Manchester City on Trial: The Champions Confront Serious Financial Fair Play Allegations
Current English Premier League Champions Manchester City’s hearing over their alleged 115 breaches of Premier League rules is reportedly scheduled to begin in the middle of September 2024[1]. This microblog will blog piece will briefly explore what it is that Manchester City have been charged with, and what the potential consequences could be for the club that has achieved a signficant amount of success in recent years.
What have Manchester City been charged with?
Manchester City have been charged with breaking the Premier League’s financial fair play rules 115 times over a nine year period from 2009 until 2018. The charges largely relate to the a failure to provide accurate financial information and details of player/management payments to the Premier League. They have also been charged by the Premier League for failure to comply with UEFA’s own Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, and failures to cooperate with the Premier League’s own investigations.
These rules are designed to prevent a club from spending more than they earn. Broadly speaking, clubs are required to provide information to the Premier League indicating how much income they are making, and how much they are spending. Information from Der Spiegel suggests that club owner Sheikh Mansour was putting more money through the club through fictitious or highly inflated sponsorship deals from related companies[2]. There is also an allegation that a secret contract was made between one of Manchester City’s managers during this time that they were paid more than what was officially stated[3].
The argument that some clubs are raising that had City not breached these rules, then they would not have been able to afford the players they bought during this period and had won the trophies that they did. During this time they won 4 Premier League titles 1 FA Cup, and 4 League Cups.
Manchester City have denied the allegations, stating that they were ‘surprised by the issuing of this alleged breaches of the Premier League rules, particularly given the extensive engagement and vast amounts of detailed materials that the EPL has been provided with. The club welcomes the review of this matter by an independent commission, to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position.
The other peculiar aspect of Manchester City’s situation, is that whilst the club was charged with these breaches in 2023, the case is only now starting to go to trial. It is unclear why this has been the case, but it is worth noting that Manchester City were also charged by UEFA for financial breaches relating to the club’s participation in the UEFA Champions League, with that matter concluding in 2020. BBC have suggested that one reason could be because of Manchester City’s alleged failure to provide information from 2018 to 2023, suggesting that City was responsible for this delay.
If Manchester City are found guilty, what are the penalties that they could face?
The powers of the Premier League Commission are limitless, there are reports about the stripping of the trophies City won during this time and relegation from the Premier League. For context, both Nottingham Forrest and Everton received points deductions last seasons for other breaches of profit and sustainability rules, but given the amount of breaches City has been charged with, many clubs are reportedly pushing for more severe sanctions such as relegation[4].
When will we hear the outcome of the case, and can City appeal?
Sky Sports is suggesting that the hearing will likely take around 10 weeks, and once the commission has considered the evidence and its decision, it could be around March 2025 before an outcome is made public. City will have the right to appeal under the Premier League rules, but an appeal could not be made to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
For more information, please check out the links cited in this microblog.
[1] https://www.espn.com.au/football/story/_/id/40842797/man-city-hearing-premier-league-charges-set-september-16-sources
[2] https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cgrjv9ydv31o
[3] https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11679/12804623/man-city-premier-league-charges-explained-what-are-they-what-could-punishment-be-whats-the-timescale#:~:text=Trending&text=According%20to%20the%20Premier%20League,over%20a%20four%2Dyear%20period.
[4] Ibid