New details about football drama: pressure close to Boris Johnson on the Gulf state

Both Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labor leader Keir Starmer have been staunch opponents of the European Super League, announcing a dozen of the continent’s biggest and wealthiest clubs Sunday evening.

Johnson has expressed deep concern that the Europa League will be a cartel, threatening the future of the British football system. In a meeting with British football leaders and support groups, Johnson announced that he would drop a bomb from a bill on clubs, to prevent participation in the Premier League.

Diplomatic pressure

But the major British newspaper times It is revealed on Wednesday evening that Johnson has also used diplomatic channels to pressure the Manchester City owner. The city is officially owned by the United Abu Dhabi Group, which is controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Sheikh Mansour is the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and the half-brother of the President of the same country. He is also part of the royal family of Abu Dhabi.

According to The Times, Edward Lister or Lord Audney Lister, Johnson’s special envoy to the Gulf states, raised the issue in several conversations with members of the United Arab Emirates.

The newspaper wrote that Leicester threatened that City’s possible participation in the Premier League would harm the UAE’s relations with Great Britain.

– He made it clear that it would be a really positive thing for the relationship if it didn’t happen, as the newspaper quoted an unnamed source.

Leicester was for many years a key advisor to Boris Johnson and was chief of staff when Johnson was mayor of London. He was also Johnson’s chief strategist and acting chief of staff during his premiership.

The first to be confirmed

Manchester City became the first club to confirm its withdrawal from the partnership last night. Prior to that, a united British press organization announced that Chelsea, owned by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, and City, would be the first two clubs to withdraw from the failed billion-dollar collaboration.

UEFA president Alexander Schiffrin praised City, who leads the English Premier League in England, and who was at war against the plans.

I am delighted to welcome Manchester City back into the European football family. They showed high intelligence. The Slovenian coach said in a statement that City is an important resource for football and I am delighted to be able to work with them for a better future.

Just before midnight, the remaining British clubs – Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United – confirmed they had withdrawn from the plans. This happened after a crisis meeting between the twelve dissident clubs

Juventus President Andrea Agnelli, one of the driving forces behind the separatists, threw the towel on Wednesday morning.

Plans are billions of dollars

The plans, which were knocked out by the twelve clubs Sunday night, mean a disconnect from the European merit-based football system, where the best European clubs compete against each other in the Champions League and European League.

According to the English language Financial times Clubs, which have been hit hard by the drop in revenue due to the pandemic, have promised a large sum of money to join. The newspaper writes that a “welcome bonus” of between 200 and 300 million euros has been guaranteed.

This corresponds to between 1.9 and 2.9 billion crowns at today’s exchange rate – something that could be beneficial for clubs, which have lost billions in revenue, among other things, from ticket sales and matches in the Corona pandemic. Major US bank JP Morgan Chase secured the startup.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We want you to share our cases using a link that leads directly to our pages. It is not permitted to reproduce all or part of the content or any other use of it except with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional conditions look here.