Manchester City have been found guilty by the Independent Commission and now await their punishment while they make their appeal over the ruling
Erling Haaland
Manchester City could receive a points deduction quickly(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
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Manchester City are set to receive a punishment this season after being found guilty of breaking Premier League financial rules and failing to cooperate with the division's investigation. Premier League rivals are pushing for the sanctions to be rapidly imposed.
City intend to appeal the verdict and a sanction for their indiscretions has not yet been decided. A separate hearing will be held to decide the club's punishment.
The appeal must be filed by Friday, October 2, and Premier League sides are pointing to new regulations that were agreed in June that should now fast-track the process, reports the Sun. According to those rules, any hearing should be concluded 'no later than 12 weeks after filing of the appeal.
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That timetable would bean the appeal would need to be resolved by Christmas Day, but given the timing, the appeal could be heard from December 14. From there, the board would have 30 days to produce a verdict.
The Premier League have said that they 'are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the League, our clubs and fans'.
There is a 'very high chance' that Manchester City's situation is resolved by the end of this season to avoid additional problems unfurling in the future, according to Football Finance expert Kieran Maguire.
Depending on the deduction, waiting until next season would give teams who have missed out on Europe or been relegated the opportunity to argue that their fortunes would have been greater if the punishment had been administered sooner.
Maguire added that applying a punishment is often a swifter process than the initial hearing, as seen with points deductions for Nottingham Forest and Everton.
Maguire told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I think there’s a very high chance it will be resolved because if it isn’t we end up with a situation like that of Burnley and Everton where a club could be relegated, Manchester City are not given a deduction this season and it’s given next season instead and the club which finishes 18th could say had the deduction been applied sooner we would not have been relegated so that adds to the complication.
Points deductionStripped of trophiesNothing - they will appeal
“Looking at the Premier League’s press release it does seem it is keen for this to be resolved as quickly as possible. If you take at the length of time it took in respect of Forest and Everton, once they had heard the evidence, actually applying the tariff was the quick part of the equation. It is listening to the evidence which is the torturous period which we have had up to now.”
Even after the announcement of any sanction, Manchester City are likely to exhaust every avenue they can to overturn the verdict. Maguire believes that City will have a greater chance of success trying to take the case outside of Premier League jurisdiction to the High Court.
Any argument is more likely to be successful if it attacks the people involved rather than the evidence in his mind. City have previously been successful in fighting a verdict when they were initially kicked out of the Champions League before seeing a two-year ban overturned.
Manchester City have been found guilty by the independent commission following their legal battle with the Premier League.
Manchester City have been found guilty by the independent commission following their legal battle with the Premier League.(Image: PA Wire)
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“If they were going to appeal against the initial verdict they have to prove that the composition of the panel was flawed, either in the selection process or they have been able to identify bias in the individuals concerned," Maguire added. "When I’ve spoken to sports lawyers, the universal response to that is that it’s almost impossible but that’s not the same as impossible.
“The other issue would be could they try to take this outside of the football bubble and say it is ultimately a commercial dispute between two bodies and, therefore, the Premier League doesn’t have the right to impose such penalties and try to get it resolved in the High Court.
"When I’ve spoken to legal professionals, they think it highly unlikely but it’s always a possibility.
“Manchester City have previously overturned a UEFA verdict based on the strength of their lawyers and some of their lawyers do have a fantastic reputation for being able to do things which in normal circumstances would be considered highly unlikely.
“The evidence seems to be overwhelming. Reading the summary report, one of Manchester City’s defences seems to be that the Premier League wasn’t in a position to hold this hearing because of the way the evidence had been obtained. That was very firmly rejected by the commission and I can’t see that overturned.
“As for what appears to be an overwhelming amount of evidence and the lack of faith in the Manchester City witnesses, I can’t really see anything based on hundreds of thousands of pieces of evidence and 7,000 pages of testimony for how it could be overturned from a legal point of view. It has to be an attack on the people involved.”