Manchester City faces a guilty verdict on 114 of the 115 charges related to breaches of Premier League financial regulations, according to a report by The Athletic. The club is expected to appeal the decision, and the final sanctions have not yet been determined.
David Ornstein, writing for The Athletic on Friday, cited anonymous sources with knowledge of the proceedings. Potential penalties include significant points deductions, financial fines, the stripping of titles, and relegation from the Premier League. A City spokesperson reiterated that the club denies the charges and maintains that the process is still ongoing and subject to strict confidentiality.
The spokesperson emphasized that the club has respected due process for eight years, expecting the Premier League board and executive to act as an independent, impartial, and fair-minded regulator free from partisan influence.
The allegations originated from leaked documents published by the German magazine Der Spiegel in 2018. These documents included emails between senior City executives suggesting the club inflated sponsorship revenue from Etihad Airways and telecommunications company Etisalat by concealing direct investments from the Abu Dhabi United Group. Additional documents allegedly showed off-the-books payments to former manager Roberto Mancini through consultancy fees linked to an Abu Dhabi club.
Of the 115 charges, 80 pertain to regulatory breaches between 2009 and 2018, while the remaining 35 involve a failure to cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation. City insists it has a comprehensive body of evidence to prove its innocence.
In a previous case, Manchester City successfully appealed a two-year UEFA Champions League ban, which was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020. The CAS ruled that most alleged breaches regarding overstated sponsorship revenue were either unproven or time-barred under the five-year statutory limit. However, no such time limitation applies to the current Premier League case.
The charges come against a backdrop of the club’s dominance since the 2008 takeover by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. City has won eight of its ten league titles in the last 15 seasons, including its first Champions League trophy in 2023.
A severe punishment could jeopardize the future of star players such as Erling Haaland and trigger claims from other clubs seeking title stripping and compensation. This would be a harsher outcome than the points deductions received by Everton and Nottingham Forest during the 2023/24 season for single breaches of profit and sustainability rules.
Relegation would be a disaster for the Premier League’s global brand. Hope they don’t go too hard on City.
Wait, they lost the CAS case at UEFA but won? That’s the same argument. I’m skeptical this verdict holds up.
114 out of 115 seems like a clear pattern. The appeal might save them, but this is huge for English football.