A pundit cannot see Manchester City being hit by one specific punishment as a result of their ongoing Financial Fair Play case against the Premier League.
Man City are facing over 100 charges over alleged breaches of the Premier League’s FFP rules after being referred to an independent comission at the start of 2023.
The Premier League felt it necessary to launch a legal battle against Man City after conducting a four-year probe into their conduct between 2009 and 2018.
Pep Guardiola’s side have remained insistent on their innocence throughout this process as they have invested heavily in the transfer market, sitting sixth in our Premier League net spend table.
Still, it remains to be seen whether they will be punished as a verdict is yet to be reached after the Man City vs Premier League FFP case concluded at the end of 2024.
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It was reported that the initial verdict would be announced around March, but there is yet to be an official word on an outcome and it’s unclear whether there will be a resolution before the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
If found guilty, Man City could be given a huge fine, points deduction, transfer ban or expulsion from the Premier League and ex-defender Danny Mills has explained why he cannot see his former club starting next season on negative points.
“I don’t think so, in all honesty,” Mills told GOAL when asked whether he thinks Man City will start next season on minus points.
“I know it’s incredibly complicated and there is a lot of devil in the detail. Nottingham Forest, Everton, Leicester, all got punished with one or two charges, not much more than that. City have 115! Even if two of those were stickable, surely they would have been punished by now.
“They can’t all be under the same rap or punishment. I just find it incredible. Three teams – Sheffield United as well you can put into that – get punished with two or three charges and that happened in weeks, rather than months.”
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He continued: “115 charges and it’s rumbling on three, four years later. Surely if they only need two or three of those charges to stick, it would have been done by now. Then the other 111, 112 charges would have been dealt with separately after that.
“I think there will be some sort of punishment for a breach of whatever, I don’t think it will be massively severe.
“I think it will just get argued and argued and argued, appealed time and time again, and drag that even further. If I was City, I wouldn’t be massively worried at the moment.”
Football finance expert Stefan Borson recently provided an update on Man City’s FFP case, claiming the Premier League faces a “complete disaster” as it looks increasingly likely that the hearing will drag on into next season.
“We’re now in a zone where, commercially, if there’s any influence at all from the parties – the Premier League or the club – they would want to get that decision out during the close season,” Borson told talkSPORT.
“What’s the alternative? That it comes out in that three-week period after the Club World Cup, but before the start of the season. And that’s sub-optimal.
“We’re getting very close to a situation where, if it doesn’t come out in the next couple weeks and doesn’t come out during the Club World Cup, you’re getting very close to the start of the season. Nobody’s going to want that. That is a complete disaster.”