Manchester City are facing a serious and potentially unprecedented punishment after being found guilty of the majority of their Premier League charges by an independent commission.
As revealed on Tuesday in a statement from the Premier League, City’s charges relate to breaching financial rules over a nine-season period between 2009/10 and 2018/19. The club, found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to their alleged failure to co-operate with the Premier League’s investigation, have until Friday to appeal the commission's verdict and have publicly confirmed their intention to do so.
If that appeal fails, Premier League Rule W.64 sets out a range of potential punishments for clubs found guilty of financial breaches. These range from a fine, to a points deduction, suspension from competition and, the most serious, expulsion from the Premier League entirely.
Standard Sport reporters on the right punishment
Standard Sport asked its football reporters Dom Smith, Matt Verri and Sam Tabuteau, along with sport reporters Oli Gent and Arthur Ferridge, what the punishment should be if City are found guilty.
Dom Smith said: “Talk of potential punishments has felt something of a free-for-all in recent days, but it is crucial the book is thrown at Manchester City. Unprecedented breaches of financial regulations deserve unprecedented punishment.” He favoured a points deduction big enough to guarantee relegation to the Championship and a multi-window transfer embargo. He also suggested forcing the club's owners to sell as an option.
Matt Verri said City should be stripped of the titles they won during the period of their financial breaches, not to be re-awarded, and called for a fine in the region of £900million, a lengthy transfer ban, and a sliding scale of points deductions over the next nine seasons starting with 70 points.
More calls for points deductions and title stripping
Sam Tabuteau said the only punishment he sees fit is a substantial multi-season points deduction, with all titles from the years in which City have been found guilty retrospectively deemed null and void.
Arthur Ferridge said all penalties must be proactive rather than retrospective. He suggested a considerable points deduction, referencing Everton's six-point penalty in 2023, a hefty fine in the hundreds of millions, and a transfer ban of at least two seasons.
Oli Gent said stripping City’s titles would be the bare minimum punishment, but he does not see immediate relegation as a realistic outcome. He envisaged a multi-season points deduction that would maroon them in mid-table mediocrity and effectively bar them from European competition for a number of seasons, plus a transfer ban and a forced change of ownership.
City have until Friday to appeal the verdict and have confirmed their intention to do so.
