How Man City's owners wooed Andy Burnham, from property deals to football chats

Friedrich Engels famously described the industrial slums of Manchester as "Hell upon Earth" and among the worst in Britain after visiting them in the 1840s. Now some of those same mill buildings host Michelin-star restaurants, creative agencies and fashionable flats that sell for more than £300,000.

The transformation of Manchester's skyline over recent decades is remarkable, all the more so that it happened in a northern city still bearing the scars of deindustrialisation and economic decline. Manchester City's owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), weren't the only reason it happened, but they were a key catalyst.

And they are also why the City cheating scandal has led to what some are calling Andy Burnham's first "misstep". The Prime Minister was Mayor of Greater Manchester when ADUG's cash wasn't just flouting Premier League rules, according to this week's bombshell findings, so that City could buy right backs for £50m, it was also paying for thousands of luxury flats, research facilities at the University and a huge expansion of the Etihad stadium.

Burnham welcomed the cash thathelped to build his 'Manchesterism' brand- propelling him into the country's top political job. Having such a willing and deep-pocketed private investor on his doorstep - at a time of squeezed local government funding - was a huge boon.

But now Burnham stands accused of political interference in an independent process. Asked about what should happen next in the case that has rocked world football, the Prime Minister chose to praise ADUG for being a "huge partner in the building of modern Manchester".

He added he would be "really concerned to lose" them. After attracting a wave of criticism for these comments, Burnham was this afternoon forced to issue a climbdown, with a No10 spokesman saying: "As the Prime Minister made clear….

there can't be any suggestion that anyone is above the rules." An independent Commission has ruled that City are guilty of more than 100 charges of breaking financial rules by cheating over several years. City have denied wrongdoing and plan to appeal.

ADUG has worked closely with Manchester's political leaders on a number of projects during Burnham's tenure as mayor between 2017 and 2026. Of particular note is the joint property venture between Manchester city council and ADUG, called ManchesterLife, which was first founded in 2014.

It has been the driving force behind the regeneration of Ancoats, the neighbourhood now often named as one of the 'coolest places to live in the world' by TimeOut magazine.