Manchester City were found guilty of 114 breaches of the Premier League's financial rules between 2009 and 2018, but questions remain over their accounting in the years that followed
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 24: Josep 'Pep' Guardiola, head coach of Manchester City, reacts after the Premier League match between Manchester City and Aston Villa at Etihad Stadium on May 24, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
Manchester City's success has been tainted(Image: James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
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For the 2017/18 season - a season which ended with Pep Guardiola winning the first of his six Premier League titles - Manchester City cooked the books to what was, even by their standards, a jaw-dropping extent.
According to the independent commission, they recorded sponsorship income as £145.73million. It turned out only £11m of that was genuine. The other £134.73m was paid by the club owners.
Of the nine seasons of eye-watering financial transgressions, this was City’s crowning effort. Their previous ‘record’ had come in the 2016/17 season when they added £129.59 million to the real sponsorship figure of £11m. It was clearly building towards a crescendo of cheating.
Because the investigation, the hearing and the verdicts have taken so long - a total of eight years in the making - one of the understandable reactions is to be thankful the matter is reaching some sort of conclusion.
And it truly is a seismic conclusion. But even when the sanctions have been handed out, this cannot be the end of the matter. City’s accounts for every season since 2017/18 have to be forensically re-examined. And then re-examined again.
Seriously, are we to believe they decided to go straight at the start of a 2018/19 season that brought another Premier League title? Seriously, are we to believe they abided by every financial rule when winning Premier League titles in 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24?
Regardless of the financial machinations during the post-charges period, the past eight full seasons - during which City won five Premier Leagues, three FA Cups, four League Cups and a Champions League - have been tainted by the crushing ‘sham’ verdict.
Actually, not tainted. Sullied, poisoned, rendered irrelevant. The whole Guardiola era of domestic dominance and European competitiveness was built on a foundation of monumental deceit. Did that deceit just stop in 2018?
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 20: Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson and Rayan Cherki of Manchester City celebrate during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Manchester City and Sunderland at Etihad Stadium on September 19, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
Manchester City spent £100million on two different players this summer(Image: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
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Since that 2017/18 season, City have spent £1.65billion on a procession of elite players. They spent £100m on Jack Grealish in the summer of 2021. They bought Enzo Fernandez for £125m a couple of months back. He followed Elliot Anderson, who had moved from Nottingham Forest for £116m.
The same executives who were, presumably, responsible for the ‘sham’ contracts in the period investigated by the commission were still there post-2017/18. It is hard to believe they suddenly saw the error of their ways and transformed into sticklers for the regulations. It is hard to believe they saw the light. Perhaps they did.
Well, let’s see the figures to prove it. Because right now, it is not just the Aguero moment that has one of sport’s biggest asterisks next to it.
It is the four in a row, it is everything that Guardiola achieved during his entire tenure at the club. Understandably, most people think it would be ideal if the sanctions could be imposed, accepted by the club, leaving everyone to get on with the business of enjoying football.
But that is not going to happen. And nor should the damning verdict - and subsequent punishment - be the end of the matter. Far from it. City will run out at Anfield on Sunday week to the most toxic of welcomes.
Erling Haaland and his team-mates would argue they knew nothing about it and were told by those executives that the club had done nothing wrong. Anyhow, Haaland and his colleagues will protest, this is a different time.
Only it’s not. We now know City cheated. What we need to know next is... are they still cheating?