Manchester City continue to look to prove their innocence as the Premier League navigate a lengthy appeals process following breaches of financial regulations
The Etihad Stadium
Manchester City are embroiled in a dispute with the Premier League(Image: Anadolu, Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Manchester City players demonstrated that their complete focus remains on football rather than the club's ongoing Premier League charges saga as they secured a convincing 3-0 victory over Liverpool on Sunday. The Cityzens were greeted with boos and jeers as they emerged onto the famed Anfield pitch on Sunday for their first match following the international break.
While Liverpool supporters did their utmost to generate a fortress-like atmosphere for the fixture, many displaying banners referencing how they felt aggrieved by City's alleged financial rule breaches spanning 2009 to 2018, it ultimately proved to have minimal impact on proceedings.
Ryan Gravenberch was shown a red card in the 62nd minute following a clumsy second bookable offence, with the floodgates opening shortly afterwards. Erling Haaland opened the scoring three minutes after Gravenberch's dismissal, before Jeremy Doku doubled the visitors' advantage moments later.
Rayan Cherki put the contest beyond doubt with approximately 10 minutes remaining, as City headed back to Greater Manchester with maximum points. Off the pitch, Manchester City continue to make headlines regarding their ongoing dispute with the Premier League, as they seek to establish their innocence.
But what are the latest developments surrounding the saga? The MEN breaks it down...
Lawyer recruited
According to The Lawyer, Manchester City have enlisted Mark Howard KC to represent them in their legal dispute with the Premier League. A profile of the king's counsel on the Head of Brick Court Chambers website reads: "He is widely regarded as one of the leading commercial silks at the bar, and has very wide experience of commercial and 'City' litigation, along with banking, professional negligence, fraud, energy and insurance and reinsurance.
"He also has significant experience of Competition Law and Administrative Law cases. He is an experienced advocate appearing before the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal frequently, as well as dealing with high value and complex first instance disputes.
"He also has great experience of appearing before arbitral tribunals, including ICC, FIA (F1 Sports) and BIT panels. He has appeared on many occasions in cases before the Courts of the BVI. Mark Howard has also appeared before the Takeover Panel."
Howard has previously represented figures such as Roman Abramovich and Elton John, and was paid £9million to handle a separate case in 2023. That stands as the highest-known sum ever awarded to a barrister in the UK.
Everton also enlisted Howard to oversee their defence following an investigation into the Toffees' breaches of financial regulations, which concluded earlier this year. Those PSR violations related to the 2021/22 season, with Everton ordered to pay Burnley £35m in compensation after the Clarets were relegated that year while the Toffees avoided the drop by just four points.
Two-part punishment
Steven Gerrard has demanded a strong punishment for Manchester City, should their appeal be unsuccessful. Speaking on the Overlap, the Liverpool legend also claimed City need to "suffer" for their alleged wrongdoing.
He said: "Multi-year punishments, that would be my opinion. I'm not saying that's the right opinion, but that's just how I feel sitting here in this chair.
"I think putting them down to the Championship is not fair on the EFL. I don't think it's enough, because they'll bounce back. You look at that team yesterday.
"Can you imagine that in the Championship? With all due respect, it's not fair on the teams playing against City week in, week out. It's not fair on the potential team that could be the third team to come up.
Steven Gerrard looks on
Steven Gerrard has suggested a fitting sanction for Manchester City(Image: Getty Images)
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"I think it needs to be a transfer ban. I think it needs to be points over a period of time. And make them suffer like they've made everyone else suffer for the nine, ten years that they've done it for. That would be my opinion. But there needs to be an example set.
"I think if this was Liverpool, people would say, 'Oh, you're talking nonsense.' Yeah, I would protect Liverpool. I'd protect the Liverpool fans, because it's not the fans' fault, and I'd protect the ex-players.
"I probably would react in the same way as the City players have, but in their quiet times, they know there needs to be strong punishments for the sake of the game, the Premier League, the brand, the world. I was in a box yesterday, it was full of foreign players.
"All they wanted to talk about was what City were doing. So this has had a ripple effect worldwide. It needs to be sorted as quickly as possible, and sanctions need to be strong so it doesn't happen again.
"Because they were strong with Everton. They were strong with Nottingham Forest. We've seen examples of other federations being strong in other countries, so good luck to the Premier League, they have to be strong."
Warning sent to Premier League
According to the Independent, conversations have already taken place amongst Premier League officials regarding whether Manchester City should be expelled from the English top flight immediately. One senior figure from a top-flight club has spoken out against such a severe penalty being implemented however, cautioning that the alleged violations have created a 'farcical' situation which could potentially become 'violent.'
The same report outlines that 15 fellow member clubs would be required to support triggering such a vote, as that is the threshold needed in agreement to vote for expulsion. Nevertheless, this appears highly improbable to happen, given split opinion amongst clubs.