'Verdicts that rocked football' and 'Burnham bottles it'
- Published
Premier League side Manchester City being found guilty of breaking the majority of the 115 financial rules they were accused of breaching leads a number of Saturday's papers. "The 114 guilty verdicts that rocked football," is how the i Weekend describes it. The paper calls the verdicts a "warning to foreign owners", quoting Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy as saying "investment is welcome, undue influence is not". The club's punishment has not yet been decided and it denies the charges, the i Weekend adds
The Manchester City logo dominates the front page of the Sun, with the paper asking if the club is "going down?". It says Manchester City "could face Prem drop" following the verdicts, with charges "covering the trophy-laden period from 2009 and 2018". Bosses at the club, which currently boasts "superstars including Erling Haaland", are poised to appeal, according to the paper
"Ban City" is the Daily Star's take. The paper says "calls for a ban" from rival clubs have reached "fever pitch" - and it pictures former manager Pep Guardiola kissing the Premier League trophy
The FT Weekend says the findings "will send shockwaves through European football". Meanwhile, the paper has a feature on how "a global effort to tax tourists is picking up steam". It says cash-strapped areas are seeking "voter-friendly ways to raise revenues and exert some control over a travel boom that keeps breaking records"
The Guardian also leads on the Manchester City verdicts, saying the Premier League is now in "turmoil". It says the "most serious" charges relate to "claims that the club failed to provide 'accurate financial information' to the league". Elsewhere, the paper reports on Prime Minister Andy Burnham saying he will not call a snap general election "before 2029", during a round of broadcast interviews with regional media
"Burnham bottles it!" is the headline leading the Daily Mail. The paper says he ruled out a snap election "after poll shows he'd lose majority". It adds that aides of the prime minister had "flirted with the idea" of an early election, but Burnham has now moved to "kill off speculation" he might send the country to the polls
The Times leads on a "cabinet rift". It reports on comments from Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, criticising Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's visa reforms plan that would "make it harder for foreign workers to claim permanent residence in the UK". Rayner tells the paper the plan would "hit" foreign care workers who had "moved their lives here to look after our loved ones". The Times describes it as "significant public criticism by a senior cabinet minister of a policy that Burnham inherited from Sir Keir Starmer"
The Daily Telegraph leads with pleas from the family of retired explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes who "have demanded an urgent investigation into his care arrangements". The family accuses the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) of "ignoring repeated requests to look into the explorer's welfare after his wife, Louise Millington-Cotes, stopped him from receiving visitors", the paper says. Millington-Cotes hasn't responded to requests for comment, and the OPG has been contacted for comment, the paper adds
The Daily Mirror reports that detectives are "looking again at CCTV evidence which could point to Jill Dando's killer"
The Independent leads on comments by Labour Party Chair Bridget Phillipson, who accuses Reform UK and the Tories of having "weaponised" violence against women for "political point-scoring". A source close to Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch describes it as a "spiteful and absurd attack", the paper reports, while Reform UK did not respond to a request for comment
The Daily Express reports that the prime minister is "[blaming] Brexit for the Channel boats crisis", after Burnham said a "loss of collaboration" with European neighbours "had made it harder to stop illegal Channel crossings". It follows what the paper describes as a "bruising week for the Home Office", with more than 700 migrants reaching the UK via small boats on Wednesday
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