Manchester City's Premier League future is in serious doubt after the club was found guilty of breaching the Premier League's financial rules; City denies any wrongdoing
Manchester City has been found guilty
Manchester City has been found guilty(Image: Getty Images)
Manchester City has been found guilty of perhaps the largest-scale cheating operation in the history of English soccer, and fans are now waiting with bated breath to find out what the club's punishment will be.
The Premier League confirmed on Tuesday that it had found City guilty of "systematically" breaking league rules for "nearly a decade," in what it described as the "most significant disciplinary case" in the league's history. City continues to deny any wrongdoing.
Now, the entire sporting world is waiting to learn what the punishment will be, with suggestions of transfer bans, eye-watering fines, and potentially huge points deductions. With that in mind, we've asked our team to give their verdict on what will happen to City, with Liverpool still waiting to find out whether any Premier League titles will be awarded to them retrospectively.
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Thomas Blow
The Premier League must make an example of City and impose a punishment that will go down in soccer history. Firstly, City should be stripped of all the trophies it won during the period in question. There's no point in City keeping these prizes if they are tainted. They should then be offered to the clubs that finished second in that respective competition; if the club in question doesn't want the honor, it should be voided.
Secondly, the City should incur a series of point deductions over a certain period, say, five years. If City is simply handed a huge points deduction and relegated to the Championship, the club is almost certain to secure an immediate promotion and be competitive in the Premier League again. A series of point deductions would keep City from being competitive for an extended period and force the club to repent for the accelerated growth it allegedly achieved through cheating.
Thirdly, a transfer ban lasting for several windows must be enforced. And finally, a hefty fine seems fair. Once a punishment is confirmed, the Manchester club can then focus on financially compensating every club affected by this scandal.
Daniel Blackham
City's rampant cheating should be matched by an appropriate punishment, but I can't see the Premier League wanting to do anything that will leave the club outside the top-flight. A gigantic points deduction is probably worthwhile, but it would leave one of the biggest global audiences tuned into the EFL every weekend instead.
Manchester City won three Premier League titles during the nine-year window during which it violated financial rules
Manchester City won three Premier League titles during the nine-year window during which it violated financial rules(Image: Getty Images)
I can see a world where City is handed the largest financial penalty in sporting history, perhaps north of $500 million, and a lengthy transfer ban, something in the region of three to five years.
What's going to be most interesting, however, is what happens to the ownership group. Over in the NBA, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was found to have been complicit in breaking the rules and was banned for a year. That rule-breaking was only over a couple of years, not the near-decade flouting by City. There's a situation where we see the club go up for sale, surely, sparking perhaps the largest club sale in the history of the sport.
Hannah Pinnock
Recent developments reinforce the argument that City has jeopardized the integrity of the Premier League for almost a decade. It can also be argued that everything the club has achieved following the 2017/18 cut-off is tainted by the fact that it was built against the backdrop of serious wrongdoing and misrepresentation, as established by the commission’s findings.
Yes, City achieved what it did on the pitch, but what happened on it was ultimately influenced by what happened off it. Quite frankly, a fine, transfer ban, or mere points deduction does not line up with the sheer scale of the wrongdoing.
Great, City is deducted 100 points and suffers relegation as a result. What then? The club could bounce straight back up and, ultimately, be fine. City would still have benefited enormously from its rule-breaking over the course of almost a decade, while the punishment, in that scenario, would effectively last just one year or a single season.
An unprecedented offense fully justifies an unprecedented punishment and, if the findings ultimately withstand the appeal process, that has to be expulsion. The club must face enormous consequences for its actions; otherwise, what was the point?
A punishment that amounts to little more than a setback, allowing City to bounce back almost instantaneously, would make a mockery of the entire process. It could also send a dangerous message to other clubs that rules can be broken on this scale without facing consequences severe enough to outweigh the potential benefits.