14th August 2025
August 14 – On the eve of the new football season, Premier League boss Richard Masters has urged patience over the landmark legal case involving Manchester City.
The City case will cast a shadow over the new campaign that Liverpool and Bournemouth get under way at Anfield on Friday. In 2023, the Premier League charged the Manchester club with more than 100 rule breaches over a nine-year period but no verdict has yet been reached. City could face relegation from the top flight. The club, owned by Abu Dhabi, have always denied the charges.
Masters, the chief executive of the Premier League, said his organisation is not in a position to speed up the process. In an interview, he told Sky Sports News: “What I can tell you about is the system and how it works: it’s an independent judiciary. Once the allegations and charges have been put forward, they go before an independent panel which is independently selected. And they are then in charge of the process and its timings.
“They hear the case, they decide the outcome. We have no influence over that or its timing. And that’s right from an independent point of view, you have independent people making those decisions. And we just have to wait.”
In September 2024, City’s hearing started and lasted ten weeks. A verdict was expected in the second half of last season, but the outcome is yet to be made public as the case remains shrouded in mystery. The legal battle and its verdict are seen as a seminal moment in modern English football history.
Masters added: “My frustration is irrelevant. I just have to wait. Legal processes rarely take less time than anticipated. We have to be patient.”
Contact the writer of this story Samindra Kunti at [moc.l1755167548labto1755167548ofdlr1755167548owedi1755167548sni@i1755167548tnuk.1755167548ardni1755167548mas1755167548](javascript:;)