Labour-linked Kogan holds key to Man City owners’ fate

Independent Football Regulator chair David Kogan could prove decisive in the fate of Manchester City’s owners, after an X thread by Jody McIntyre set out a trail of Labour donations and appointments that raise hard questions about independence.

Last year Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy chose Kogan as her preferred candidate for the post. In 2020 Kogan made two donations to Nandy’s Labour leadership campaign. Both went undeclared. Rules require any political gift above £1,500 to appear on an MP’s register of interests, even if split. Kogan paid £1,450 personally and a further sum through David Kogan Ltd. Nandy was later found to have broken the rules “unknowingly”.

Kogan has openly called himself a long-term Labour Party supporter and has funded several Labour MPs, among them Joe Powell, Matthew Patrick and Anna Turley. After the Nandy link surfaced, the decision was passed to junior minister Stephanie Peacock. Keir Starmer later labelled his own part in the appointment an “unfortunate error”. Kogan had vowed to quit if politicians interfered in cases.

The timing matters. Manchester City were found guilty of 114 counts of financial impropriety. Andy Burnham said he would be “really concerned to lose” their Emirati owners. Nandy’s leadership bid was also backed by Howard Bernstein, former Manchester Council chief executive and later a strategic adviser at the club’s parent company. Bernstein had been the council’s named contact in a sweetheart deal with those same owners.

Kogan previously served as chief media rights adviser to the Premier League and as a senior executive at Wasserman Media Group. With the regulator now in place and Burnham’s local political standing tied to the club’s future, the chair’s Labour funding record sits squarely in the spotlight. The appointments and the money trails are on the public record. The test is whether the regulator acts free of the party that put him there.

This man could be key in deciding the fate of Man City’s owners.

But did you know that Independent Football Regulator chair David Kogan has funded SEVERAL Labour MPs, including the Culture Secretary?

I’ve been doing some digging, and I can’t believe what I’ve found:🧵 pic.twitter.com/IPn8yCgrU0

— Jody McIntyre (@jodymcintyre_) October 12, 2026

Original source: Jody McIntyre (@jodymcintyre_)