On Friday the news finally came that Manchester City had been found guilty on the numerous Premier League charges that they were originally charged with in February 2023.
David Ornstein at The Athletic breaking the story, reporting that Manchester City had been found guilty by an independent commission on 114 of the 115 Premier League charges.
The Athletic quoting a Manchester City spokesperson responding to the breaking news: “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. As such, Manchester City FC’s position remains consistent with the club’s statement of February 2023. The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”
The 115 charges related to alleged breaches of the Premier League rulebook between 2009 and 2018 and the matter was then referred to an independent commission to adjudicate over the charges.
Manchester City will almost certainly appeal but that will surely just be a case of delaying the inevitable, which of course is what the club’s lawyers have been doing across these years since the charges were put to them three and a half years ago.
Rui Pinto is the person to thank for the position Manchester City find themselves in. The Portuguese computer hacker, through his website Football Leaks, published a huge cache of confidential Manchester City club documents, including internal emails about sponsorship deals and payments. This ultimately led to the 115 Premier League charges for breaching of financial rules.
I have always absolutely believed that two things would happen with this Manchester City case.
Firstly, with those leaked documents having been put into the public domain, I couldn’t see anything other than Manchester City to be found guilty on multiple serious charges. No matter how long their lawyers could delay the inevitable announcement.
Secondly, that the punishment Manchester City would receive if/when found guilty, it would be greater than anything else we have ever witnessed in the English top tier, certainly in the Premier League era.
If/when found guilty, what Manchester City had allegedly done wrong, was on a whole other level to clubs such as Everton and Leicester who had ended up breaking spending limits and seen points deducted.
The seriousness and scale of the alleged Manchester City wrongdoing absolutely dwarfs what any of those clubs had done when breaking PSR spending limits.
I can only see one of two key punishments for Manchester City, if/when their appeal fails.
Either relegated to the Championship, or relegated to a level below that, whether League One, League Two…
There are precedents elsewhere, in other countries.
One of the biggest of all was the Serie A corruption scandal a couple of decades ago.
In 2005/06 Juventus finished top of Serie A on 91 points, Inter Milan a distant second on 76 points.
Juventus though were relegated for their transgressions and Inter Milan handed the title instead. Fiorentina, Lazio and AC Milan were also relegated for their part in the scandal but on appeal they had their punishment reduced to a points deduction rather than relegation.
The relegation of Juventus prompted a mass exodus of important players, the likes of Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Lilian Thuram, Patrick Vieira, and Gianluca Zambrotta all leaving.
If/when found guilty, as well as certain relegation (in my opinion), Manchester City will almost certainly get additional less serious punishments. Very likely they will be fined, have a transfer embargo imposed and so one.
On top of all that, The Athletic are now reporting that rival Premier League clubs are now planning legal action in response to Manchester City being found guilty on almost all the charges relating to the breaches of the league’s financial regulations.
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They report that a number of clubs mobilised leading lawyers some time ago to ascertain what they may be eligible to claim for, with a number of clubs talking to each other about this. They say that legal firms have been contacting clubs to inform them that they would be in a position to claim compensation if Manchester City are found to have breached the Premier League’s rules.
In June of this year, an independent commission ruled that Everton must pay Burnley £35.1million after their breach of the Premier League’s PSR in 2021-22 was found to have given them a crucial sporting advantage.
This setting a precedent that could see other clubs in the future do the same.
It will have to wait until after the appeals process has been gone through but assuming Manchester City don’t overturn all of these charges, it appears inevitable that other clubs will be going after them for compensation.
The Athletic reporting: ‘Some clubs, for example, may seek to claim that they failed to qualify for the lucrative Champions League due to Manchester City’s rule-breaking, as well as being able to show they missed out on potential sponsorship bonuses as a further consequence. The Athletic has been informed that it could turn out to be a class action, with the other Premier League sides coming together as one to seek damages.’
It appears now only a matter of time before Manchester City get what is coming to them, if the appeals fail.
Also of course the question of what could potentially happen to the many trophies they have lifted across these years. If the appeals fail, exactly how many will they keep hold of…?