Burnham was mayor of Manchester from 2017 until earlier this year and his tenure took place during a sustained period of success for City.

As mayor, he championed investment from the Gulf as a way of growing Manchester’s economy, a strategy which was initially pursued by the city’s leaders before Burnham became the inaugural elected mayor of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

“I don’t think I misspoke,” said Burnham of his past comments on Man City’s owners.

“What I would say is my mind hadn’t been on all of the issues. My mind had been on Labour Party conference and I was doing interviews in relation to it.

“And also, I didn’t link those two things. You know, the questions linked those two things. What I would say is they’re very separate.

“The football issues are different from the investment issues. People will try and conflate those two things, but they shouldn’t, in my view.

“The football issues, the findings of the independent commission are serious, as I said in the interview.”

The entire process involving the charges against Manchester City is independent of the Premier League.

An independent commission held a 42-day hearing in 2024 which led to the verdict announced last month, with City also guilty of all charges except one relating to non-cooperation with the Premier League investigation.

The commission’s report said that “a number of important club witnesses gave false evidence in key respects and that some knowingly gave untrue and dishonest evidence”.

A separate independent appeal board will hear City’s appeal. The club continues to deny any wrongdoing.

Manchester City shut out all the noise and controversy to overcome a hostile Anfield atmosphere and beat 10-man Liverpool 3-0 on their return to Premier League action.

The trip to Merseyside was City’s first game after an independent commission found them guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules. The club have since appealed the verdict and continue to deny any wrongdoing.

The City players were welcomed by a chorus of boos for both their warm-ups and ahead of kick-off as they settled into the Anfield cauldron. However, they would end up silencing the crowd after a Ryan Gravenberch red card shortly after the hour mark allowed them to seize control.

The game mirrored the atmosphere in the early stages – frantic. The visitors were run ragged and on the receiving end of some strong tackles as the game threatened to boil over in the opening exchanges.

By half-time, City had managed to settle themselves and the crowd down. However, with Liverpool attacking The Kop in the second half, Enzo Maresca’s men had to weather the storm all over again.

Gianluigi Donnarumma was on his toes to keep out multiple vicious strikes, but then came the turning point. Gravenberch was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Jeremy Doku. Up until that point, City’s xG was just 0.16. From then on, the floodgates opened.

Two minutes and 36 seconds after the sending off, Erling Haaland emphatically put City ahead before Doku and Rayan Cherki turned on the style as the Premier League leaders sent a message about what they are still capable of on the pitch.

City’s ruthlessness means they remain the only team to make a perfect start to the league campaign, with Andoni Iraola’s Reds already nine points adrift following their first defeat.

The key moments from Anfield…

‘Pep who? – Keane impressed by Man City ‘statement’

Sky Sports’ Roy Keane:

“There have been lots of statements made over the last few weeks, but the team made a statement today.

“The sending off was a big help but you still have to show your quality. The three goals were fantastic.

“It will be a big boost to City. They have had a good start to the season, great for [Enzo Maresca].

“You’re thinking, ‘Pep who?’ at this stage. It’s not even been mentioned the concerns we had when Pep left or Rodri.

“Doku made a big difference going at people. He basically changed the game [off the bench] on top of the sending off.”

Story of the match in stats

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