Manchester City and the Premier League’s ‘Trial of the Century’ regarding the Citizens’ alleged financial breaches is now underway.
The reporting around this case has suggested that the Premier League champions face 115 charges relating to breaking Financial Fair Play, providing inaccurate information and not cooperating with the top-flight.
However, Pep Guardiola‘s side actually face 130 charges and not 115 as previously thought.
The hearing regarding those alleged breaches started on Monday, September 16, with the process expected to last ten weeks.
Once that is done, the three-person panel overseeing the hearing will write up a verdict that is likely to be hundreds of pages long and is expected to be published in March 2025.
From there, either side could appeal, which would trigger a new hearing.
So, this still could have a while to run, but should the Citizens be found guilty of any or all charges, the punishments could change the Premier League landscape for a long time.
Why are Man City facing 130 charges and not 115?
When the Premier League announced they were charging Manchester City, they published 115 breaches.
The majority of these relate to the club failing to provide accurate financial information from 2008-2018.
A few regard City not accurately reporting player and manager compensation from 2009-2018.
And the rest are to do with the club breaching Premier League and UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules and not cooperating with the top-flight’s investigations.
However, when the Premier League made the charges public knowledge, they miscalculated some in relation to specific seasons.
So, these aren’t new offences, but you could say they were forgotten.
They have now been placed into the correct categories, though they’ve not been made public knowledge yet.
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What punishments could Man City face?
If City are found guilty by the three-person panel of any or all charges, the club face a huge range of possible outcomes because the Independent Commission handing out the punishments are granted the power to do anything they see fit.
Here we look into the most likely outcomes.
Financial penalty
City have already been punished in this way by UEFA after they found the club to be guilty of breaking their Financial Fair Play regulations.
Initially, City were banned from competing with the rest of Europe’s elite for two years, but an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport saw that ban overturned and reduced to a ten million Euros fine due to the fact many of the breaches were time-barred.
However, there is no time bar regarding the Premier League’s investigation, so a potentially limitless fine is possible.
Man City’s possible sanctions
Independent commission has the power to:
Suspend City from Premier League games
Deduct points
Recommend to the board that league matches be replayed
Recommend Premier League expulsion
Order compensation
Cancel or refuse players registration
Conditional punishment
Order City to pay fines
Make such other order as it thinks fit
Points deduction
Given Nottingham Forest and Everton have been handed points deductions within the last year for one or two breaches of the Premier League’s rules, a massive deduction could await City.
Financial expert Kieran Maguire claims if the Citizens are found guilty of a good number of the charges, a potential three-figure points deduction awaits them.
Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: “The club also has been accused of disguising payments to players and managers, effectively being paid by third parties offshore, being paid by Abu Dhabi for services provided by members of staff and that is also completely against the rules also one would think, although it could be that it’s within the Premier League rules.
“So we would have to be looking at a very significant points deduction. If all 115 charges are proven, then you’d have to imagine that the points deduction would be somewhere in the region of 60 to 100 points on the basis that they would want the club to have suffered enough to be heading out of the division.”
This, of course, would almost certainly relegate City from the Premier League.
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Loss of titles
If City are found guilty and handed a points deduction, it’s possible the punishment could be spread over multiple past seasons.
This could no doubt see them lose titles they’ve won to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United if the Premier League decide that a retrospective punishment is required.
This is seen as one of the more extreme outcomes, but football finance expert Dan Plumley believes nothing is off the table regarding City’s potential punishment.
Speaking to beIN SPORTS, he said: “In terms of possibility, the answer is yes. I think there is a possibility of all of those things. But all of those things were on the table before the Everton verdict as well.
“That’s what is in the Premier League’s governance framework, it’s within their remit. They deploy the sanctions and the sanctions range from financial penalties, in terms of fines, to sporting penalties in terms of deductions, or relegation, or stripping of titles.
“All of those things are within the arc of what the Premier League can do. We’re looking for benchmarks, and we’re looking for precedent. I don’t think anything is fully off the table.”
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Expulsion
The most extreme punishment for City would be being kicked out of the Premier League.
In this scenario, it wouldn’t be a points deduction, it would literally just see the Citizens cease being a top-flight team.
But this wouldn’t mean they would automatically join the Championship.
Second-tier members would have to vote on whether or not to allow the club to compete in the Championship.
If they said no, League One and League Two teams would be asked to do the same.
Should those three leagues reject City, the Citizens would be forced into the non-league pyramid.
Of course, this might sound unlikely, but sports lawyers genuinely believe it is a possibility if Man City are found guilty of the most serious breaches.
Speaking to The Athletic, an unnamed lawyer said: “Expulsion from the Premier League wouldn’t be just hyperbole. It would be a realistic outcome if they were found guilty of the charges.”
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