The Premier League has come out with an extraordinary statement accusing Manchester City of breaking Financial Fair Play rules and has charged them with over 100 breaches between the years 2009-2018.
The league has said that the club did not present “accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”. These, as said in the statement, include its sponsorship revenue and operating costs between the years 2009-2018.
The statement also stated that Manchester City did not outline an accurate statement of its manager remuneration and the relevant contracts with its manager between the years 2009-2013 in which Roberto Mancini was at the helm.
Player remuneration and its relevant contracts was too not presented accurately between the years 2010-2016 as stated by the league.
A further breaching of Financial Fair Play regulations was put forward by the Premier League, and failure to comply with UEFA’s rules between the years 2013-2018 was another accusation made toward Manchester City by the Premier League. City too breached Premier League rules on profitability and sustainability between the years 2015 2018.
The Premier League has also accused the club of not cooperating and assisting the league with its investigation from 2018 to date, and not providing documents and information to the league when asked to do so.
The Commissions proceedings will be confidential and heard in private, and the members of say Commission will be appointed by the independent Chair of the Premier League Judicial Panel.
In 2020, UEFA charged Manchester City with breaching serious Financial Fair Play regulations between 2012-2016 which led to a two year circumstantial ban from the Champions League and other sanctions been imposed on the club. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) overturned the decision. In their statement they said that most of the alleged breaches were either not established or time-barred.
Der Spiegel, a German newspaper, were the catalyst for these investigations in 2020 after releasing leaked information that they said proved Manchester City’s breaching of FFP (Financial Fair Play) regulations. However, the club said the documents that were released were entirely false.
This situation is unprecedented, and although Italian club, Juventus were hit with a 15-point deduction in the Serie A for false accounting, nothing such as this has been seen ever before.
If found to be guilty, Manchester City could face sanctions which include a reprimand, deduction of points, expulsion from the Premier League, unlimited fine suspension and could even pay compensation to other clubs.
Last year, City manager Pep Guardiola responded to being asked about the Premier League’s investigation into his club by saying, “If they lie to me, the day after I am not here. I will be out, and I will not be their (owners) friend anymore. I put my faith in them because I believe them 100% from day one and I defend the club because of that.”
There is no doubt that this willharp on for ages and City will bring in the crème de la crème of the law world to deal with this most unprecedented event being played out right in front of our eyes.
