Man City 115 charges latest as fresh verdict given amid Premier League waiting game

Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and the rest of the Premier League continue to await the outcome of Manchester City's independent commission hearing over alleged breaches of financial regulations.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has suggested that Manchester City are unlikely to face automatic relegation down the football pyramid even if they are found guilty of the 115 charges levelled against them.

The club's legal dispute with the Premier League remains unresolved, despite the independent hearing having concluded. City are accused of allegedly breaching financial regulations spanning the period from 2009 to 2018.

They have consistently protested their innocence, though, and while commonly outlined as 115 charges, there are said to be as many as 130 potential violations. During those nine years, City won three Premier League titles.

City released their latest financial accounts in December as they referenced the ongoing wait for the independent commission's verdict. The statement read: "On 6 February 2023, in accordance with Premier League Rule W.82.1, the Premier League referred a number of alleged breaches of the Premier League Rules by Manchester City Football Club to a Commission under Premier League Rule W.3.4.

"In response to the charges, the club issued a public statement that it welcomes the review of this matter by an independent commission to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position. As at the date of publishing these financial statements, the independent commission is still in the process of reviewing the matter."

Discussion around potential sanctions has been ongoing since the charges were first announced, with speculation ranging from relegation to League Two - or even the National League. Nevertheless, Maguire has suggested that a substantial points deduction is the more likely outcome, citing differences in the constitutions of both the Premier League and the EFL.

He explained: "If there are 115 charges against Man City, then Man City must have put 115 defences, so that's going to involve 100s and 1000s pieces of evidence. If you take a look at the cases against [Nottingham] Forest and Everton, which were relatively narrow and effectively one charge from the Premier League, there were tens of thousands of pieces of evidence submitted by the Premier League and the clubs during that particular hearing."

He also emphasised the severity of the allegations, adding: "Also, the charges against Man City are much more serious than those we saw, which resulted in points deductions for Everton and Forest. For City, it's effectively an allegation of fraud; the Premier League alleges they received money from the owner and disguised it as sponsorship income.

"That's a very serious offence. You have to have fairly overwhelming evidence of guilt because it's a very significant allegation, and it's taking a lot of time, as there are three people on the independent commission.

"They don't work together every day because they are incredibly successful in their own walks of life, so they don't have much time and might get together a few times a month because they've got existing work commitments. Therefore, it's a very slow process.

"I suspect the Premier League regrets making 115 charges; they could have chosen the ones they felt they had the strongest case for, and, on that basis, we would have had a verdict by now. If you take a look at the verdicts in the hearings against Everton and Forest, the one thing that became very clear was that if a football club has been involved in activities that, as a result, have given them an advantage on the pitch- i.e from overspending or hiding costs - these were the cases that were proven by the commissions against those clubs.

"They were both given a points deduction. Now, the charges against Man City cover nine years, rather than just a single PSR calculation. Therefore, they would have to be a significant multiple-point deduction, adding a zero or more, so 40-60 points. Could that be viable? Yes, it could. Could it be more? Absolutely.

"But because the Premier League and the EFL are independent of one another, there's no way the Premier League can say they're going to relegate Man City to League Two because they've got no power over what happens in the EFL. From the EFL point of view, having Man City in the Championship would be a tremendous asset, with significant interest.

"I suspect that, because of the way the English football system is set up with the three governing bodies (the FA, the Premier League and the EFL), the Premier League cannot impose a punishment that the EFL must take on. So it has to be a points deduction, and if that results in relegation, then the EFL would be obliged to accept Man City into the Championship next season."