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MANCHESTER: The chair of English soccer\u2019s regulatory body said Tuesday he would resign if there were any political interference over potential sanctions for Manchester City.<\/p>\n
City have been found guilty of widespread breaches of the Premier League\u2019s financial rules which could result in punishments including a massive fine, points deductions or even expulsion from England\u2019s topflight.<\/p>\n
Separately, the Independent Football Regulator has the powers to force club owners to sell and can withhold a license to operate if they are deemed unfit.<\/p>\n
An independent panel found the United Arab Emirates-backed City had artificially inflated their revenue by more than $1 billion over nearly a decade, circumventing fair-play rules.<\/p>\n
Football regulator chair David Kogan said it was still awaiting the outcome of City\u2019s appeal against the verdict.<\/p>\n
The UAE is a big investor in the UK Asked about the regulator\u2019s ability to remain independent given wider relations between the governments, Kogan said \u201cany form of political interference on the way we operate is going to result in my resigning from this role and I stand by that completely.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve come under absolutely no political pressure whatsoever on this or any other topic. And I don\u2019t expect to in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kogan\u2019s comments came after UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would be \u201creally concerned\u201d to lose City\u2019s current ownership. Burnham also said he would not get \u201cdirectly involved in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
City are accused of providing misleading information about their finances over a nine-year period from 2009-18. During that time, they won three titles and signed some of the world\u2019s best players. They went on to enjoy a period of unprecedented dominance of English soccer.<\/p>\n
The guilty verdict represents the biggest scandal in Premier League history and raises questions over the future of the club.<\/p>\n
The Independent Football Regulatory was established by the British government last year to set governance standards in English soccer. Part of that includes the issuing of licenses for clubs to be able to operate, which will begin from November.<\/p>\n
Kogan suggested the guilty verdict would not impact the issuing of a license to City because their appeal is ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cA verdict once it\u2019s gone through an appeal process will certainly be something that we would clearly be taking into account when looking at awarding a license or looking at the owners, directors and senior executives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
State of the Game<\/p>\n
Kogan was speaking in Manchester for the publication of the regulator\u2019s \u201cState of the Game\u201d report into English soccer.<\/p>\n
The report states that despite the success of English soccer \u2014 which includes the Premier League, the world\u2019s richest and most popular league \u2014 94 percent of clubs throughout the pyramid are loss-making and more than a quarter of clubs would be unable to survive more than 30 days if owners pulled funding.<\/p>\n
It states a major problem is teams spending excessively to try to keep up with rivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the heart of English football\u2019s success is a massive contradiction. While some of our clubs are among the richest and most competitive in the world, others are standing on the edge of financial disaster,\u201d Kogan said. \u201cThis lack of resilience can no longer be ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n
English soccer has revenues of nine billion pounds ($11.92 billion) according to the report. Despite that, many clubs are \u201ctechnically insolvent and increasingly reliant on owners,\u201d it states.<\/p>\n
Seventeen clubs \u201cwould be loss making even if their players played for free,\u201d the regulator\u2019s CEO Richard Monks said. \u201cOwners in many football clubs will inject the money two or three days before payday and not keep any cash in the club. This is not how most businesses are run, and it\u2019s a major issue which we will require football to address.\u201d<\/p>\n
The regulator has been involved in negotiations between the Premier League and the English Football League regarding what are known as solidarity payments to help develop England\u2019s lower leagues. That includes parachute payments to teams relegated from the topflight.<\/p>\n
The regulator is proposing a change to those payments to be more evenly spread among teams. It is part of a suite of proposals, including measures for clubs to improve management of financial risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n