- By Katie Falkingham
- ` Sport
February 6, 2023 at 10:26 GMT
Updated 19 minutes ago
image source, Getty Images
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Manchester City was taken over by Abu Dhabi owners in 2008
The Premier League has charged Manchester City with more than 100 breaches of its financial rules after a four-year investigation.
It referred the club to an independent commission for alleged rule-breaking between 2009 and 2018.
It also accused City of not cooperating since the investigation began in December 2018.
Last season, City won their sixth Premier League title since being acquired by Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008.
The Commission can impose penalties, including a fine, point deductions and banning a club from the Premier League.
A Premier League statement said City had broken rules that require them to “provide accurate financial information which gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”.
This information covered club revenue, which includes sponsorship revenue and operating costs.
Other alleged violations relate to rules requiring full disclosures on manager pay – from the 2009/10 to 2012/13 seasons when Roberto Mancini was in charge – and on player pay between 2010/11 and 2015/16.
The Premier League said City breached rules related to Uefa regulations, including Financial Fair Play (FFP), from 2013-14 to 2017-18, as well as Premier League rules on profitability and from 2015-16 to 2017-18 Sustainability.
In 2020, European football’s governing body Uefa ruled that City committed “serious breaches” of FFP regulations between 2012 and 2016.
However, a two-year ban on European competitions was lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) later that year.
Uefa began its investigation into City after German newspaper Der Spiegel published leaked documents in November 2018 claiming the club had overstated the value of a sponsorship deal.
The negotiations of the Commission – chaired by Murray Rosen KC – are treated confidentially and in camera.
When the Premier League investigation began, City said the allegations were “completely false” and that the allegations in the Der Spiegel stemmed from “illegal hacking and the publication of City emails out of context”.
The club have not yet commented on the Premier League allegations.
“It’s going to be expensive and dragging on” – analysis
Given that it has taken the Premier League four years to get to this point, there is no prospect of a resolution to this case any time soon.
Manchester City have always denied financial wrongdoing. They always said the detail published by Der Spiegel when it submitted information from Football Leaks was incomplete.
When Uefa launched their case, City said they had no faith in that investigation and when it went against them they went straight to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where they were acquitted of what they believed to be key allegations, although some had expired.
You will be armed with the best lawyers and will look line by line at every element of the Premier League case.
The indictment contains five years of allegations that the city failed to assist in its investigation — that’s all.
The whole thing will be expensive and it will take time.
City manager Pep Guardiola has always said he was reassured by his employers that they had done nothing wrong. Others – La Liga president Javier Tebas is one of the loudest voices – argue vehemently the other way around.
Should City win legally, they’re clear even if the sniping continues.
If they lose, all sorts of penalties can be imposed. The Premier League’s scope is completely unlimited in that sense and we are in uncharted territory.
We are now beginning a very long endgame. The reputation of the city – and that of its owners – is at stake. The result, whenever it comes, will be fascinating.
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