Regulator chief: I'll quit if politics touches City case
The head of English football's independent regulator says he will walk away if politicians interfere in Manchester City's case.
David Kogan, chair of the Independent Football Regulator, said he would resign if he encountered political pressure over City. He made the pledge on 13 October, according to BBC Sport.
Kogan leads the new body set up to oversee the men's game in England — separate from the Premier League and the Football Association. He said the regulator is waiting for Manchester City's appeal. It will make no decision until then. It has to "go on the evidence", he said, according to BBC Sport.
That caution matters because the case is already loaded. An independent commission, a separate panel appointed to hear the Premier League's charges against City, concluded that the club had clearly intended to get around league rules by inflating revenue and hiding costs, according to ESPN.
Kogan said that guilty verdict raises serious issues. He did not spell out what action the regulator might take. His point was process first, judgment later.
City reject the commission's finding. The club described the decision as "unsafe", according to RTÉ. An appeal, a formal request for the outcome to be reviewed, is the next step in that legal fight.
Kogan has also pointed to the regulator's wider teeth. The body has powers to test whether owners, directors and senior executives are suitable to run a club, and he said it will use those powers, according to BBC News. That suitability test, in plain terms, is a check on who is fit to own and lead clubs.
For fans, this means waiting. No punishment, no clearance and no wider ruling from the regulator will come before the appeal runs its course. The table stays as it is, and the argument moves into meeting rooms and law books for now.
What makes this stand out is the clarity of the red line. Football has lived through years of debate about money, power and who guards the game. Kogan's message was simple. Politicians keep out, evidence decides, and the regulator acts only when the legal process is complete.
