The latest Premier League news as Liverpool and their rivals await an outcome on Man City's high-profile 115 charges case.
A view outside the Etihad Stadium.
Man City and the Premier League are still waiting for the 115 charges case verdict.(Image: Jess Hornby - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson has gone on record, once again, to dispel any hope of a quick turnaround or verdict amid the Etihad Stadium club's alleged 115-plus breaches of Premier League financial rules. Liverpool and other top-flight sides are still watching on from the side-lines - waiting patiently to see what the final result is amid speculation that confirmation might have been imminent this international break.
Well over two years ago, Man City were hit with 115-plus Premier League charges over alleged breaches of the establishment's financial rules. Taking the strongest possible stance against any suggestion of wrongdoing, Liverpool's rivals have undertaken the legal process - underlining they will prove their innocence once and for all throughout the process.
However, in the meantime, their verdict hangs in the balance. For the three-month trial that ended last December, there has been no true date ever suggested as to when a conclusion will delivered, nor does anybody know which way the independent panel will rule in their findings.
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Borson, who during his last talkSPORT appearance last week said "nobody knows" when the findings will be made public, said today that he thinks it's "a real shame" that a clearer timeline for the case was not established to begin with. He was then asked for any insider information on whether the ending is in sight.
"In reality, we're now coming into the earliest practical period in which it could've been released. If you have a 12-week trial, it's going to take some time for the decision to be written up and for the decision to be made," the ex-Man City advisor told the same radio station, adding further insight as to why.
"They need to make sure that everything that they say in that decision is appeal proof as possible. What no panel wants, what no tribunal wants, is for everything they have written to be immediately challenged either because it misrepresents what happened, what was heard, what was said, or in terms of the law... It gets undermined."
And repeating his message of the previous week, Borson continued: "As of this weekend the club had not heard anything in terms of the decision. That's not a club source, but I know that is the case, they also do not know the precise date on which they are going to learn the decision.
"The idea Pep's been saying we're due to hear by whenever... Pep doesn't know because nobody knows.
"The only people who know are the tribunal and that hasn't yet been disseminated out to the parties. We are still some way away because you would at the very least expect they would have a few days to review a decision for minor errors and typos, so once it drops with the club it's probably another week away from the release.
"The other part of it is people are busy - and Lord Pannick (Man City's barrister) is on other cases. He's in the High Court today on a high-profile case that you'll read about in the papers.
"The professionals around the table have other things they're working on so when that decision does drop and there is follow-on parts of it such as what's the sanction, that then could take some time before we have a hearing around a sanction. Maybe (April), maybe not.
"People will be bored of me saying the same things, but we're now in the early stages. I've said it before, if this was a High Court three-month trial we wouldn't be hearing about this in 2025 - we would be hearing about it in 2026 at the earliest.
"They're going about it relatively quickly. It could come in April - but it really wouldn't be a surprise if it was some [more] time away. Unfortunately that is the nature of these allegations, the seriousness of what has been alleged and the length of the trial in 2024."