Man City owners could be forced to sell, regulator says

Manchester City's owners could be forced to sell the club if English football's Independent Regulator finds they have run it improperly, the watchdog's chair David Kogan said.

Kogan told "The Rest is Football" podcast that the regulator would have power to ask an owner to step away from a club if it believed the club was being run in a way that was not fit, fair or proper. Asked whether an owner could refuse to divest, he said: "No. We've got absolute power to do so."

City have been found guilty by an independent commission of more than 100 charges of breaking Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018. The club have appealed and deny wrongdoing.

The club are owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, vice-president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, following a 2008 takeover.

Kogan also said last week he would resign if there were political interference in any investigation the regulator may undertake into City. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham had said he would be "really concerned" if City's Abu Dhabi owners left the club after the verdict, but Downing Street later said no one was "above the rules".