Khaldoon Al Mubarak addresses Man City’s 115 financial breaches, insisting the club is the ‘number one football brand in the world’

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak broke his silence on the club’s 115 alleged financial breaches, stating he has ‘very strong’ views on the matter, but can not legally air them until the investigation is complete, adding that the club is ‘the number one football brand in the world’.

In February, City were charged with 115 financial breaches over a nine-year period from 2009 to 2018. Charges included failure to provide accurate financial documents, not complying with UEFA’s financial fair play rules over a five-year period, as well as refusing to cooperate with the investigation.

There have also been accusations of sponsorship revenues being significantly inflated, with City boasting multi-million-pound deals with firms that do not seem to exist.

If found guilty, possible sanctions include a points deduction, suspension or even expulsion from the Premier League.

Chairman Al Mubarak addressed the allegations in his annual end-of-season interview, vowing to give his ‘very blunt’ views on the matter once the investigation reaches a verdict.

“Obviously I can’t talk about them unfortunately for legal reasons,” he said. “And what I would typically always do is comment after, so I think we’re going to go through, we’re going through the legal process. 

“These are proceedings that take whatever time they take and when we’re done, we’ll have a conversation. I’ll give you my very blunt views, I promise you that. I have very strong views on that, but I am going to be unfortunately very restrained today.”

Despite City claiming a historic treble, critics have labelled it as ‘tainted’ due to the alleged cheating, with an asterisk perhaps needed to tell the true story.

“It’s very frustrating because it takes so much from the great work that’s happening at this club and it’s happening not just on the football pitch. The football pitch – we talked about that, what these players have achieved this year, the Treble, is incredible,” he said. 

“I hope people focus and judge them for their football and what they’re achieving on the pitch and what they’re achieving in every competition they’re in. That’s the reality.

“The club as a whole is very well run. Today, the value of this group is over six billion dollars. We’ve created so much value – we’ve brought in world-class investors. Why? Because we have a commercial machine here that is one of the best in the world.

“Our executives are being targeted by the best teams in the world – always. By the way – it’s a credit to us. I respect that.

“People appreciate that we are producing – not just the best talent on the pitch, not just the best talent in the academy, not just the best talent in the group, but we’re producing some of the best executives in the world, some of the best scouts in the world, some of the best sporting staff in the world. And that’s a testament to the great work that this group is doing. 

“We’re the number one football brand in the world. These are the facts, these are the facts.

“The club generates a tremendous revenue. You look at our sales in terms of what we produce, in terms of from our academy, from our first team. Look at last year, I mean look at our net spend figures.

“We can go on for half an hour right now with me just giving you data in terms of net spend over the last season, net spend over the last three years, over the last five years, over the last ten years – look at every single one of them and just look at these as the facts and compare us to our competition and then people will throw at us ‘the biggest spenders’, ‘you have the biggest squad’. I wish people can just pause and ask the question and get the facts and then comment.”

The chairman also revealed that Erling Haaland promised to win the Champions League for the club during their first conversation after the Norweigan completed his £51M move from Borussia Dortmund last summer.

Haaland, 22, took the world by storm, netting 52 goals in 53 appearances, propelling City to the treble and shattering countless records along the way.

Al Mubarak was mesmerized not only by his ‘unbelievable’ ability but also by his unshakeable mentality and desire to always be the best.

“What an addition he has been. Going back to that conversation. So this was, I think, my first conversation post him signing the contract. But what amazed me about Erling is his confidence,” he said.

“He’s got something special, confidence with respect. And to be having that conversation post signing your contract with your chairman and saying at the end of that conversation, ‘Mr. Chairman, I’m going to win the Champions League for you. I’m here to win the Champions League for Manchester City and we’re going to win it’ a year ago is really a testament to the greatness of this player.

“And the scary part, this is just the beginning for him.

“The beauty of Erling is that he’s a champion. He’s never satisfied. If it’s one goal, if it’s no goals, if it’s two goals, if it’s five goals, even five goals. And I remember when he scored five after the game, he was telling me, ‘Yeah, but I should have scored another three or four’, genuinely not joking. Like in his mind, he knows ‘I should have probably scored seven that night or even eight that night’.

“That’s that winning mentality. That’s that winning recipe which you know is the intangible. That’s the intangible, the anomaly that makes you great. And in Erling, I think this club now, we have an unbelievable, unbelievable player.”

 

• ‘We keep building this legacy’

City may have reached the pinnacle of sporting achievements, but Al Mubarak urged the club to keep winning and continue to build their legacy. The club are targeting a further three trophies next year – two of them City are yet to win. 

“Well, you always can top it because the future is the future and records are records and we as we’ve done every year, we keep building this legacy and building this incredible legacy every year with new achievements, new records, consistency,” he said.

“You look at next season, and guess what? Look what we have next year. Look what we have this summer, we have the Charity Shield, we have the Super Cup, we have the Club World Cup. The Club World Cup. For the first time, this club is going to be competing in the Super Cup and the Club World Cup. And we want to win these. We want to win these and we want to add them to the history of this great club, to the legacy of this great club. 

“Everything we do is setting new records and new standards. Today I’m speaking to you but I’m already thinking about next year. Even yesterday, I think, you know, there was a joke between me and Ferran and Txiki and Pep, when we had had our moment, we looked at each other and it was, okay, now we’ve got to do it again.”