astonished” by Burnham’s stance that sources told BBC Sport they were “concerned” about political interference in the appeal process.

Sanctions have yet to be announced, and City have lodged an appeal against the verdict.

City resumed play for the first time since the guilty verdict, facing Liverpool on Sunday and securing a 3‑0 victory.

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