Official: Manchester City found guilty of all Premier League financial breaches

Manchester City has been officially found guilty of all charges brought against them by the Premier League.(League.Image credits – CommonsWikipedia, License Details)

Manchester City have officially been found guilty of all the charges relating to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations, bringing a massive breakdown to one of the longest-running cases in English football.

Richard Masters, the Premier League CEO, said that the findings show that City "systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade.”

According to reports, an independent commission’s verdict found that City arranged "sham" contracts with commercial partners to artificially inflate their commercial earnings, filed "misstated" accounts to conceal the true nature of their finances, and "significantly" breached Premier League and UEFA spending limits.

The club has been found guilty of falsely inflating the club's revenue by £830 million between 2009 and 2018.

"An independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-season period and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the league's investigation,” the Premier League said in an official statement. (sic)

However, Manchester City have refused to acknowledge this decision and are set to appeal to higher courts to prove their innocence.

The club's statement said, "The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle and fact and is unsafe.” (sic)

It further added, "The Club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”  (sic)

Importantly for now, no sporting punishment has yet been imposed. A separate hearing will determine the sanctions. Under Premier League rules, the possible penalties range from a hefty fine and points deduction to more severe sporting measures, including expulsion from the Premier League to the lower division.

For now, however, the official verdict is out rather than the punishment. Manchester City have been found guilty, they intend to appeal, and the next major chapter will be the separate sanctions process.

With the case already stretching across years, the final consequences could take considerably years to settle.