Manchester City have reportedly been found guilty on all but one of the 115 charges brought against them over alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations, according to The Athletic. Yet the extraordinary number attached to the case has often obscured a more fundamental question: what exactly were City accused of doing, and what could a verdict of this magnitude now mean?
That information included revenue, sponsorship income, related parties and operating costs. The charges were brought by the Premier League in February 2023 after an investigation stretching more than four years. They covered financial conduct between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons, alongside allegations concerning City’s cooperation with the investigation from December 2018 onwards. The 115 charges can broadly be separated into five areas.
City have consistently denied wrongdoing and previously said there was a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” supporting their position. The largest and potentially most serious concerned whether City provided the Premier League with accurate financial information giving a “true and fair view” of their financial position across nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18.
The Premier League alleged breaches of rules requiring clubs to provide full details of payments made to managers between 2009/10 and 2012/13, as well as player remuneration across seasons between 2010/11 and 2015/16. City were accused of failing to comply with UEFA’s club licensing and Financial Fair Play rules over five seasons between 2013/14 and 2017/18, while a further group related specifically to the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules between 2015/16 and 2017/18. City were accused of failing to cooperate fully with the Premier League between December 2018 and February 2023, including requirements to provide documents and information in utmost good faith.
Because it concerned the investigation itself rather than the original financial conduct, the final section was different. A second collection of charges related to remuneration. In essence, the league wanted to establish whether the complete financial arrangements involving managers and players had been properly declared. Another group concerned UEFA regulations. The Premier League’s disciplinary framework gives an independent commission unusually broad powers. Available sanctions can include a reprimand, an unlimited fine, points deductions, suspension and, at the most extreme end, expulsion from the Premier League. The rules also permit commissions considerable discretion to fashion another appropriate penalty, meaning there is no simple equation under which a certain number of guilty findings automatically produces a predetermined punishment. Relegation has inevitably entered the discussion, but there is an important distinction between speculation and the rules themselves. A sufficiently severe points deduction could have relegation consequences, while expulsion from the Premier League is also among the commission’s available powers; neither outcome, however, follows automatically from a guilty verdict.
