Moving on to possible sanctions and how they will be determined, Maguire opened with: “We have got well over 115 charges so what happens if it is 70-50 in terms of favour to the Premier League or favour of Manchester City? If Manchester City are found guilty of non-cooperation, which is fairly likely, they are likely to get a significant fine because that is what we saw happen with UEFA and the deductions there. If it’s a points deduction, I think the Premier League will claim it as a victory.”
It was claimed at one stage that City could be expelled from the Premier League. Maguire has reiterated why that cannot happen, but the Blues could be stung with a hefty points penalty that sends them tumbling down the top-flight table. There may also be sweeping changes at boardroom level.
Maguire went on to say: “The Premier League cannot relegate Manchester City to League One or League Two because that is an EFL decision and Manchester City have not had any charges proven against them by the EFL. Therefore, it has to be a points deduction.
“If we take a look at precedence, we have had Everton and Nottingham Forest with six and four-point deductions for a single offence covering a three-year period. The accusations against Manchester City cover a nine-year period, so it is far bigger.
“The numbers involved we are not certain about but they are likely to be quite significant. I think you have to add a zero to what we’ve seen in terms of Forest and Everton, so somewhere between a 40 and 60-point deduction would be, on merit to be consistent with what we’ve seen with other decisions, would make a lot of logic.
“If they want to go further then we don’t know the severity. In the case of both Forest and Everton, they were to do with FFP purely. The accusations against Manchester City have already been hinted at, which is why it is taking so long.
“Corporate fraud is a very serious accusation. The board of directors would have to go. How can you be in a meeting room with other members of the Premier League, with the Premier League itself – of whom you are a shareholder – with this accusation being proven?
“If you take a look at what happened with Juventus in Serie A, the board had to resign when they were claiming things about player wages which were proven to be untrue. There is an honesty issue here that would mean if Manchester City are found guilty – City are massively confident, as are the Premier League – then the board has to go and that could be a complete restructure of the club.”