Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has issued a rare open letter to supporters, reaffirming his "confidence and intent in proving the club's innocence" after an explosive 48 hours in the Premier League's long-running legal battle.
Allan Elias joined Manchester City from Palmeiras this summer.
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Manchester City spent the back end of last week at the centre of English football's biggest story. On Friday, a wave of reports stated that an independent commission had found City guilty on almost all of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League, a story first broken by The Athletic's David Ornstein before it flooded the national media within hours.
The fallout was immediate and seismic. Ornstein's report, which suggested City had been in the wrong on all but one of the charges, dominated back and front pages, rolling news coverage and social media through the weekend, reigniting a debate that has hung over the club for the best part of four years.
Crucially, nothing has been officially confirmed. No verdict has been published by the Premier League or the commission, no findings have been formally announced and no sanctions of any kind will be set for a long time yet. In a rare open letter from chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the club were keen to stress that the process is not complete.
Spain captain and former Manchester City midfielder Rodri has backed his former club's innocence following reports that the independent commission found City guilty on 114 of their alleged 115 Premier League financial rule breaches.cityxtra.co.uk"We Will Believe The Club" - Rodri Backs Man City's Innocence Despite Guilty Verdict Reports
Spain captain and former Manchester City midfielder Rodri has backed his former club's innocence following reports that the independent commission found City guilty on 114 of their alleged 115 Premier League financial rule breaches.
What Did Khaldoon Al Mubarak Say?
Al Mubarak’s letter is typically measured and calm, and he opened by underlining the depth of his own ties to the Blues across almost two decades in the role.
“I have been part of this Club for 18 years,” the chairman wrote, adding “I have had the privilege to stand with you in the Etihad, at Wembley, and in Istanbul” - a nod to the countless trophies won on his watch, including the 2023 Champions League triumph.
From there he addressed the reporting head on and said that he had spent Friday evening much as ordinary fans had - fielding questions from those around him. The message he gave his own family, he said, was the same one he wanted supporters to hear: “The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the Club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began.”
This is nothing new. Supporters have been asked to put their faith in the club from the outset, armed with the unwavering confidence sent out by the club in both official and unofficial communications. In the light of Friday's reports, however, it is perhaps a bigger ask than ever before to expect fans to continue to believe in a positive outcome without any real understanding of exactly where that belief is coming from.
Explaining why he could not lay out the basis for the club's continued confidence, the chairman cited “the strict confidentiality of the legal process and our determination to respect it.” He went as far as to disclose that the letter itself “underwent several legal checks to make sure it complies,” and urged supporters to study the club’s own statements from Friday and February 2023, insisting: “Every word matters and holds true.”
There was defiance, too. Acknowledging that some had “been quick to reach their own conclusions” amid the clamour surrounding the club, Al Mubarak’s response was blunt - “nothing has changed... We have faced challenges together before and have prevailed,” he wrote, before a pointed message aimed squarely at City’s critics: “There remain many who want to undermine the momentum of our Club. We will not give them that opportunity.”
Finally, the chairman lifted the gaze back towards the football, looking ahead to a trip to Anfield, a home Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad Stadium and other “moments that give us an opportunity to celebrate the strength of the Manchester City family,” before closing by thanking supporters for their “constant support.”
The Case So Far
The charges at the heart of the saga were brought by the Premier League in February 2023, and number more than 100 alleged breaches of the competition’s financial regulations spanning the years between 2009 and 2018. A separate strand relates to an alleged failure to co-operate fully with the league’s four-year investigation.
City have contested every one of them from the outset, denying any wrongdoing and assembling a formidable legal team led by Lord Pannick KC to fight their corner.
In the statements the chairman pointed supporters towards, the club stated that its stance remained consistent with February 2023, and that it had “diligently respected due process for eight years.”
Its original response to the charges struck a similarly combative note, welcoming the independent commission and pointing to “the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position,” while expressing a desire to see the matter “put to rest once and for all.”
What Happens Next
The independent commission’s hearing, which stretched across several months, has since concluded, and it is the findings reported to be emerging from it that have driven the past week’s coverage.
Should those findings ultimately be confirmed in an official ruling, City would be widely expected to appeal, a step that could extend the saga well into the future rather than drawing a line under it.
The range of sanctions available to the commission is broad, spanning anything from fines and points deductions to, at the most severe end of the scale, expulsion from the competition - though it bears repeating that no punishment has been handed down, and any talk of consequences remains hypothetical until a verdict is formally announced.