Aston Villa players Ahmed El Mohamady and Tyrone Mings confront referee Lee Mason as they disagree with the awarding of the second goal during the Carabao Cup Final between Aston Villa and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium on March 01, 2020
Ahmed Elmohamady and Tyrone Mings confront referee Lee Mason as they disagree with the awarding of the second goal during the Carabao Cup Final between Aston Villa and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium on March 01, 2020(Image: Getty Images)
Former Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow has spoken out following reports Manchester City breached the Premier League’s financial regulations.
The claims arose on Friday after City were ‘found guilty’ by an independent commission on 114 of the 115 charges against them.
City have always denied the allegations and in a statement released they said: “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. As such Manchester City FC’s position remains consistent with the club’s statement of February 2023.
“The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”
In 2023 City said they had a ‘body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position’.
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While the actual verdict has not been confirmed, either by the Premier League, City, or indeed the independent commission, it is understood City will appeal and any sanctions have not yet been decided. The charges relate to a nine-year period from 2009-2018.
The Independent says ‘numerous clubs have been in discussions with legal firms to see what they are eligible for’ and suggested ‘claims may not just be limited to those seasons and prospective loss of earnings but also "loss of chance" in subsequent campaigns.’
On Saturday morning Purslow appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today programme and it was pointed out to him Villa were beaten by City in the 2020 Carabao Cup final, he replied: "That is true, thank you for reminding me of that on a Saturday morning. I think there are probably three areas that are all in the frame here.
“You have the question of sporting sanctions and that would most normally be some form of points deduction. Previous parties found guilty of breaching financial regulation have had meaningful points reductions. The seriousness of these guilty findings and the scale of them, 114, they are in a completely different level to anything that has gone before in terms guilty findings.
“We also have the issue of compensation.”
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The presenter, Justin Webb, pointed out that Villa didn’t just lose the Carabao Cup to City, they lost the right to participate in the Europa League in the Covid-19 affected 2020/21 campaign and the financial boost they would have been given.
Purslow said: “That is a very good point and this is the unravelling issue. It's a sort of 'where does this end' because if you look at every single season, the nine seasons in which we now know Man City breached rules, then all of their 19 Premier League rivals in that season, to differing extents, suffered easy-to-compute loss.
“Every place in the Premier League is worth millions of pounds. Teams that came fifth that would have been in the Champions League maybe lost tens of millions of pounds.
“And of course teams that were relegated, let’s say the team that finished 18th would have been 17th if Manchester City weren’t there and they then suffered huge loss.
“If you add all those claims up over nine years – and that’s just in the Premier League – you’ve raised a cup competition which is actually raised by the EFL, you can see that the potential for this to spiral out of control is huge."
Again, it is important to say City have always maintained they have complied with regulations and that they have not 'breached rules' as Purslow suggested.