The Premier League is reportedly seeking a major punishment for Manchester City.
Image Credits: Imago Images
Liverpool have had plenty to focus on domestically this season, but events surrounding their closest title rivals continue to dominate the wider conversation in English football.
With Andoni Iraola’s side still finding their feet under a new manager, the fallout from Manchester City’s reported guilty verdict in the Premier League’s long running financial case has become impossible to ignore, and the scale of what could follow is now becoming clearer.
According to talkSPORT, the Premier League are pushing for a punishment described as significant, record breaking and ground breaking for Manchester City, having found the club guilty of a substantial number of financial breaches.
Journalist Ben Jacobs, speaking to the outlet, revealed that the league’s ambitions extend beyond a simple points deduction, with expulsion from the Premier League itself among the sanctions under consideration.
Jacobs went further, explaining that the EFL are reportedly prepared to work alongside the Premier League should the worst case scenario unfold.
Should City be removed from the top flight, Jacobs said the EFL would be willing, in solidarity with the Premier League’s position, to keep City out of their own competitions as well, raising the possibility of the club being effectively shut out of English professional football altogether.
Despite the severity of what is being sought, Jacobs was careful to stress that expulsion remains only one possible outcome among several.
On the points deduction front, he outlined a number of scenarios that could play out.
A deduction in the region of fifty to fifty five points would represent what Jacobs called a de facto relegation, while anything beyond that figure would make the drop automatic.
A smaller deduction of thirty to forty points, by contrast, could still leave City safe if they accumulate enough points across the season to compensate.
There is also the possibility of a points penalty spread across multiple seasons rather than applied in one go, a scenario Jacobs suggested could be particularly damaging given its potential impact on City’s participation in the Champions League and the financial rewards that come with it.
He did note, however, that such an approach risks being viewed as an unusually prejudiced punishment given its extended effect.
Whatever sanction is eventually handed down, City are widely expected to appeal, a process that could delay any final resolution by months or potentially years.
Voices including pundit Simon Jordan have already urged caution over the club pinning its hopes on a successful appeal overturning the initial verdict.
For Liverpool and the rest of the Premier League, the uncertainty means the true consequences of City’s case remain some way from being settled, even as pressure builds for a punishment severe enough to match the scale of the charges the club has now been found guilty of.
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