Overview
Manchester City FC is a soccer team in the Premier League. As of right now, they are being charged with accusations of failing to disclose accurate financial information and not fully providing managerial details for a four-year period. Also, they have been charged with breaching UEFA’s financial fair play (FFP) rules, as well as the Premier league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). More specifically, they have been charged with 115 FFP charges across nine different seasons, an unprecedented sight. Additionally, they were alleged to violate the PSR throughout the 2015-16 to 2017-18 seasons.
While these accusations have not been found as true yet, if they are, Manchester City will face severe punishment that could nearly cripple the club. As of right now, the possible punishments that Manchester City may receive include numerous sanctions and immediate relegation to lower leagues. During the heat of these allegations Manchester City has Three Premier League titles were won during the period under investigation, as well as an FA Cup and three League Cups. If found guilty of serious enough charges, these wins could be stripped away from the club.
Obviously, these wide-ranging charges have been strenuously denied by City, who last year said they would look forward to “put to rest, once and for all,” the investigation, which started in 2018. Yet almost a year on, against all of the other top-flight clubs forced to answer for their financial misdemeanors, the reigning Premier League champions are still to even see a hearing begin.
Why is it taking so long?
This is an unprecedented case. The alleged financial rule breaches have been happening for decades, covering the first decade of Sheikh Mansour’s time as club owner. City have already fought legal action from UEFA following the initial reporting of German newspaper Der Spiegel in November 2018 that first highlighted their alleged rule breaking. That initially resulted in a two-year ban from UEFA competition in February 2020 before it was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) five months later.
Manchester City is yet to admit to any of these accusations, as they have continued to fight them, with them continuing to say that they have not done anything wrong. The Premier League, though, has not been convinced and, following the formal charges being delivered in early February, it will now be the task of an independent commission to decide, meaning their will likely not be many updates in this case for a while.
Benjamin Saylor
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