Defending Premier League champions Manchester City, who are facing more than 115 charges of foul play, may be forced into a change of ownership alongside Saudi-owned Newcastle United.

According to The Times, a member of the Labour government, Lord Bassam of Brighton, has submitted a proposal to ban state-controlled ownership of English football clubs. If successful, this would force the owners of Manchester City and Newcastle to sell.

Lord Bassam has put forward an amendment to the legislation, which would prevent professional English clubs from being owned or controlled by government ministers or sovereign wealth funds from any country.

Manchester City’s owner, Sheikh Mansour, is the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates, while Newcastle are owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

This proposal follows the controversial sale of Newcastle United to Saudi Arabia’s PIF, which was said to be politically motivated, with members of the government reportedly pushing through the deal to avoid a negative impact on relations between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, a nation that invests heavily in the UK economy.

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