Keith Wyness: Man City scandal triggers new Premier League requirement for clubs
The Premier League will seriously consider changing the requirements for state-owned clubs in the aftermath of the saga surrounding Manchester City’s 114 financial breaches.
That is according to former Everton chief executive and ex-Premier League board member Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the league have to find a way to make those involved personally responsible for any wrongdoing.
This comes after the news that City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has diplomatic immunity under UK law, which protects him from any criminal prosecutions and certain legal proceedings.
Wyness believes it is wrong for that to be allowed, and feels that in future, the Premier League will look to ensure those at the top of a club are able to be held to account before they allow another state-backed takeover.
City have been owned by United Arab Emirates royal Sheikh Mansour since 2008, and the UAE state have become increasingly involved in the club as the project has developed.
With City set to face punishment after their financial breaches, it has brought serious scrutiny on how the Premier League should treat clubs with royal ownership.
Premier League to create more tests for wealth funds
Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that the Premier League are likely to create more hoops that a wealth fund would have to jump through before buying a top-flight club in the future.
The guilty verdict against City has prompted plenty of issues in recent weeks, with the UAE even threatening to withdraw billions of pounds of private funding from the UK economy.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness explained how a change may need to be made in future.
“It does tend to bring the debate in that direction about whether state wealth funds and state ownership of clubs can really be tolerated anymore,” he said.
“One of the key things that I saw as well is that the chairman has diplomatic immunity, which again is something within the grant of a state. And so you've got to believe that anybody who's going to buy a football club should be fully accountable to the rules of football.
“And in this case, there seem to be overreaching powers that mean he might not be. I think the Premier League has got to stay focused on maintaining the integrity of the league, whether the rules are right or wrong.
“And it could be that if a wealth fund were to actually buy another club in the future, they'd have to agree that those particular people involved in the wealth fund were themselves personally responsible to the football authority. It's something that gives a lot of thought to the future.”
Pep Guardiola exit not connected to Man City charges
Former City financial advisor Stefan Borson told Football Insider this weekend that Pep Guardiola’s decision to depart City at the end of last season had nothing to do with the club’s impending financial charges.
The Spaniard turned his back on the Etihad Stadium after 10 years at the helm, with many fans suggesting that he may have foreseen the guilty verdict.
However, Borson is adamant that the former boss’ exit is not connected to the recent saga in any way, and also feels that it was agreed well in advance of the end of last season.
There are also no suggestions that Guardiola had been complicit in any of the rule breaches, and he is expected to remain well clear of any punishments as a result.