The saga of the 115 charges that Manchester City are being accused of continues into April, with many Premier League fans wondering what the hold up on the verdict is
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Kieran Maguire.
Kieran Maguire has theorised that lawyers are taking their time due to how much they are being paid
(Image: YouTube/The Overlap)
A football finance expert has suggested Manchester City's ongoing case is being held up by lawyers taking their time due to their huge wage bill.
City have been charged with breaking financial fair play rules over a nine-year period by the Premier League, which began in 2009 and went on until 2018. They've also been accused of failing to cooperate with the investigation into their finances, with the detailed rule breaches adding up to 115 in total.
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The club has denied all charges brought against it and underwent a hearing regarding these alleged rule breaks from September 16 through December 6 in 2024. Due to the number of charges, it was accepted that the timeframe between the hearing and the official judgment would be up to several months.
But now, many fans and former players alike are beginning to get antsy about the potential City ruling, and are anxious to find out the result. On The Overlap Fan Debate, Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher and United icon Paul Scholes asked guest Kieran Maguire - a football finance expert - for the latest on City's charges.
Maguire was frank in admitting that nobody knew when the ruling would be made, as he said: "When it does come out, I think the big fear is that you get the verdict as to whether they're guilty or innocent of the 115 charges, but you don't get told what the punishment is - that could take longer. If you look at some court cases, somebody will be found guilty or not guilty, and then the judge goes away and considers it.
"I think that would really set the cat amongst the pigeons, but in terms of the actual date, I think Pep said that it was going to be in March - well, we've got to the end of March and no news. So, how long it will be, we don't know."
Pep Guardiola Manager / Head Coach of Manchester City reacts.
Manchester City face an anxious wait on their current case ruling(Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
Maguire, who hosts a podcast called The Price of Football where he discusses football finances, also theorised that the legal experts are taking their time in coming to a decision due to the amount they will be getting paid to do so.
He added: "You've got to think about the lawyers - they're on the clock. If I'm on £3,000-£5,000 an hour, I'm not going to hurry a decision as to when the result is going to come out."
When Carragher asked if the decision would be made before the end of the current season, Maguire continued: "There's certainly a desire from the Premier League for it to come out [before the end of the season], because otherwise, we've got a hangover over the summer in terms of where does this leave clubs.
"If it comes out in July, for example, and Manchester City are given a 40 or 50-point deduction, then presumably one of Leicester or Ipswich will be saying, 'Well, if that had come out earlier, then we would have avoided relegation' - so, therefore, they might be putting in a legal case."
The finance guru mentioned that should City be found guilty, then they will face a much higher points deduction in comparison to others who were found to have broken financial fair play rules. Everton received a 10-point deduction, reduced to six on appeal, and another two-point deduction last season, while Nottingham Forest were docked four points in the same campaign.
Maguire said: "The tariffs that we've seen from the commissions for both Everton and Forest said the way forward is no point in fining a billionaire owner a few quid - because there's no disincentive there to misbehave.
"If you read the commission reports from cover to cover, they both say that these were minor breaches of the rules and what Manchester City are being accused of is corporate fraud over the period of nearly a decade.
"So if guilty, you've got to add a zero to the points deductions that we've seen for Forest and Everton. If not guilty, there's going to be a lot of trouble."
He added: "Ultimately, there's going to be a penalty [if it happens] and that penalty is going to be decided by the commission. If it's in the form of a points deduction, then it's got to be a victory for the Premier League, I think."