Levy calls for Man City’s 115 charges verdict
Tottenham chief, Daniel Levy, says the investigation into Manchester City’s alleged financial breaches has gone on for “far too long” and must be resolved quickly “for the good of the game”.
In February 2023, City were charged by the Premier League with over 100 various alleged breaches of the league’s financial rules dating back to 2009.
A hearing into the case against the Etihad club who deny any wrongdoing was held from September to December last year, with the verdict still awaited and possibly expect later this year.
In a wide-ranging interview with Gary Neville for The Overlap, Levy was asked for his views on the situation and insisted it would be “really unfair of me” to talk about another Premier League club.
The Spurs chairman added: “But, the process has gone on for far too long and needs to brought, for the good of the game, to conclusion.”
City are owned by City Football Group (CFG) along with La Liga side, Girona, Major League Soccer outfit, New York City FC, and several other clubs across the world, in a multi-club ownership set-up the likes of which Levy fears can be used to “abuse” football’s existing financial control measures.
CFG, in turn, is majority owned by Abu Dhabi United Group, which is helmed by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and vice president of the United Arab Emirates.
Discussing his view that related party sponsorships are one of the “biggest threats” to football, Levy said: “That’s one of the areas that has to be controlled; if you end up having clubs owned by states, I have no issue with that in principle but they can do deals with themselves and that puts them at a very competitive advantage compared to everybody else.
“That’s an area of concern.”
He added: “I think there should be a European rule that there should be more detailed control over related party transactions.”
It comes against the backdrop of an Independent Football Regulator being approved for implementation later this year, to oversee the top five tiers of the professional men’s game in England and hold powers to ensure clubs are run in a financially sustainable manner.
That particular development is something Levy is “not in favour of”, but the Spurs chairman conceded that “it’s coming, so we have to embrace it.”
Describing the Premier League as “one of Britain’s best exports”, Levy said he worries the mooted costs of the Government’s intervention will spiral, and that an arbitrator won’t benefit fans to the extent that proponents say it will with regards to affordability and accessibility.
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