Two unnamed senior Premier League club executives have reportedly said they would be "staggered" if 15 clubs wished to remove Manchester City from the Premier League. While rival clubs are calling for serious consequences for City's rule-breaking, the two prominent executives believe it would amount to "commercial suicide" to eject the club from the top division.
On Tuesday, the Premier League announced that City had been found guilty of all charges concerning breaches of its financial regulations between 2009/10 and 2017/18. These included that City artificially boosted revenue by more than £900million via "sham" sponsorship agreements.
City's appeal and possible sanctions
City, however, have rejected any wrongdoing and plan to appeal by the end of this week. The club maintain they are "innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League" and assert they have "a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" to back their position.
While City have been found guilty, the sanction has yet to be determined. Some have demanded City be relegated from the top-flight this season, while others feel an even more severe sporting penalty should be imposed on the eight-time Premier League champions. In addition, further points deductions, transfer embargoes and substantial fines have been proposed as other possible sanctions.
Executives' concerns over commercial impact
However, according to Sky Sports, two senior executives at different top-flight Premier League clubs have stated they would be "staggered" and "amazed" if 15 clubs were willing to vote to remove Manchester City from the league, with such a move being labelled a potential "self-inflicted commercial disaster," reports the Mirror.
Expulsion from the Premier League represents one possible penalty the independent commission could consider, though should clubs vote against such action, an alternative sanction would be imposed in its place. Discussions, meanwhile, continue both between and within the boardrooms of other Premier League clubs regarding how they would respond to any developments, with several weighing up their own legal positions in relation to a potential financial claim against City.
Nevertheless, many rival clubs regard City as such a vital component of the Premier League's commercial appeal, both domestically and on the global stage, that voting to remove them would result in a substantial loss of revenue each season.
"If Man City were expelled, that would have massive commercial consequences for everyone in the league, and ultimately it would cost the other clubs an awful lot of money," one unnamed executive told Sky Sports. Beyond this, there exists a contrasting sentiment amongst certain leading clubs that City's continued presence in the Premier League would prove detrimental to both the brand and credibility of the competition. Consequently, a prolonged spell outside the top division for City would be necessary to preserve the league's worldwide standing over time.
Gary Neville's view on the owners
Meanwhile, Gary Neville believes the sole "fair" sanction for City is the removal of their billionaire owners. He said: "Manchester City will recover as a football club because Manchester City have been there longer than these owners, they'll be there long after them, and it's got an immense history.
"Points deductions, fines, transfer bans, removing the titles - not giving them to others, just removing the titles - it's significant punishments. The only punishment that would be fair would be have huge consequences - the biggest consequence - would be removing the owners."
"That is the only consequence if I was Manchester City that I would be worried about. And as a fan of Manchester City, if you wanted to keep the investment that you've currently got, that would be the one I'd be most concerned about."
