Manchester City players are worried that they face relegation, after the Premier League’s confirmation of the guilty verdicts from their financial rule breach hearing.
The Premier League confirmed on Tuesday that the recent media reports were accurate, and that Manchester City have been found guilty by an independent commission of all charges relating to serious breaches of the competition’s financial rules over a nine-season period.
The Premier League also confirmed that City have been found guilty of the majority (but not all) of the charges in relation to their failure to cooperate with the investigation.
One of the significant findings by the commission was that City reportedly artificially inflated revenues and reduced costs by more than £900m during the relevant nine-year period.
The statement from the commission adds that City ‘clearly intended to circumvent the PL rules’, and that if they had reported all of their agreements accurately, it would have been a very substantial breach of the Premier League and UEFA’s spending limits.
Despite not all of the charges being proven in relation to City’s cooperation with the investigation, the commission did still conclude that City ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the PL investigation’.
Sanctions will be handed down in a further hearing with the commission, and City also have the right to appeal until Friday, October 2nd.
As for what those sanctions are, that’s still largely guesswork, but Manchester City players are seemingly growing concerned.
That’s according to L’Equipe (via GFFN), who report that one agent of a Manchester City player has told the French outlet that there is talk among the squad of such a significant points deduction that relegation would be inevitable.
If City’s appeal fails, it’s hard to see how anything other than relegation and a change in ownership would be a fair outcome.
To artificially alter your revenues and expenditure by over £900m over nine years is a quite incredible level of financial doping, and one which could take almost any club to the top undeservedly. And any ownership group that allows or participates in such cheating doesn’t belong in the sport.
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