Manchester City Ethihad stadium
Manchester City Ethihad stadium
Manchester City have been found guilty of serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules, and the case has moved on again.
The Daily Mail’s Oliver Holt has now reported what sources close to the process expect to follow.
An independent commission published its verdict on Tuesday 29 September. The Premier League said it found City guilty of all charges relating to financial breaches over a nine-season period, and of the majority of the charges for failing to co-operate with its investigation.
The league described the alleged wrongdoing as worth more than £900 million. Chief executive Richard Masters said City had “systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade”.
The Premier League charged City with 115 breaches in February 2023. 80 related to financial rules between 2009 and 2018, and 35 to a failure to co-operate with the investigation. The case grew out of documents published by Der Spiegel in 2018.
City won the Premier League in 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2017-18, all within the period covered. The commission heard the case over 42 days in 2024, and a separate hearing will decide the punishment.
City said they were “disappointed and surprised” by the verdict and maintain their innocence. On Thursday 1 October they lodged what they called a “comprehensive appeal”.
The club said the commission’s opinion “contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe”.
Under new league rules, the five-day appeal hearing must finish within 12 weeks of the appeal being lodged, which means by mid-December. The ruling must follow within 30 days of the hearing ending.
The Premier League wants the sanctions hearing held as soon as possible, and no date has been announced. The same three-person panel that heard the case will decide the punishment, and both sides can appeal against it.
Holt reported that sources close to the process expect a severe sanction, though not the most extreme one:
“It is unlikely, sources close to the process have told me, that City will face a doomsday scenario of being expelled from the Premier League and forced to start again in League Two at the start of next season.
“Expulsion would plunge both the Premier League and the EFL into an unprecedented kind of chaos. It would be self-defeating.
“It is thought that the Premier League are pressing for City’s punishment to be announced before the result of their appeal, which is unlikely to be decided before the end of January. Soundings from insiders suggest the most likely punishment is a swingeing points deduction which will ensure City’s relegation to the Championship, plus a huge fine.
“It is also possible that the punishment would include a further points deduction that would effectively confine City to the Championship for at least one more season. The EFL would not be obliged to accept that sanction for one of its clubs but it is probable that it would.
“From there, City should be allowed to rebuild.”
None of this is confirmed. The Premier League has announced no sanction, and it is unclear whether one would be made public before the appeal is decided. Expelling City would also require a vote of Premier League clubs.
The biggest previous sanction for breaching financial rules was Everton’s. They lost six points, reduced from 10 on appeal, and then two more in 2023-24. Nottingham Forest lost four points that season.
City remain in the title race. They have won all seven of their league matches this season, including a 3-0 win at Anfield on 11 October and a 3-2 win over Ipswich Town last weekend.
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