Manchester City Sponsorship Legal Action

Welcome back. We promised you another development in the

Manchester City

situation. Kaveh's rejoined us. Kaveh, what are those

big developments?

Well, Manchester City's principal sponsor say

they are considering taking

legal action, uh, against the Premier League.

Etihad Airways, uh, is the Abu Dhabi

state-owned airline which has been Manchester City's

main sponsor since 2009.

I think in 2011 they signed a 10-year deal which

was worth £400 million,

which they have since extended. Now, they have released a very,

very strongly worded statement this evening, and in the statement

they say they are seeking legal advice to protect

their interests. Now, why would they be doing that?

The reason behind it, of course, is that we had this judgment from the Premier

League commission, uh, last night which said that

Manchester City's owners had been inflating their sponsorship

income. A- and they said that, uh, some of City's,

uh, sponsorship deals were sham deals.

They weren't real contracts. Now, I have to stress that

the, uh, the published decision which we received

yesterday did not name Etihad

Airways, but obviously the company feels very,

very strongly,

uh, about this. And in a statement which they have released this

evening, they say that the Premier League did not engage

with them,

and they weren't given the chance to provide relevant

information to the Premier League.

They acknowledged that they weren't named in the published

decision, but they

say it has, quote, "Created damaging

implications for Etihad Airways." Now, we

have, uh, contacted the Premier League, uh, for

comment. They are not commenting, uh, this evening