Manchester City’s owner injects 80 million pounds in club

LONDON - Manchester City’s owner Sheikh Mansour has injected 80 million pounds into the Eastlands club amidst fears over City’s ability to meet rules of European football body, UEFA.

The Guardian reported that Mansour, a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, purchased 37,547,169 new shares in the Eastlands club Sep 30, each costing him 2.12 pounds. It amounted to 79.6 million pounds of fresh investment.

The sum is small change for the Abu Dhabi billionaire, but it raises fresh questions about City’s capacity to meet new regulations coming into force from next season.

UEFA’s financial fair-play rules require that no club should make an aggregate loss of more than 45 million euros (about 39 million pounds) over the three seasons from 2011-12, or it will face being excluded from European competition. City are taking steps now apparently in an attempt not to fall foul.

“Clearly our intention is to comply. Our two-year plan was to take a budget and build a competency to compete at the highest level, not forgetting the need for succession planning in every position,” Garry Cook, the City chief executive, was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

“We are pleased with how that worked, and will not be signing players to the same level of intensity in the next transfer windows. Financial fair play is on our conscience, we talk about it at every board meeting, and it’s part of our long-term plan,” he said.