lead-art-block.fullscreen-enterExpandManchester City were found to have inflated their revenues and reduce costs by almost £1bn
Manchester City were found to have inflated their revenues and reduce costs by almost £1bn
Manchester City have been found guilty of engaging in a scheme to inflate revenues and reduce costs by almost £1billion over a nine-season period by an independent commission.
The commission found City guilty on all counts of breaching financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18, finding they used “sham” commercial deals to disguise owner funding and arrangements to lower operating costs such as coach and player wages.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters called the case, and the decision, “the most significant in Premier League history”.
Richard Masters said Manchester City ‘systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade’
Richard Masters said Manchester City ‘systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade’
The same commission will now consider sanctions at a separate hearing. Given the scale of the proven breaches, those sanctions are expected to be severe, with the commission finding the club “clearly intended to circumvent Premier League rules”.
City, for their part, have already indicated their intention to appeal, stating the commission’s decision “contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe”.
The commission found City arranged “sham” commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the period, which were part of a disguised funding scheme whereby those companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees. The commission found the remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
Further “sham arrangements” the club were found to have entered into enabled the club to record lower operating expenses than they actually incurred, the Premier League’s published statement said.
The overall effect of these actions, the commission found, was to inflate revenues and reduce their costs by more than £900million during the affected period.
The commission found the club had therefore filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators.
Manchester City were found guilty of all financial charges and ‘the majority’ related to failure to comply with the Premier League’s investigation
Manchester City were found guilty of all financial charges and ‘the majority’ related to failure to comply with the Premier League’s investigation
The commission concluded that “by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the Premier League rules”.
Had the information been accurately reported, the club would have been in breach of Premier League and UEFA spending limits “by a very substantial amount”, the commission found.
The club were also found to have committed multiple breaches of their duty to co-operate with the investigation by making “concerted efforts” to try to “stop and frustrate” the league probe which began way back in 2018.
Masters said: “The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade.
“It also vindicates the Premier League’s decision to pursue this case against Manchester City. While the process to date has been both long and difficult, the league has remained determined that the facts be established independently.
Premier League logo
Premier League logo (Mike Egerton/PA)
“It is a key responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition. It is paramount that the league remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans. We take that role extremely seriously.
“This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history. There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches. Now we have the commission’s decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the league, our clubs and fans.”
The commission said it was “regrettable” that a decision had taken so long to reach, with the hearing having taken place between September and December 2024.
The panel said it had access to all the documents that were used at the hearing as well as verbatim transcripts of the evidence given by each witness and expert at the hearing, running to more than 7,000 pages.