Premier League club executives are not expecting Manchester City to be directly expelled from the league if the guilty verdict against breaches of financial rules is upheld. City are appealing the verdict, which found them guilty of 114 breaches over a nine-year period.
Guilty verdict and appeal
The three-person panel ruled that City artificially inflated their revenue through ‘sham’ sponsorship deals funded by the club owners, something that is not allowed under financial regulations. City strongly deny this.
There has been much speculation over what punishment could be handed to City should their appeal be unsuccessful. The sanction will be decided by the same three-person panel that delivered the initial verdict, with the Premier League able to give their recommendation.
Possible sanctions and voting requirements
The Premier League handbook states that punishments can range from fines to points deductions and even expulsion from the league. However, latest reports suggest that the latter is not expected.
The Athletic reports that several executives from Premier League clubs are not expecting the sanction to be direct expulsion, due to reliance on the backing of clubs. For City to be thrown out of the Premier League, 14 of the clubs would have to vote in favour of the sanction.
That would not be the case with other punishments, including fines or points deductions. Another option for the commission could be to recommend a deduction that would effectively guarantee relegation from the division and into the Championship, rather than kicking City out directly.
Concerns over competitive integrity and Championship impact
There is, however, a fear that a huge points deduction would undermine the league’s competitive integrity and reduce the television product on offer. It could leave City effectively playing games that won’t have an impact on their future, as they could already be relegated via the deduction.
There is also a worry in the Championship that a relegation for City would allow them to spend just one season outside of the Premier League before earning promotion back. That would therefore take up one of the promotion spots on offer to other clubs competing for a place in the top division.
Speaking about the possibility of managing City in the Championship, or League One, Enzo Maresca said: “I won the Championship with Leicester. So in case of League One, we’re going to see. We are thinking about something that we don’t know.”
There are some arguments from a Premier League club executive that City should receive a punishment that would see them handed points deductions over multiple seasons. That would therefore hamper the club’s chances of qualifying for European competitions over a few seasons, with financial implications.
