‘The biggest club scandal in football history’: Premier League confirms Man City guilty in relation to financial charges
We’re wrapping up our live coverage for now. Here’s what you need to know, but scroll down to catch up in more detail.
Today, the Premier League confirmed the news that Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges related to “serious breaches” of financial rules.
The infringements covered a nine-season period in which City rose to the heights of English football, becoming one of the most dominant teams of the modern period.
From the 2009/10 season to the 2017/18 season, an independent commission found that City had arranged “sham” contracts which wildly misrepresented the true agreement between partners.
These were done with commercial partners, and worked to inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs, letting it spend more.
In all, City were “significantly in breach” of Premier League and UEFA rules.
As part of this, it overstated its income by more than £830m over the years. This was a key overarching feature of the charges. The club was presenting their financial health as far stronger than it actually was.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters described the case, and the decision, as “the most significant in Premier League history”, with the league’s investigation having started back in 2018.
More than 100 charges were laid against City in February 2023, with the commission hearing the case between September and December 2024.
The independent commission said that any punishments would be settled in a future hearing as well.
Our sports correspondent Rob Harris, hot on the heels of the news breaking, was able to track down City executive Ferran Soriano at a football summit in Copenhagen this afternoon.
He asked him whether he would apologise to football fans.
Soriano declined to answer. Watch that below…
‘Disappointed and surprised’
Man City were quick to release a statement this afternoon.
They said they were “disappointed and surprised” by the decision.
The club went on:
“The club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case. The club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums.”
Then, in a video that was sent out internally to staff at the club, Soriano claimed the guilty confirmation was the result of a “Premier League conspiracy theory”.
Soriano went on:
“This has gone on for so long that it’s important to remind ourselves that 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 that it could not happen and that it did not happen.”
Watch analysis from Harris here too…
What next?
An appeal from City is seemingly guaranteed.
They have a deadline of Friday.
Interestingly, in its statement, the Premier League said one appeal board had already confirmed the independent commission’s decision – suggesting some sort of appeal process had already taken place.
Premier League rules, specifically rule W.92, say that any appeal would not be about introducing new evidence, but reviewing existing evidence.
Given how much was put forward, this could take quite some time.
‘Efforts to stop and frustrate’
Here’s some of what the independent commission’s report said:
City carried out a “disguised funding scheme” for several years, to inflate financial figures;It carried out “concerted efforts to stop and frustrate” the Premier League investigation;Parts of the report were heavily redacted – including the conclusion;Some witnesses called by City purposely lied to the commission;Experts from several fields gave evidence, with “many, many thousands of pages” put forward;And City’s criticism of the Premier League was rejected.
There is also the prospect of further cases should other clubs seek compensation if the final decision goes against City.