How Abu Dhabi Took Over Manchester City | Part Two
It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast
The Overlap
4.9 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome back to It Was What It Was, the football history podcast.
In the second and final episode of our exploration into Abu Dhabi's takeover of Manchester City, Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper uncover the strategic, political, and historical forces behind one of the most transformative moves in modern football.
Incorporating expert commentary from Dr. Chris Davison, author of Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond, this episode explores how a state-led investment in a football club became a powerful tool of international diplomacy. We trace the roots of Abu Dhabi’s global ambitions back to the oil boom of the 1970s and '80s, the legacy of Sheikh Zayed’s leadership, and the shifting political landscape following his death in 2004.
We also examine the rise of Sheikh Mansour, the tightening grip of autocracy, and the human rights questions that shadow this high-stakes project. From geopolitics in the Arab world to influence across Africa and the Indian subcontinent.
00:00 Introduction 01:30 The Foundation of UAE and Its Growth
02:57 Sheikh Zayed's Vision and Leadership
05:24 The Role of Women and Modernisation
08:37 The Al Nahyan Family Dynamics
12:47 The Manchester City Takeover
15:39 The Impact and Strategy Behind the Takeover
22:41 The Strategic Importance of Qatar and Abu Dhabi
23:29 Human Rights Concerns in Abu Dhabi
28:52 Worker Rights and Personal Accounts
31:38 The Yemeni War and Foreign Policy
34:59 Manchester City's Aggressive Strategy
36:19 Comparing Strategies: Abu Dhabi vs. Qatar
44:23 The Future of Manchester City
46:29 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I think ultimately it's a public relation play. |
| 0:10.0 | I always felt the city purchased was a foreign policy exercise. |
| 0:14.0 | It cultivates good relations with Britain, but it also taps into that global brand the Premier League has in other Arab countries, |
| 0:20.0 | as well as |
| 0:20.9 | kids in India, Pakistan, Africa, all wearing the shirt. They know full well who owns it. They know |
| 0:26.6 | it's an Abu Dhabi Sheikh and therefore Abu Dhabi must be the good guy. Welcome to it was what it was. |
| 0:31.9 | I'm Jonathan Wilson. I'm with Rob Draper and that was Dr Chris Davison, the author of Abu Dhabi, |
| 0:36.9 | oil and beyond. Talking about why the state of Abu Dhabi, Oil and Beyond. |
| 0:38.1 | Talking about why the state of Abu Dhabi, through Sheikh Mansour, bought Manchester City. |
| 0:42.0 | So this is the second part of our two-part series on the takeover city, in the first part. |
| 0:47.4 | Do you go back and listen to that. |
| 0:48.3 | We talked about the foundation of the UAE as a state. |
| 0:51.8 | Why that was necessary, we talked about the discovery of oil, but huge change that |
| 0:57.1 | made to the economics of the region, to the politics of the region. And today we're going to get |
| 1:01.8 | more specifically on to the takeover city. But before we get into all that, can I please issue |
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... |
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