MANCHESTER CITY have reportedly hired the lawyer that stopped Brexit twice to help fight their two-year Uefa ban in court.
According to the Mirror, David Pannick QC has been hired by the Citizens on an eye-watering £20,000-a-day fee.
Manchester City have drafted in lawyer David Pannick to fight their Uefa banCredit: PA:Press Association
City were last week slapped with a two-year ban from competing in Uefa competitions after they were found guilty of breaking Financial Fair Play rules.
They were also handed a £25million fine, with City standing to lose over £170million in prize money and TV revenues.
SunSport reported how the club’s owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan was prepared to spend £30m on lawyers and sue Uefa for the next ten years.
And they will now hope that with top lawyer Pannick fighting beside them, they will be in action in the Champions League next season.
Pannick – who in 2008 became Baron Pannick of Radlett after being awarded a life peerage – has twice represented Brexit activist Gina Miller.
In 2016, he successfully stopped Theresa May from taking Great Britain out of the European Union without parliamentary consent.
And the 63-year-old also prevailed last September when Mrs Miller took a case to the UK Supreme Court after declaring that Boris Johnson had given the Queen unlawful advice as he looked to prorogue parliament.
It won’t be the first time that Pannick has represented City, with the barrister appearing before the Appeal Court in 2013 to force former boss Joe Royle to pay back £467,000 in compensation and legal costs.
Pep Guardiola has already stated he wants to be at the club next campaign with the ex-Barcelona gaffer revealing he will hold contract talks over the next few months.
He said: “We are going to talk with Khaldoon (al Mubarak) at the end of the season or in the middle of next season and we will see. I want to stay one more year and after that it depends. It also depends on the results.
“I said a month ago the future we’ll have been five seasons together, I don’t exclude it at all if the club is happy with me and our group to extend the contract.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
