Manchester City's owners face the prospect of being forced to sell the club after the chair of the new Independent Football Regulator (IFR) confirmed it holds 'absolute power' to remove them. The warning follows the club being found guilty on 114 of 115 Premier League financial charges by an independent commission in September, a decision City have appealed.
Regulator's Powers Revealed
David Kogan, Chair of the IFR, stated the regulator can judge owners against tests of ownership and the actions of senior directors and executives. He explained that unlike the Premier League, which can impose fines or points deductions, the IFR focuses on individuals connected to the club.
Speaking on a special edition of The Rest Is Football podcast, Kogan told Gary Lineker and Alastair Campbell: "We have the power to ask an owner to step away from a club if we believe that they run a club in a way that is neither fit, fair or done with propriety." When asked what happens if an owner refuses, he added: "No, no, no. We've got absolute power to do so."
City's Guilty Verdict and Appeal
The Etihad club was found to have artificially inflated its revenue by £900million through 'sham' contracts covering the 2009/10 to 2017/18 seasons. City have lodged an appeal against the verdict.
Kogan declined to pre-judge the case, saying: "I am not going to get pushed into making any judgement on this until we've seen all of those questions being answered and then we will have to decide whether we're going to mount our own investigation." He has pledged to resign if there is any political interference in an IFR investigation, amid concerns it could become a diplomatic issue between the UK and the UAE.
Neville Calls for Owner Removal
Gary Neville has separately called for the Premier League to remove Manchester City's owners as a consequence of the financial breaches. Speaking on Stick to Football, he said: "The only punishment that would be fair would be have huge consequences - the biggest consequence - would be removing the owners."
Neville described the situation as "chilling" for football, drawing parallels with the impact of Calciopoli on Italian football. He warned: "This has now come into our country, this has now come into our league. This is the greatest export that we have in our country in the world."
