Manchester City are expected to lodge their appeal after being found guilty of all financial charges
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As Manchester City prepare to challenge a landmark decision ahead of Friday’s deadline, the club’s lawyers will present evidence asserting that payments to corporate partners came from an Abu Dhabi government body rather than personal funds from owner Sheikh Mansour.
The dispute forms the focal point of City’s ongoing legal battle against the Premier League. The case has dominated sports reporting for nearly a week following initial unconfirmed reports last Friday, prompting former Manchester United defender Gary Neville to state that the English top flight had been "dragged through the mud".
According to details first published by the Daily Mail and The Times, City plan to present documentation to an appeal panel that they maintain disproves the primary finding of the original commission: that equity from the owner was illicitly disguised as commercial sponsorship income.
The original independent panel determined that in excess of £830million had been used across a series of "sham" agreements to inflate club revenues, thereby allowing the organisation to fulfill Premier League and UEFA financial compliance regulations.
A central pillar of the club's appeal will be the assertion that state funding, distributed via the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court (CPC), provided financial support directly to commercial entities within the emirate to help them satisfy their contractual commitments to City. The club maintains this funding did not originate from Sheikh Mansour’s corporate vehicle, the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), which holds ownership of the club.
Ferran Soriano addressed the charges directly after the panel’s ruling was confirmed on Tuesdayopen image in gallery
Ferran Soriano addressed the charges directly after the panel’s ruling was confirmed on Tuesday (PA Wire)
The CPC operates as an autonomous governmental body designed to support corporate entities and social initiatives through financial assistance and other services.
In a message delivered to club employees shortly after the Premier League made the panel's ruling public on Tuesday, City chief executive Ferran Soriano addressed the charges directly: "The whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation – that the owner’s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi. This is just not true.
"Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows that it could not happen and that it did not happen. This includes bank statements, money transfers, witnesses and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate the money did not come from the owner."
However, the 40-page primary judgment published on Tuesday revealed that the independent panel rejected the CPC explanation as "untrue". In its detailed findings, the commission stated: "We concluded that it was an ‘explanation’ that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to obscure and conceal the realities of the disguised funding scheme."
City immediately confirmed their intention to lodge an appeal on Tuesday evening, arguing that the findings of the commission were compromised by "clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe".
The widespread fallout from the guilty verdict has continued to escalate. Neville expressed deep concern regarding the impact of the findings on the standing of English football.
Gary Neville says the Manchester City guilty verdict has dragged the Premier League through the mud (David Davies/PA)open image in gallery
Gary Neville says the Manchester City guilty verdict has dragged the Premier League through the mud (David Davies/PA) (PA Wire)
"To listen to this, it is chilling," Neville stated during Thursday’s edition of the Stick To Football podcast.
"We always think that we’ve got an enormous integrity, the Premier League, that we are the sort of league that sets the standard, and that it’s other leagues that have got corruption, fraud, doping scandals, match-fixing, referee scandals.
"This is now coming to our country. This is now coming to our league. This is the greatest export that we have in our country. At the moment we’re being dragged through the mud."
Taking a firm stance, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher stated his belief that Sheikh Mansour would be compelled to sell the club should the appeal be rejected and the guilty verdict upheld.
Writing in his column for the Daily Telegraph, Carragher remarked: "Manchester City are at the end of their Abu Dhabi era. The club can only heal and recover from the shame of their guilt once the custodians recognise they have failed in their duty and sell up.
"There is no way to sugar-coat this. The scale of the institutional cheating and lack of co-operation in the investigation means the position of all City executives involved is untenable.
Jamie Carragher feels Sheikh Mansour must sell the clubopen image in gallery
Jamie Carragher feels Sheikh Mansour must sell the club (Getty)
"Fighting on will only prolong the agony of supporters who wrongly believe their pleas of innocence."
In contrast to Carragher’s comments, Prime Minister Andy Burnham indicated on Wednesday that he would be "concerned" if the Abu Dhabi group were to relinquish control of the club.
"They’ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester. Obviously, the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is," Burnham told the BBC.
Burnham’s remarks followed statements from David Kogan, chair of the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), who observed that the verdict "raises serious issues" and noted that the regulatory body retains the authority to evaluate the fitness and suitability of club owners and senior executives once all legal proceedings are concluded.