Gerry Sutcliffe, sports minister in Gordon Brown’s government, also says Prime Minister Andy Burnham “got his fingers burnt” over Manchester City and should step back from the case.

Gerry Sutcliffe, minister for sport from 2007 to 2010, has said that a prime minister asked him to tone down his criticism of English football after Chelsea complained to Downing Street.

“I got slapped down as sports minister very early on,” Sutcliffe told Dan Qayyum on Playbook Live, The Pakistan Playbook’s video podcast, in an episode released on 16 October. “Chelsea wanted me sacked because I’d talked about the price of season tickets, players’ wages, and it was challenging the Premier League at the time.” He said some of the Chelsea hierarchy “didn’t like it and complained to the Prime Minister, who had a quiet word with me to sort of say, turn it down a bit.”

Sutcliffe did not name the prime minister. He held the sports brief only under Gordon Brown, who appointed him in June 2007. Early in his tenure Sutcliffe called John Terry’s wages “obscene”, and Chelsea asked for a meeting with the minister. The Playbook has found no earlier report that the club took its complaint to Downing Street.

Sutcliffe also said Burnham should step back from the Manchester City case. “Andy’s got his fingers burnt a little bit by getting too close to the situation, needs to step back,” he said. “Claim and counterclaim is going to lead us to elongated decision making, which is not good for the game.” The two men served in the same department. Burnham was culture secretary in 2008, with Sutcliffe as his sports minister.

On 13 October David Kogan, chair of the Independent Football Regulator, said any political interference in the City case would “result in my resigning from this role”. After the verdict Burnham said he would be “really concerned” if City’s owners sold the club. On The Rest Is Politics this week he said he did not think he had misspoken. He has since published his dealings with the club’s owners. The United Arab Emirates has warned that it will withdraw billions of pounds of investment from Britain over the verdict, and Downing Street did not dispute reports that the ruling had dented the UAE’s appetite for large UK commitments.

One Question In 2008

Qayyum asked whether anyone in government questioned state-backed ownership of an English club when Abu Dhabi bought City in 2008.

The question, Sutcliffe said, “was about whether the money was real. There were questions raised.”

He said he believed at the time that football needed a regulator. In his view the tools introduced afterwards, including financial fair play and the owners’ and directors’ test, have “failed basically”. He welcomed the Independent Football Regulator but questioned its reach. “It’s going to be hard for an independent regulator based in the UK to be able to deal with what is a global issue really now.” He proposed that the regulator or another body “call a halt” and review how the game is governed, including the German model of majority fan ownership.

The Sanction And HMRC

Sutcliffe declined to propose a sanction for City. “If there’s been wrongdoing and they’re found guilty then there needs to be a penalty and a punishment. What that is I’m not sure about.” He warned that relegating the club “opens a whole can of worms”. In his view, rival clubs that believe cheating cost them titles would seek compensation, “and it all becomes then based on lawyers having a go with each other.”

He also said that “the Inland Revenue are looking into it”. HMRC has not confirmed any investigation. The Financial Times has reported that HMRC opened an inquiry into City in 2018 that was never formally closed. On 14 October HMRC declined to say whether it is investigating, citing taxpayer confidentiality, in a reply to Treasury Committee chair Meg Hillier.

Fair Value

Nausherwan Effendi, a sponsorship executive and former commercial director at Peshawar Zalmi, appeared alongside Sutcliffe. He said City’s principal sponsorship was worth more than Liverpool’s and Manchester United’s, although both clubs draw larger audiences. “It was pretty obvious that it’s overvalued. That should have been the biggest red flag.”

The commission found that City used “sham” sponsorship contracts to inflate revenue and understate costs by more than £900 million. Etihad Airways rejects any suggestion that it was involved in improper arrangements.

Effendi said the clubs relegated during City’s run carried the heaviest cost. “They played with City, they lost their games, they ended up getting relegated, they lost all the money.”

Bottom Line

An independent commission found Manchester City guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League rules between 2009–10 and 2017–18. City lodged an appeal on 2 October, and no sanction has been set. Sutcliffe says a Chelsea complaint during his time as minister reached the prime minister and ended with a request that he quieten his criticism. Kogan has said he will resign if politicians interfere in the City case.

What To Watch

Responses from Chelsea and from Gordon Brown’s office to Sutcliffe’s account. The timetable for City’s appeal, which Kogan has said the regulator will wait for before acting on ownership. Any further exchange between the Treasury Committee and HMRC. Whether the UAE carries out its reported threat to its Oxford-Cambridge investment.

The Pakistan Playbook will continue to report on the Manchester City case and its consequences for UK-UAE relations. ■