Manchester City could face a raft of heavy sanctions after being found guilty on almost all of the charges relating to breaking the Premier League's financial rules. While no official announcement has been made, it was reported on Friday that City had been found guilty on all but one of the 115 charges.
City were initially charged in February 2023 with breaking financial regulations from 2009 to 2018, during which time they won three Premier League titles. A City spokesperson insists that the 'process remains ongoing', though the club are expected to appeal the verdict.
Possible punishments for City
The Premier League has not decided on what punishment the Citizens will receive and there are no set sanctions for financial breaches, meaning there are a number of different ways they could be punished.
There is recent precedent for City to be slapped with an immediate points deduction. In 2023, Everton were deducted 10 points, later reduced to six after appeal, after breaking profit and sustainability rules (PSR). The following year, the Toffees were again docked two points for a second breach, while Nottingham Forest were deducted four points.
Each punishment was for a single breach of the rules however, and with City being found guilty of 114 breaches, that could mean an astronomical points deduction.
Relegation and title stripping speculation
Given the number of charges they have been found guilty of, many have speculated that Man City could be facing expulsion from the Premier League. The Citizens last played outside England's top-flight in 2002.
Pep Guardiola, who left the City dugout over the summer, said previously that he would remain at the Etihad even if the club were demoted into 'League One'. It remains to be seen whether his successor Enzo Maresca, or star players like Erling Haaland, feel the same way.
Man City have won the Premier League eight times, three of which during the time-period that has been investigated. Should they be stripped of those titles, it could see the runner-up in those seasons retrospectively crowned champions, namely Manchester United for 2011/12 and 2017/18, and Liverpool for 2013/14.
Alternatively, the Premier League may chose to simply not have a champion for these seasons, like Serie A did when Juventus were stripped of their 2005 title for their part in the Calciopoli scandal. City also won one FA Cup and three League Cups during the aforementioned time-period, beating Stoke City, Sunderland, Liverpool and Arsenal in those finals.
Fines and expert view
Man City have previously been fined twice by UEFA for breaching their financial rules. In 2014, European football's governing body slapped the English club with a £49million conditional fine, as well as a transfer cap, for a Financial Fair Play (FFP) breach. In 2020, UEFA banned City from competing in Europe for two seasons and fined them £25m for 'overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts'. City immediately submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and their two-year ban was overturned, while the fine was reduced to just £8.9m.
Football finance expert and Senior Lecturer in Sport Business Management at Sheffield Hallam University, Dr Dan Plumley believes Manchester City may avoid the most 'extreme' sanctions: 'Now that City have been found guilty, all of those things would potentially be on the table as sanctions, and the PL could push for any or a combination of. It is really difficult to predict what any outcome could be, as there is no precedent. We will always be in the realms of speculation until we know, but if I were to speculate, I would suggest that a points deduction and fine would be most likely, with relegation and title stripping being the extreme, but unlikely, scenarios.'
