Man City 115 charges latest - Verdict timeline and '60-point deduction' message as Arsenal watch on

Arsenal are still waiting for the outcome of Manchester City's case against the Premier League over 115 alleged financial breaches

Manchester City's financial charges case against the Premier League continues. Conflicting reports have emerged recently regarding when a decision might be announced, with some pointing towards the Easter period or summer, while other sources have indicated there is no clarity on a potential timeframe.

Subject to the case's conclusion, various sanctions have been discussed, with the most recent speculation suggesting a 60-point deduction. City received a glimpse of the potential ramifications when Chelsea were handed a £10million fine despite co-operating with proceedings.

Almost 18 months ago, a 12-week hearing between City's legal representatives and the Premier League occurred, with the football community still awaiting the final judgement to be delivered. City were accused of 115 breaches of financial regulations, though the actual number is understood to be nearer to 130.

The club have strongly refuted any wrongdoing. Arsenal are likely to be impacted by the outcome and are almost certainly on high alert for any updates, given their ongoing Premier League title race against Pep Guardiola's side.

FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page

With all of that being said, football.london has examined the latest developments on City's financial charges case which includes a number of timeline verdicts, punishment hint and substantial points deduction claims.

Verdict timelines

In mid-March, the Athletic reported that anonymous sources from both sides of the case have not received any updates from the independent panel regarding the timeline.

However, The Independent's Miguel Delaney disclosed earlier this week on the 'Libero' podcast that his most recent information suggested the verdict would be announced over Easter, but it has now been pushed back to the summer.

Chelsea's case concerning illicit payments has shifted attention away from City in recent weeks, with the club's new ownership structure working alongside UEFA towards a resolution. Despite this, it still took three years for a decision to be reached.

Chelsea's situation was also discussed on the Libero podcast, with Delaney revealing that "multiple executives from the Premier League are saying that there is potential legal precedence from this case that City's lawyers will be licking their lips at".

'60-point deduction' claim

Former City defender Richard Dunne has offered a straightforward response to claims that City could be hit with a 60-point deduction.

Speaking to Goal, he said: "It's been ridiculous already, the amount of time that it's dragged on. They've come to a conclusion a long time ago, so why it's taken so long to get around to giving out their results of what they found is stupid.

"I mean, it just undermines the whole Premier League if they start coming out now at this stage of the season and you've got the opportunity of a real interesting title race over the next couple of months.

"So, they're ruining their own competition if they come out and start making decisions now. It's something that's best left until the summer and they can work out what they're going to do going forward rather than retrospectively."

He continued: "I can imagine for Manchester City it's been really undermining because it's just been dragging along with them. It's followed them around and for myself and for other ex-players, or anyone that's associated with the club, you do interviews and it's always about, 'but what about this FFP thing?'.

"Man City have got so much going for them in terms of they just won the Carabao Cup, they constantly produce really good players that play a really good style of football and everyone wants to just talk about the negative side of it.

"So, I think for the whole thing to get dealt with and to get finished, I think it's a relief for everybody from Man City.

"I think it'll be a relief for the Premier League that they can finally come to a decision and put the whole thing to bed and let Man City be what they are and let them deal with whatever comes their way and get back to just focusing purely on the football."

Punishment hint

According to the Premier League, Chelsea's co-operation proved beneficial when determining their sanction for financial violations.

Their statement noted: "When considering the appropriate sanction, the Premier League Board noted that the club's proactive self-reporting, admissions of breach and exceptional cooperation throughout the investigation acted as significant mitigating factors."

This is understood to contrast sharply with City's situation, with the Premier League alleging they failed to 'cooperate with, and assist, the Premier League in its investigations, including by providing documents and information to the Premier League in the utmost good faith'.

This could indicate that, should they be found guilty, City might not benefit from the same lenient treatment afforded to Chelsea.