Manchester City found to have breached Premier League financial rules; sanctions still to come

Manchester City was found to have breached Premier League financial rules across nine seasons in a decision released by the league on Tuesday, 29 September. The independent commission’s findings put a long-running case into a new phase, but leave two questions unsettled for the club and its rivals: what penalty will follow, and whether City can overturn the decision on appeal.

The Associated Press reported that the commission found City guilty of all charges concerning serious financial breaches and most charges concerning its failure to cooperate with the league’s investigation. The findings concern the 2009/10 through 2017/18 seasons, according to EL PAÍS. The exact charge breakdown matters: the available reporting does not support treating every allegation in the wider case as an identical finding.

What the commission found about City’s finances

The Premier League said the commission found that City arranged sham contracts and agreements with commercial partners to inflate revenue and reduce costs, according to AP and Sky News reports of the league’s announcement. AP reported that the commission put the combined effect of the arrangements at more than £900 million. Those are findings attributed to the commission; they are not a penalty imposed on the club.

EL PAÍS reported that the league said City had concealed the true state of its accounts from auditors and regulators. The same report said the commission found significant breaches of Premier League and UEFA spending limits. These findings go to the financial information supplied during the seasons under scrutiny, rather than to a single match or result.

Manchester City plans to challenge the decision

City said it was disappointed and surprised by the commission’s opinion, maintained its innocence and intended to pursue the appeal routes available to it, according to AP and Sky News. Sky reported that the club described the opinion as containing material errors of law, principle and fact and as unsafe. Its response makes clear that the findings are contested, even after the league’s publication of the decision.

Before the decision became public, City chief executive Ferran Soriano told a European Football Clubs board meeting in Copenhagen that the club would fight to prove its innocence, The Guardian reported. He also said a definitive conclusion could take considerably longer. That account describes the club’s position before Tuesday’s publication; it does not establish when an appeal will be heard or decided.

Soriano declined to comment when reporters approached him after that meeting, according to The Guardian. BBC Sport separately published video describing him as refusing questions from its sports editor Dan Roan about the Premier League charges at the Copenhagen conference. His refusal to answer those questions is distinct from the commission’s findings and the club’s formal response to them.

Sanctions and appeal remain unresolved

The commission’s decision does not itself settle City’s punishment. EL PAÍS reported that sanctions will be considered at a later hearing and that the club retains a right to appeal. The reporting reviewed for this article does not establish a date for that hearing, the penalty that might be imposed, or the outcome of any appeal.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters called the case and decision the most significant in the competition’s history, according to EL PAÍS. He said important elements, above all the sanctions, remained to be decided and that the league wanted the rest of the process to move quickly to give clubs and supporters clarity. That statement sets out the league’s aim; it is not a timetable.

The lack of a public decision had already frustrated other clubs. On Monday, The Guardian reported that some Premier League clubs wanted the verdict published promptly and quoted one club source describing the lack of information as a ‘void’. Tuesday’s publication addresses that immediate request for a decision, while the sanction and any challenge by City remain open.