Manchester sold itself to Abu Dhabi’s elite - Guardian article

[Oystercatcher28]

Did they mention Russia and China ?
Goodness knows who London sold out to.

Bin Laden's family rent apartments in Glasgow to students.
Peel Holdings, and John Whittaker, and god knows how many tax avoidance shell companies... have all pros and cons. Politically they are full of cons. Even BAE systems owns pubs and clubs (but they're pro-Saudia Arabia).
Henning Conle (Russian-backed?) and Sirosa even own Man Utd's offices in London. Der Spiegel have his fortune on their radar. The Pandora Papers are out there now. But, instead the focus of most news is on targeting one or two groups.

 

[Mr Fraser]

The council added the Manchester Life developments had “acted as a catalyst, creating confidence and attracting further investment into the area” and had paved the way for new homes and business, generating “significantly more for the city in extra council tax and business rates income”.

On a smaller scale 20 plus years ago developers were able to buy former mining sites in Barnsley with some possible favourable planning decisions. The theory was to build houses cheaper than larger nearby conurbations attracting more people to generate direct income for the council and to sustain /re generate local economy, provide employment from unskilled up to management for jobs lost

 

[The perfect fumble]

The part that's always gotten me is even if you allow for all of this and the plan really was to sportswash, why Manchester City specifically? If the nation state was behind it surely they could afford basically whomever, regardless of whether it was "for sale" or not. Wouldn't you go for a (previously) top club instead, or at least one in London?

And there you have it.

Amanda Staveley responded rather well to sports washing questions about Newcastle, she indicated that if sports washing was a thing, they'd have bought a big name sports franchise in the States.

Can't argue with that

Fine club Newcastle and all that, but a run down club in the North East and a run down club in East Manchester as was, are a poor fit for this sports washing argument.

But the fact there's no substance to this sports washing bullshit isn't really the point, City and Newcastle are just handy vehicles to push a political line, if the facts don't fit, or the argument doesn't hold up, that's immaterial.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Where was the Guardian when the council gave the Ronald Johnson Field in Moston to the Moston Rag Socks for free and a £1 a year peppercorn rent?
And the Rag Socks owe the council 500K which they aren't going to get back - yet the council benefit from all of these deals with ADUG

 

[Corky]

And there you have it.

Amanda Staveley responded rather well to sports washing questions about Newcastle, she indicated that if sports washing was a thing, they'd have bought a big name sports franchise in the States.

Can't argue with that

Fine club Newcastle and all that, but a run down club in the North East and a run down club in East Manchester as was, are a poor fit for this sports washing argument.

But the fact there's no substance to this sports washing bullshit isn't really the point, City and Newcastle are just handy vehicles to push a political line, if the facts don't fit, or the argument doesn't hold up, that's immaterial.

Rather simplistic, they all tend to be billionaires with American or Canadian citizenship, and block anyone they want from being an owner. She would not have stood a chance.

 

[waspish]

Rather simplistic, they all tend to be billionaires with American or Canadian citizenship, and block anyone they want from being an owner. She would not have stood a chance.

Yep how long have we had New York City? Because they’ve been trying to build a ground for the club for years and been turned down Everytime they make a proposal doesn’t matter how beneficial it is for the area!

 

[Corky]

Yep how long have we had New York City? Because they’ve been trying to build a ground for the club for years and been turned down Everytime they make a proposal doesn’t matter how beneficial it is for the area!

I doubt they are counting the MLS as big name, clearly PL teams are bigger than MLS. Owning NBA, NHL and NFL teams is like their honours system, if they don't think you are worthy they will block you like a stuck up Golf Club with recourse to appeal.

 

[BrianW]

Maybe if the 'British elite' had deigned to invest in Manchester, the Sheikh (and the Chinese) would not have got a look-in.

Talk about dog-in-the-manger! 'I don't want it, but I don't want anyone else to have it.'

 

[stan bowles]

Didn't something similar happen to transform Canary Wharf from a run down shit hole to some of the most expensive real estate in the UK ? Sold with big subsidies to investors for redevelopment to realise big returns.

 

[Elbow beards]

Didn't the scousers do something similar, but instead of investing heavily in the area to improve it, they deliberately ran it down. Where's the guardian story for that one?