Manchester City are in deep trouble. Hardly pinned down by the Premier League, which promises sanctions commensurate with the infractions, attacked from all sides by consultants and former players, the Mancunian club is defending itself as best it can, already ensuring that it will jump on every possible recourse. First possible recourse, appeal the decision taken by the independent commission. This is permitted under Article W of the Premier League regulations, and would be examined by a new three-person committee. What would delay the deadline?
Not necessarily, since the sanctions could be decided during the appeal. There are two separate committees which will manage Manchester City’s appeal and the sanctions, which will be proposed first by the Premier League. When English financial fair play was introduced, the leaders of the Premier League did not want to establish a prior penalty scale. History that potential fraudsters do not know in advance what they risk. So far, the two elite clubs to have been sanctioned are Everton (8 points withdrawn in 2023-2024) and Nottingham Forest (4 points withdrawn during the same season).
Exclusion, relegation, but above all stagnation of the situation…
The Premier League seems determined to hit hard, and many people are calling for the outright exclusion of Manchester City, who would then be condemned to go back to the bottom of the ladder. We must distinguish exclusion and relegation. Relegation to the Championship would be the consequence of a spectacular loss of points, which would condemn, regardless of the results of the current season, the Citizens to go down. Exclusion would force Manchester City to contact the English Football Association to request reinstatement of English football at a lower level. The problem of reinstatement would then fall to the FA and the English Football League.
But we are still far from reaching a conclusion in this matter. The Premier League hopes to validate the sanctions before the end of the season, which leaves a few months of waiting, while Man City will use all means available to contest the verdict: appeal to the High Court, appeal of the sanctions once they are taken, etc. The punitive justice demanded by former players who feel cheated by Manchester City’s financial doping will clearly not be on the agenda.
