Premier League clubs are demanding that any possible sanctions Manchester City face are applied this season following Tuesday's bombshell verdict.
talkSPORT understands that Premier League clubs plan to write to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, stressing the importance of the City case, inclusive of appeals, is resolved this season.
Manchester City3
Manchester City have until Friday to appeal the charges against them
And that any sanctions subject to appeal are in play this campaign and as soon as reasonably possible.
Rival clubs have concerns City will explore avenues to bring proceedings to gridlock.
Clubs are expected to stress they welcome the verdict and now want action taken to end the long running case definitively.
What happened to Man City?
This comes after City were found guilty on all charges of serious financial breaches by the Premier League on Tuesday.
The charges, which were first brought forward in 2023, showed that City inflated their financial position by over £900million between 2008 and 2019.
While City deny any wrongdoing, and talkSPORT understands that the club are planning to appeal, teams are hoping any punishment is dished out this season.
"It's worth noting, before we get into the details that, although a sanction hearing is expected to be the next step, Manchester City have until October 2nd to appeal the actual verdict itself," talkSPORT's Ben Jacobs told Drive.
"We know from City sources they will appeal, we just don't know whether they'll appeal the verdict and then any sanction hearing, or effectively wait until the punishment."
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Rival clubs prepare massive lawsuit against Man City
If City's appeal and any gridlock bid are unsuccessful, the floodgates will open regarding rival clubs wanting them to pay up.
Jacobs told talkSPORT: "Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs have all pre-reserved their rights to sue Manchester City for damages, predominantly for seasons where they missed out on Champions League football or potentially silverware.
Khaldoon Al-Mubarak and Ferran Soriano3
Man City continue to plead their innocence with CEO Ferran Soriano (right) claiming the charges are a 'Premier League conspiracy theory'
"Each could seek over £100million, but you have a wider issue for City if found guilty subject to appeal and that is collective action.
"There’s two routes. One is the clubs could pool together and start their own individual action for compensation, but for one lump payment distributed in different ways.
"Or the simpler legal solution is for the Premier League to take class action for damages and then choose how to distribute it.
"You could say clubs that went down might want compensation. You could say at a very base level, clubs that feel Manchester City should be removed from the league in those seasons bump themselves up a place and that’s a little bit extra prize money.
"You’ll have teams that missed out on European football and silverware. So this is a very complicated legal situation.
"Whereas the City case can hopefully resolve itself before the season is out, the damages if they’re found guilty subject to appeal could lead to years and years and years of legal cases.
Manchester City fans look on during their match against Everton3
City fans have no idea what the future holds, but it looks very bleak
"This is why certain clubs like the four I mentioned are already prepared.
"There’s even a chance European clubs look at the situation and they lost out to Manchester City in the Champions League in some of the seasons in question and they decide they’re entitled to something as well."
Chelsea's sanctions
As for potential punishments, Jacobs pointed to Chelsea's own sanctions earlier this year.
Chelsea were hit with a one-year transfer ban, suspended for two years, and a £10.75million fine in March for breaching Premier League rules over agent payments.
The Blues self-reported the issue, which meant the Premier League took a more lenient view on the capital side, whereas City's refusal to co-operate could result in a severe punishment.
"Non-cooperation tends to lead to a more severe punishment," Jacobs said.
"The other thing is that Chelsea self-declared, it was a new ownership regime, Clearlake-Boehly reported Roman Abramovich immediately in May 2022 when they discovered in due diligence that there were breaches.
"So that's why it's not a perfect comparison, even though the scale of Chelsea charges was also very high.
"The other factor in all of this is that Manchester City and not co-operating are less likely, if they choose to then later down the line try and enter into a settlement with the Premier League to mitigate the severity of the punishments, find that maybe the Premier League aren't prepared to mediate, because ultimately a vast proportion of these charges, nearly a third, are about City circumventing this investigation in the first place."