Manchester City staff invited on government trade trip to India

Exclusive: Greater Manchester mayor Bev Craig invited City representative on trade trip organised by business secretary A club representative from Manchester City was invited on a government-backed trade delegation to India this week, despite the club being found guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League rules. Andy Burnham’s successor as Manchester mayor Bev Craig took a representative from the club to Delhi and Mumbai on a trip organised by business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, where she and other northern mayors have been promoting British trade and tourism. She defended the decision to invite City even as the prime minister came under fire for his own contacts with the club, telling the Guardian it had played a vital role in helping build infrastructure in her city.

“If a football club has broken the rules, a football club should be punished for breaking the rules, and that is pretty clear in an independent process,” she said. “I think what can also be true at the same time though, if you ask residents in east Manchester, have