EXCLUSIVE: City in crisis as Shinawatra forced to borrow £2m from ex-chief Wardle just to pay the players

Sportsmail can reveal that Wardle, who resigned in protest at Thaksin’s reign on July 9,was so concerned City staff were not going to be paid that he agreed to loan the club’s owner £2m for the third time in less than a year.

Although Wardle has been repaid and no staff wage payments were missed, it is
clear City are operating on a hand-to-mouth basis each month. There are fears
within the club the problem will soon recur, with Wardle no longer around to bail
Thaksin out.

Cash to spend: Thaksin Shinawatra and his family shopping in Guildford yesterday

Barclays Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore is demanding urgent talks with Thaksin, who fled Thailand to avoid facing corruption charges.

He said: ‘We are clearly going to have to establish the status of his return to England and where that leaves him in regard to the legal process in Thailand.

‘Our rules are clear that somebody has to be convicted of something to fail the “fit and
proper person” criteria and, until someone does, he still falls within our rules. But there is no point in having this test unless it is meaningful, as we have always said it is, and it has to be applied.

‘We need to make sure that, if somebody is guilty of something, we will deal with it.’

It is understood that if Thaskin is convicted in his absence, the Premier League
would investigate whether they could force him to relinquish control of City.

Last night Wardle would not comment, but he is known to be distraught at the manner in which the club he sold last summer are struggling under Thaksin’s leadership.

Thaksin has invested considerably less of his own money in City than first thought and has been seeking fresh investment while relying more heavily on other borrowed capital.

Meanwhile, City manager Mark Hughes faces a struggle of his own to gain direct
control of transfer policy after a weekend in which he came into confrontation with the
club’s new chief operating officer, Paul Aldridge, over the proposed transfer of Stephen
Ireland to Sunderland.

Hughes was said to be incandescent when he learned Ireland was not at the City of
Manchester Stadium for the club’s friendly against AC Milan on Saturday and blamed
Aldridge for allegedly trying to engineer the transfer.

Furious: Mark Hughes is angry at player matters apparently being taken out of his hands

Aldridge, formerly at West Ham, has denied this and the club have insisted that the
blame for the embarrassing affair lies at the door of agents.

Nevertheless, it is understood Hughes has made it clear to the club over the last 48 hours that he must be left in control of transfers if he is to continue in the job he took on in June.

Bookmakers have slashed the odds against Hughes being the first managerial casualty of the season over the last day or so and although there is not thought to be much likelihood of the former Blackburn boss quitting, he is said to be shocked at the manner in which the club is run.

The official line from City on the Ireland situation, and indeed Vedran Corluka’s aborted transfer to Tottenham, is that Hughes was in the loop throughout
and has not been undermined.

But Spurs are so angry at the way they feel City messed them about over Corluka that
they were considering legal action last night against their Premier League rivals.

With the Croatia defender having undergone a medical and agreed personal terms at
White Hart Lane, the transfer was about to go through until City pulled out on Sunday.

Last night the Premier League revealed that although Spurs’ transfer documents had been completed and submitted, City’s had not. This should leave City in the clear.

City are also known to be in negotiations for two new players, though given the financial turmoil now gripping the club, they are unlikely to involve large sums if players cannot be shifted out first.

As revealed in Sportsmail yesterday, Thaksin is back in London after refusing to
return to Thailand to face trial on corruption charges.