Man City severs links with Thai regime

MANCHESTER City Football Club has severed all ties with former owner Thaksin Shinawatra after Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bought the 10% stake in the club he did not own.

A brief statement on the official Manchester City website said: “Manchester City can confirm that a transaction involving 10% of the shares of Manchester City Football Club Limited has been completed.

“The 10% of shares, previously owned by Worldwide Investments has now been transferred to ADUG, the wholly owned company of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for an undisclosed sum.

“As a result of the transaction Manchester City Football Club is now 100% owned by His Highness Sheikh Mansour.”

On Monday two non-executive directors of the club Taweeksuk (Jack) Srisumrid and Victor Restis resigned according to documents filed at Companies House. Both were Shinawatra’s representatives on the City board.

Sheikh Mansour has overseen a multi-million pound transformation of Manchester City since his £210m takeover last year.

More than £150m has been spent on new players, and the club is now regarded as the richest and most ambitious in the world.