Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano has been described as displaying "unusually textbook impeccable" body language in a video message to club employees following the club's guilty verdict on 114 Premier League charges. A body language expert noted that Soriano appeared not to blink for nearly three minutes during the three-and-a-half-minute address.
The Premier League announced on Tuesday that Manchester City were found guilty on all but one charge covering the period between 2009 and 2018. The independent commission ruled that the club "overstated [its income] by over £830m" during the nine-year period and arranged "sham commercial deals" with several sponsors.
In response, Manchester City issued a strongly defensive statement, with Soriano hitting back at the verdict on video. The CEO reiterated the club's intention to fight through every available legal avenue and labelled the case a "conspiracy theory".
Expert analysis of Soriano's delivery
Body language expert Judi James, speaking to Mirror Football, said Soriano's hand gestures and facial movements matched his words perfectly. James noted that the lack of blinking could be due to intense focus on the message he was delivering.
James said: "There is what looks like one heavy swallow in preparation but after that any unnecessary movement is negligible. But that includes his blinking. The average blink rate is around 15 - 20 per minute, which is quite a consistent rate, and it might actually be reasonable to expect Soriano's blink rate to speed up a little under the pressure of making what are clearly some emotional points."
"Intriguingly though there appears to be no sign of any blinking here until the only visible cut in the video at 1.54. Even after that it only appears to be at 2.55 that the first blink is seen and then maybe another after that."
Eyes and gestures convey authority
James explained that Soriano's eyes registered different moods throughout the video, making the lack of blinking even more unusual. She observed his left eye wrinkling in a smile, a colder expression, raised brows in surprise, and a hardening that suggested inner anger.
"So, we have the eyes showing expression but no apparent blinking for nearly three minutes, which is unusual. Not blinking is said to sometimes be caused by intense focus, though. Interestingly, there is also no apparent micro-darting of the pupils here that you usually get when someone is reading from an autocue, so the suggestion would be that an unblinking Soriano is able to be this word-perfect but without cues from a script," James added.
James also analysed Soriano's hand gestures, which she said transmitted confidence and authority. She noted a cocked left thumb at the start, a "Precision Pinch" gesture used repeatedly, and a raised left index finger on the word "Remember…" to register authority. She described a downward jab with his right index finger when discussing winning the case, and cupped hands when talking about "protecting the club".
Soriano's message to staff
In the video, Soriano said: "The whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation - that the owner's personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi."
"This is just not true. Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows it could not happen and that it did not happen. This includes bank statements, money transfers, witnesses and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate the money did not come from the owner."
"Every other false charge that has been thrown at us comes from that simple, central and completely false accusation. Surprisingly for us and our lawyers after nearly two years the commission has issued an opinion that supports the Premier League’s conspiracy theory."
"To do so, the opinion had to ignore the extensive evidence provided by the club in order to reach a conclusion that is clearly wrong. Our lawyers will now file an appeal that sets out the opinion contains clear, material errors of law, principle and fact and that it is unsafe."
Manchester City have until Friday, October 2 to appeal the verdict. Sanctions have yet to be applied.
