Last week, a report was published which discussed the huge costs of legal action between Manchester City and the Premier League over the club’s alleged breaches of financial rules.
Senior footballing figures have been told that the cost to both sides of the Premier League’s case against Manchester City may have topped £200million over the past five years, according to Martyn Ziegler of The Times.
‘Top lawyers’ are said to have been charging ‘thousands of pounds an hour’, while other sources quoted within the report say it is impossible to calculate the actual figure at this stage.
The case began with 115 charges over alleged breaches, but The Times reports that the number has now increased to 130.
“The sums involved are eye-watering,” one club chief told the outlet. “And the money that is going to the lawyers is money that could have gone to the clubs.”
Adam Williams, GRV Media’s Head of Football Finance and Governance Content, spoke exclusively to Manchester City News as he gave his thoughts on the proceedings.
A general view outside Etihad Stadium prior to the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Southampton FC at Etihad Stadium on October 26, 2024
Photo by Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images
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Proceedings deemed ‘damaging to the Premier League’s brand as a whole’
Williams described the legal proceedings as “emblematic of a football ecosystem that has metastasised into something it shouldn’t be”.
“We’re in the era of lawfare in the Premier League and the wider game,” Williams told Manchester City News.
“In some respects, that’s natural. When an industry grows, you’re always going to expect more disputes settled in the courtroom.
“But unlike the NFL, NBA or any of the other massive American sports leagues, football is very adversarial at ownership and governance level.
“Ultimately, that’s why almost everyone loses money every single year.
“If they could get together and work on a system which would contain costs and grow the Premier League as a whole, then they would all be making hundreds of millions.
“Instead, pre-tax losses across the Premier League were around £400million in the last financial year. It was £700million the year before that.
“That’s £1.1bn lost since the Premier League announced it was charging Manchester City in February 2023.
“By the time we have the figures for 2024-25, it will be an even more mind-blowing number. And it’s the owners – or sometimes external lenders – that have to underwrite those excesses.
“Some of those losses have been because of the legal costs associated with the Manchester City case, which is revenue withheld from clubs that would otherwise have been distributed as prize money. But ultimately, that’s a drop in the ocean when you average it out over the division.
“People who know much more about how the legal profession works have been very sceptical of that £200million figure anyway.
“That’s not to minimise the proceedings – I think they have been damaging to the Premier League’s brand as a whole, it’s taking too long, and the whole saga is emblematic of a football ecosystem that has metastasised into something it shouldn’t be.
“But the money set aside for the financial charges case itself? That’s not the real issue.”
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What is now being said about a potential final verdict date
The Premier League charged City all the way back in February 2023 and, 30 months on, there is still no concrete date of a verdict.
Pep Guardiola said in February 2025 that he expected an outcome “in one month”, but this has not happened.
The Independent recently reported that the case is ‘currently expected to have an outcome in late September or early October.’
However, they added: ‘It’s just that we heard the same about February and Easter.’