Man City Charges: The Premier League’s Multi-Year Investigation Explained

It was on Feb. 6, 2023 that the Premier League confirmed a total of 115 charges against Manchester City for a number of major rule breaches.

Nobody expected the investigation to take over three years, but an initial verdict is now in, with City understood to have been found guilty of 114 of the 115 allegations against them.

It has been so long, in fact, that you may have easily forgotten exactly what City were accused of in the first place.

What Are the 115 Charges Against Man City?

Premier League rules can be complex, particularly modern regulations, but the basic overview is that City have been accused of failing to accurately report their financial dealings between the 2009–10 and 2017–18 seasons.

The specific details of the Premier League’s charges against City were never revealed, but the investigation was opened shortly after leaked documents from German publication Der Spiegel, who put out what they claimed to be leaked documents proving City’s illegal conduct.

The allegations involved City inflating their own finances through fictitious sponsorship deals, allowing owner Sheikh Mansour to invest more in the club under the guise of a legitimate endorsement deal from an outside company.

Roberto Mancini, the manager at the time, is also alleged to have been paid an inflated salary through a role as a consultant to a club in Abu Dhabi, while some players were also reported to have received payments that were kept off the books—all flagrant breaches of Premier League regulations.

City, for their part, have always pleaded innocence and claimed the documents were obtained illegally.

In total, 80 of the charges against City related directly to a failure to accurately report and comply with regulations, including UEFA’s Financial Fair Play and the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.

The 115 Charges Broken Down

• 54x Failure to provide accurate financial information 2009–10 to 2017–18.

• 14x Failure to provide accurate details for player and manager payments from 2009–10 to 2017–18.

• 5x Failure to comply with UEFA’s rules including Financial Fair Play (FFP) 2013–14 to 2017–18.

• 7x Breaching Premier League’s PSR rules 2015–16 to 2017–18.

• 35x failing to cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation.

A further 35 charges were put to City for failing to cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation, which is as simple as refusing to supply specific documents when requested or generally making the process more complicated.

Chelsea were recently found guilty of their own major financial breaches, but their sanctions were softened significantly as a reward for cooperation and transparency throughout—something that clearly cannot be said about City.

Why the Charges Are So Significant

Erling Haaland with hands on his head. — It could be really bad news for Erling Haaland and Co. | PETER POWELL/AFP/Getty Images

The general sentiment against City in this case is that they would simply not have been able to build a team that won three Premier League titles and established themselves among Europe’s elite without this allegedly illegal funding.

Compensation claims could follow from teams who missed out on certain amounts of Premier League prize money, while there could be deeper ramifications across the political and diplomatic landscape.

Will Man City Be Stripped of Their Premier League Titles?

There is no precedent for this magnitude of case. Teams have been found guilty of ‘minor breaches’ of Premier League financial rules, namely Chelsea, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City. They were all hit with small points deductions, relative to the severity of their respective offenses.

City are accused of multiple breaches over a prolonged period of time, which they haven’t admitted to at any point and have shown no contrition towards. A huge points deduction is a plausible outcome, though not one that would come with a label of automatically relegating the club. City could, however, lose so many points that dropping down to the Championship becomes an inevitability.

A Corruption scandal in Italy saw Juventus stripped of Serie A titles in the mid-2000s, but that case was completely different to what City are faced with.

Why Did the Verdict Take So Long?

In short, the Premier League and independent adjudicating bodies have been extremely thorough, and have ensured all bases are covered before presented their findings. A three-month hearing held between 16 Sept. 2024 and 6 Dec. 2024 has taken us to this point.

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