Downing Street has said Manchester City are not “above the rules” after Andy Burnham was criticised for his comments about the club’s breaches of Premier League financial rules.
The prime minister said on Wednesday he would be “really concerned” if the club’s owners decide to sell up after City were found guilty by an independent commission of most of the 115 charges they faced.
His remarks were branded “completely out of touch” and “extraordinary” by the Tories and took many in the football community by surprise.
In a statement following the backlash, Downing Street said the PM had made clear “the initial judgement is serious and there can’t be any suggestion that anyone is above the rules”.
In an attempt to clarify the PM’s position, a No 10 spokesperson added: “He also stressed that it is an ongoing independent process. It is essential that it is allowed to run its course and the outcome respected.
“Wherever wrongdoing is established, those responsible should face the appropriate consequences.”
Man City deny any wrongdoing and have until Friday to submit an appeal.
Sources told BBC Sport that City are expected to claim that key sponsorship deals were funded by the Abu Dhabi government, rather than the club’s owners, as part of an appeal.
Among the independent panel’s findings were that City arranged “sham contracts” with a number of commercial partners as part of a scheme to disguise secret funding of more than £830m.
The Premier League said City “systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade”.
In an interview on Wednesday with the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason, Burnham – who was mayor of Greater Manchester until June – said he was “not getting directly involved in the process”, saying it must be undertaken independently by the Premier League.
He said the situation was “contested by Manchester City” and it would be “wrong” to “jump to a conclusion”.
Asked if he was worried the club’s owners since 2008 – led by Sheikh Mansour, a royal and the United Arab Emirates deputy prime minister – might sell up, Burnham said: “I would be really concerned to lose them.
“They’ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester and obviously the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.
“I can’t intervene more in the process, it would be wrong for me to do that.”
In response, the Tories accused Burnham of “publicly backing the owners even as the investigation continues” and questioned whether “political pressure” was being applied.