Manchester City are really in deep trouble. On September 25, The Athletic dropped a real bombshell in the “trial of the century” affair. The English-speaking media claimed that the Skyblues had been found guilty of 114 of the Premier League’s 115 financial fair play violations. A real thunderbolt. Pep Guardiola’s former club then reacted by affirming that it was referring to its press release published in 2023, the year of the official accusation made by the Premier League. City claims to be within its rights, but the concern among its fans is more than palpable. The journalist who published the scoop, the very serious David Ornstein, was the victim of a smear campaign on social networks, while the singer of the group Oasis, Liam Gallagher, improvised as an “insider” by affirming that his favorite club was not going to be heavily sanctioned, at a time when possible relegation is being discussed. “Just informed by someone in a very, very high position that if we lose our appeal – which won’t happen – we’ll get a fine and a recruitment ban and that’s it, so all you desperate, neurotic people shut up until Manchester City-Liverpool.”
Since then, the Premier League has broken its silence this Tuesday afternoon. And in a press release published on its official website, it confirms the charges against Manchester City and even adds that the Cityzens were found guilty of all counts:
“An independent commission has found Manchester City FC guilty of all counts relating to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a period of nine seasons, as well as the majority of counts relating to its failure to cooperate with the League’s investigation.
The independent commission found that between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons:
– Manchester City entered into ‘fictitious’ contracts (which misrepresented the actual agreement between the parties) with several of its commercial partners, while relying on ‘fictitious’ agreements with others, in order to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs.
– The club filed erroneous accounts and concealed the real financial situation from its auditors and football regulatory bodies.
– Manchester City have seriously breached spending limits set by both the Premier League and UEFA.
– During the course of the Premier League’s investigation, Manchester City committed multiple breaches of its obligations of cooperation and absolute good faith towards the League (three of the four alleged breaches were upheld).
The Independent Commission found that Manchester City entered into “fictitious” commercial agreements with several of its sponsors during this period, as part of a disguised financing scheme, under which these companies were only required to pay part of the corresponding sponsorship fees. The rest was financed by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owns the club. As part of this system, other “fictitious” agreements, financed by the ADUG, were concluded in order to allow the club to record operating expenses lower than those it had actually incurred, as well as a “fictitious” circular agreement with Fordham, an entity which purchased the image rights of the club’s players, financed by the ADUG. It was established that the schemes were intended to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs by more than £900 million (approximately €1.050 billion) over the period in question, in order to appear to be complying with financial rules. The Commission found that this resulted in the club filing incorrect accounts and concealing the true financial situation from its auditors and football regulators. The Commission concluded that “by its conduct, the club clearly intended to circumvent the rules of the Premier League”. As a result, Manchester City failed to accurately report its revenue and expenditure under the Premier League’s profitability and viability rules as well as UEFA’s club licensing and financial fair play rules. The Commission found that, if all the agreements concerned had been correctly declared in the club’s accounts, the club would have significantly exceeded the spending ceilings set by both the League and UEFA.
Additionally, over the course of the Premier League’s four-year investigation, the club committed multiple breaches of its obligations of cooperation and absolute good faith to the League. The Commission concluded that the club had “made concerted efforts to obstruct and frustrate the Premier League’s investigation”.
The sanction will soon fall
Officially blamed by an independent body, Manchester City has not yet been sanctioned. “The facts having been established, the question of sanctions will be dealt with separately during a new hearing before the Independent Commission. In accordance with Premier League regulations, this hearing will remain private and confidential until publication of its findings is authorized. The club has a right of appeal against the findings of the Independent Commission and has until Friday October 2 to exercise this right. The aim of the Premier League Board of Directors is that the entire procedure (including any appeals and publication of relevant decisions) is completed as quickly as possible.explains the press release.
And in view of what Richard Masters, the general director of the Premier League, indicated, Manchester City has reason to be worried. “One of the key responsibilities of the Premier League is to ensure that regulations, approved by the clubs themselves, are respected in order to protect the integrity of the competition. It is essential that the League remains competitive and fair for all clubs and supporters. We take this role extremely seriously. This disciplinary case, as well as this decision, is the most important in the history of the Premier League. Certain elements of the case remain to be decided, in particular, and this is essential, the nature of the sanctions which will have to be imposed for these offenses. Now that we have the Commission’s decision, we are committed to completing the rest of the procedure quickly, in order to provide certainty to the League, our clubs and our supporters. » The final verdict is approaching.
