David Bernstein

Now, that's quite a powerful statement for somebody to make.

I read this morning, I was well online, that another previous, I think a previous City chairman, possibly, I think his name is David Bernstein, a well-respected man in football.

He seems to be calling for maximum penalties, despite it being a former club of his.

He says he loves Manchester City, he still does.

So I, I'm surprised it's being allowed.

But yeah, I think I said, uh, David Bernstein, I'm not sure what his current role is, but he used to be a chairman, I believe, of Manchester City, certainly a high-level involvement, and he's certainly calling for a tough penalty if they are-

Mm

... found guilty eventually after the appeal.

He said he was really concerned if this could affect Manchester City's ownership, didn't he? Because he was a former mayor of Manchester, they've invested a lot in the east of that city, I guess is why he said it.

And then you had David Bernstein, the former Manchester City and FA chairman, suggesting, is this risking political interference?

Well, in the cleanup, Bear Downing Street did say, if wrongdoing is established, those responsible should face the appropriate consequences, talking about the fact that no one should be above the rules, backing away from what he said the previous day to the BBC.

But then they had to clear up the statement because when he said, if wrongdoing is established, As many reports go, the Premier League has established in its mind wrongdoing

Mm-hmm.

And I would say only towards the end with David Bernstein did they get it right.

So at the start of the decade, Peter Swales was the chairman and he'd been in power for about 15 years by that stage, I think it was.

He came, he came in in the mid-'70s and he was a local guy, done good local business, local businessman, loved the club.

But he, there was protests at the ground every week to the point of where he said, "Yeah, I'll sell, but to the right person." In, in the wings was, uh, Francis Lee, a club legend.

Again, he'd made some money in, uh, in business locally and he came in and I, I think from memory he like was saying, "I'll pump 8 million pound into the club" which now seems small fry, but we're like, "Wow, what could we buy with 8 million pounds?" Like [laughs] uh, so anyway, he came in.

Again, he chopped and changed managers, wasn't great and then, uh, eventually he was forced out and David Bernstein came in who was a very, very good businessman, very shrewd, put the club back on an even keel and I suppose it needed that like safe hand at the till to get us back, you know, climbing the divisions.

But yeah, it was a, it was a turbulent time for sure.

The verdict from the Premier League w- was beyond stinging, Kieran.

Um, the ex-chairman of Manchester City, David Bernstein, called it damning beyond belief and asking whether the board should now step down.

So we've got talk of sham agreements, sham contracts, artificially inflated revenues, £900 million, false evidence and dishonesty by witnesses.

And then Man City's response was equally as robust, Kieran, saying that the panel was biased, that they had misunderstood the process, and that they had irrefutable evidence that they were innocent of all these charges.

This politics would have been dealt out at the beginning if political intervention was going to come into play.

Because I had that conversation with David Bernstein, the former chairman of Man City, about the potential ramifications of political interference.

Don't forget, by the way, when you allow nation states in there, you create a raft of problems.

And one of the problems you create with, say, the Abu Dhabis, is they are huge investors in the infrastructure of the UK.