‘Innocent’—What Man City Plan to Do Next After Guilty Verdict Confirmed

There has been no change for eight years to the club’s view on this case.

Man City quickly responded to the Premier League statement. | Visionhaus/Getty Images

The Premier League’s statement confirmed what had already been leaked out a few days earlier. Manchester City have been found “guilty of all charges related to serious breaches” of the competition’s financial regulations between 2009 and 2018.

The club has maintained its innocence from the very beginning, with the majority of the charges made over failure to co-operate with the investigation.

ESPN reported earlier on Tuesday that City had known about the guilty verdict since the summer. But now that the verdict is official, nothing has changed for the winner of three Premier League titles during the nine years in question and five more since. They still vehemently deny wrongdoing.

A club statement issued straight after the Premier League’s read: “Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission, that has been published today.”

The independent commission concluded that City “arranged ‘sham’ contracts” and “filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances.”

In response, they said: “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.”

City chief executive Ferran Soriano sent a video message to all Manchester City staff in the wake of the announcement, putting across the club’s viewpoints on the key issues. That video has since been shared widely on social media platforms.

Ferran Soriano’s message to #ManCity staff. ⤵️

➖ Case based on ‘false accusation’
➖ Sponsorship money not from owner
➖ ‘Irrefutable evidence’ provided
➖ Premier League ‘conspiracy theory’
➖ Extensive evidence ‘ignored’
➖ Conclusion ‘clearly wrong’
➖ Appeal will be filed… pic.twitter.com/Xj1RTvbfKX

— City Report (@cityreport_) September 29, 2026

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MORE FALLOUT ON MAN CITY CHARGES VERDICT

• Premier League Stun Man City With Scathing Official Guilty Verdict

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

• The Potential Punishments Facing Man City for 115 Premier League Charges

• Every Premier League Points Deduction in History—and the Clubs Hit by Them

• The Premier League Champions If Man City Are Stripped of Titles

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Man City Confirm Appeal

Man City intend to keep fighting. | Mark Cosgrove/News Images/NurPhoto/Getty Images

It was inevitable given Manchester City’s longstanding denial of what the club is accused of, but what we have is confirmation that an appeal, potentially multiple, will be made.

“The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe,” the statement added.

“The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence. The club is obviously restricted in what it can say further until all future proceedings are complete.”

Soriano has been in Denmark this week for a private meeting of the executive board of the European Football Clubs. He declined to speak publicly about the Premier League charges and guilty verdict when pressed by reporters.

However, reports claim that Soriano spoke in private to other club representatives and made reference to the likelihood it “will take a lot more time for a conclusion” when it is already eight years since the allegations against City first arose.

The next step for the Premier League would be determining appropriate sanctions. There has been plenty of public clamor for stripping titles and relegation. The latter is not strictly possible, although a massive points deduction would make demotion unavoidable.

But none of that will be possible while an appeal process is ongoing.

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