What Manchester City fans have to say about sportswashing

Analysis: how do fans reconcile the misdeeds of their owners with their identity as Manchester City supporters?

By Colm Kearns, Gary Sinclair, DCU and Jack Black, Sheffield Hallam University

In 2008, Manchester City Football Club were acquired by the Abu Dhabi United Group, an entity led by Abu Dhabi royalty and UAE politicians. Over the course of this ownership, the group has injected approximately £1.5 billion into the club, an investment that has been remarkably successful. Since 2008, City have won seven Premier League titles, eight domestic cup trophies, and the prestigious 2023 UEFA Champions League, a level of success that was considered unfathomable prior to the acquisition.

But this remarkable transformation has not escaped criticism, much of which has centred on the status of human rights in the UAE. As a result, City's success has not simply distorted the financial landscape of club football, but also serves as one of the most prominent case studies of "sportswashing".

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From RTÉ 2fm's Game On, David Conn, author of Richer Than God: Manchester City, Modern Football & Growing Up, on the club since the arrival of new owners

Sportswashing is a term coined to elucidate the tactic of leveraging sports to project a favourable image of a country or organisation while concealing, downplaying or complicating its negative facets. This can manifest in various forms, such as one-off event-based strategies and longer-term investment-based strategies.

One-off event-based