Bennettron retweeted
Man Utd become the first team in history to concede in the first two minutes of back-to-back major European matches:
1' vs. Atlético Madrid
2' vs. Como
Bennettron retweeted
Request: If you see or hear MCFC current / former employees (especially players and managers) giving pro-City views on the "115" case, pls tweet me examples / links as I research whether they have paid deals with City to do so, for example as paid ambassadors for the club. Thanks
Bennettron retweeted
1. “We didn’t cheat.”
2. “And if we cheated, it wasn’t that bad.”
3. “And if it was, cheating didn’t make much difference.”
4. “And if it did, everyone else was cheating.”
5. “And if they weren’t cheating, the rules were unfair anyway.”
6. “And even if we cheated, you only care because we beat you.”
7. “And if we beat you, we beat you on the field.”
Bennettron retweeted
I spent years exposing Man City's cheating while their plutocratic regime believed they could get away with it all. While my wife lay dying, these are the threats, ugly tactics and intimidation the club and their fans used against me, writes NICK HARRIS trib.al/wPeFRFL
Bennettron retweeted
UAE threatens Burnham over #MCFC commission verdict: We’ll pull billions out of UK. By @rmendick
telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10…
Bennettron retweeted
These continued references by Man City to ‘the opinion’ of the commission are weird.
You mean an independent legal panel of experts who spent years poring over thousands of pages of evidence and listened to a host of witnesses.
Bennettron retweeted
**EXCLUSIVE**
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak met a senior UK government minister to discuss the UAE’s investments in Britain just days before the club’s guilty verdicts were announced.
Al Mubarak asked to meet Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds on 14 September in his capacity as CEO of Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, sources tell Bloomberg.
The pair held a private meeting in Downing Street on that date, the people said. Al Mubarak talked about current and future UAE investment in Britain, they said.
The conversation covered the full range of the relationship including defence, security, intelligence and trade, they said.
Eleven days later, on 25 September, the Athletic reported Man City had been found guilty of breaking Premier League rules.
On 29 September, the Premier League confirmed Manchester City had been found guilty of artificially boosting its balance sheet by more than £900 million.
The fact of the meeting so close to the verdict will raise further questions about the UK government’s handling of the case.
Andy Burnham has faced criticism, including from his own ministers and officials, after he publicly suggested Man City’s Abu Dhabi owners should not be disqualified from running the club because of the investment they bring to Britain.
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Emirati officials have warned the UK government that the severity of the ruling could undermine their appetite for future grand-scale commitments in Britain.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Bennettron retweeted
The funniest thing about the empty threats from Etihad is they tell the story of precisely what the issue is. They aren't named in the report. They could just cut ties. Instead they choose to put themselves front and centre. This is not normal sponsor behaviour.
Bennettron retweeted
Manchester City cheated Premier League rules, the Commission found. Did it also cheat HMRC?
We've examined the decision and leaked Mancini documents. We think City likely failed to pay £12m in tax.
There should be a criminal investigation.
Thread:
Bennettron retweeted
For anyone who’s not familiar with what sportswashing is…
🚨List of everything Manchester city owners have done for Manchester and England.
- Bought Manchester City in 2008 and invested heavily in East Manchester’s regeneration.
- Invested hundreds of millions into the Etihad Campus and surrounding East Manchester.
- Built the £200m City Football Academy on around 80 acres of former industrial land.
Remediated contaminated former industrial land and transformed it into a major sports, education and community campus.
- Created thousands of construction and employment opportunities, with significant work going to local and North West businesses.
-Built facilities supporting Manchester City’s men’s and women’s teams, academy and community programmes.
- Helped bring Connell Co-op College to the Etihad Campus, providing education for local young people.
-Contributed £3m towards public swimming facilities at East Manchester Leisure Centre.
Helped create the Beswick Hub, bringing together sport, education, health and community facilities.
- Supported the Manchester Institute of Health & Performance, providing health and sports-science services beyond professional football.
-Invested in the expansion of the Etihad Stadium and continued development of the surrounding campus.
- Invested alongside partners in Co-op Live, creating a major new 23,500-capacity entertainment arena in East Manchester.
Continued investing in the wider Etihad Stadium expansion and entertainment district, representing hundreds of millions in additional investment.
-Supported City in the Community programmes helping thousands of Manchester residents through football, education, health and employability initiatives.
-Funded community football and multi-sport pitch improvements across Greater Manchester.
-Provided free football opportunities for young people through City Kicks.
-Supported programmes helping young people at risk of serious youth violence.
Supported young patients and families at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
-Created education and employability opportunities for young people through City in the Community.
-Used the Etihad Campus during COVID-19 to support NHS workers, nursing training, testing and vaccination efforts.
-Worked with Manchester City Council on employment initiatives, including jobs fairs connecting local people with employers.
Supported elite and community sport by making facilities available to athletes and sporting organisations.
-Invested in environmental improvements, biodiversity and green-space projects around the Etihad Campus.
-Donated surplus equipment and furniture from the club to community organisations in Manchester.
-And perhaps one of the most symbolic acts: Sheikh Mansour bought the 1904 FA Cup — Manchester City’s first FA Cup and the oldest surviving FA Cup trophy — at auction and arranged for it to remain on display at the National Football Museum in Manchester.
The overall result has been a transformation of the Etihad area into a major hub combining football, education, health, entertainment, employment and community facilities.
Bennettron retweeted
Poor - and biased - response from Andy Burnham on Manchester City being found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules by an Independent Commission.
He says “I can’t intervene *more* in the process,” which requires an explanation in itself.
Then offers commentary on previous proceedings he felt was unfair, AND states he wouldn’t want to lose the club’s owners who have “been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester. Obviously, the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.”
How was that force built?
And on the investment into the city itself, per a 2022 Guardian report: “Nine sites were sold to Sheikh Mansour at a fraction of their value, and well below what other plots nearby fetched. They were on leases lasting 999 years, well beyond the norm. And the fund shifted what had been public assets to companies registered in Jersey.
“That walk along the water from New Islington into Ancoats now passes blocks of privatised land owned in an offshore tax haven, which yields millions upon millions for a key member of the wealthy elite running a surveillance state halfway across the globe. One of the greatest cities in the world has sold itself to a senior figure in a brutal autocracy – and not even for a good price.”
Bennettron retweeted
Bloomberg warned weeks ago that political pressure would be applied from the UK to the UAE, and it is happening in front of your eyes. This is the very definition of sportswashing and why nation states should not be allowed to own football clubs. Andy Burnham cannot interfere.
Andy Burnham has said he would be “really concerned” to lose Manchester City’s owners as a result of the club being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League rules | ✍️
@martynziegler, @Lawton_Times, @_pauljoyce thetimes.com/sport/football/…
Bennettron retweeted
You can't steal a load of ingredients from the supermarket and your justification of it be 'but look at the lovely cake I made'. That's not how it works I'm afraid.
No sensible human being can watch Manchester City play football like THIS and still have the courage to say they “cheated.”
The passing, movement,chance creation, technical quality… this is football at its finest. 🩵
Pep built a machine so good that some people had to explain the football away instead of appreciating it.
Cry about the charges, but you can’t rewrite what happened on the pitch. 🩵🏆
Bennettron retweeted
Manchester City has been found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules.
Premier League financial football correspondent and professor at University of Liverpool @KieranMaguire reacts to the breaking news ⬇️
