Manchester City are set to learn the scale of their punishment in the coming weeks, with a sanctions hearing on the horizon and the Premier League receiving demands for a points deduction severe enough to relegate the club, according to new reports.
Manchester City completed the signing of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest in July.
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Following on from last week's groundbreaking leak that claimed the club has been found guilty on 'virtually all' of the charges levelled at it, the Premier League published an official statement on Tuesday evening declaring the independent commission has found the club guilty of "all charges" relating to wrongdoing.
Pundits and fans alike have demanded everything from a transfer ban to forced change of ownership, but - as has been known from the outset - the actual punishment handed to Manchester City will be decided by a separate panel from the one that delivered the verdict to the club.
The Sanctions Hearing on the Horizon
According to The Times’ Martyn Ziegler and Matt Lawton, a three-strong independent commission is poised to convene a hearing to set the penalties handed to City, with the process expected to play out within weeks rather than months.
At that hearing, the Premier League will have the chance to set out the punishments it deems appropriate. The report indicates that some figures within the game feel the competition should be demanding a points deduction hefty enough to lead, in effect, to relegation: the most drastic sporting sanction realistically on the table.
For a club that has ruled the domestic game for a decade, a punishment on that scale would be seismic.
Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano has addressed club staff directly following the Premier League's publication of an independent commission finding that the club breached the league's financial rules between 2009 and 2018.cityxtra.co.ukManchester City CEO Ferran Soriano has addressed club staff directly following the Premier League's publication of an independent commission finding that the club breached the league's financial rules between 2009 and 2018.
Man City CEO Ferran Soriano Sends Rallying Message to Club Staff After Independent Commission Guilty Verdict
City’s Response: Mitigation and an Appeal
Manchester City are not expected to take this push lying down. The club’s legal team will be allowed to put forward their own submissions in mitigation, arguing for leniency on any sanction imposed.
Beyond that, the Blues are widely expected to challenge the guilty findings themselves through an appeal - a stance in keeping with the defiance shown by the club’s most senior figures.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak used an open letter to insist City’s confidence in proving their innocence is undimmed, while chief executive Ferran Soriano is reported to have told fellow executives in Copenhagen that the fight is 'nowhere near' finished.
That raises the prospect of a drawn-out sequence of hearings, and City will be keen to have any challenge to the liability verdict heard before sanctions are settled. However, things have gotten far more serious after Tuesday's events.
Soriano sent a video message to Manchester City staff upon the independent commission's verdict being made official on Tuesday, with the club also maintaining their innocent stance in another statement in response to that of the Premier League.
The range of sanctions open to a commission is broad, from fines and points deductions to expulsion from the competition. Between the hearing, City’s mitigation and the expected appeal, the saga that has hung over the Etihad Stadium for years looks set to run a while longer.