Man City face Premier League expulsion after being charged with more than 100 breaches of financial rules
6 February 2023, 12:57
Manchester City have been charged by the Premier League for allegedly breaching financial rules more than 100 times over the course of nine seasons between 2009 and 2018.
The club is alleged to have breached Premier League rules requiring provision "in utmost good faith" of "accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club's financial position".
The league says the accurate financial information required relates to "revenue (including sponsorship revenue), its related parties and its operating costs".
The club faces a number of punishments, including a points deduction, transfer ban, spending limits or even expulsion from the Premier League.
They could also be stripped of previous titles, with the alleged breaches covering title wins in the 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2017-18 seasons.
The second set of breaches listed refers to alleged breaking of rules "requiring a member club to include full details of manager remuneration in its relevant contracts with its manager" related to seasons 2009-10 to 2012-13.
During this period, Roberto Mancini - currently Italy boss - was in charge at Manchester City.
The third set of alleged breaches centre around Premier League clubs being required to comply with UEFA financial fair play rules between 2013 and 2018.
The fourth set relates to the league's profitability and sustainability rules in seasons 2015-16 to 2017-18, while the club also allegedly failed to co-operate with Premier League investigations.
The Premier League - which opened its investigation in March 2019 - has now referred the case to an independent commission.
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In a statement, the Premier League said: “In accordance with Premier League rule W.82.1, the Premier League confirms that it has today [February 6 2023] 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.
“Commissions are independent of the Premier League and member clubs. The members of the commission will be appointed by the independent chair of the Premier League judicial panel, in accordance with Premier League rules W.19, W.20 and W.26.
“The proceedings before the commission will, in accordance with Premier League rule W.82, be confidential and heard in private. Under Premier League rule W.82.2, the commission’s final award will be published on the Premier League’s website.
“This confirmation is made in accordance with Premier League rule W.82.1. The Premier League will be making no further comment in respect of this matter until further notice.”
The club issued a statement which read: "Manchester City FC is surprised by the issuing of these alleged breaches of the Premier League rules, particularly given the extensive engagement and vast amount of detailed materials that the EPL has been provided with.
"The club 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 such we look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all."
Man City previously had a two-year ban from European football overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020 after they were suspended by UEFA's financial control body for "serious breaches" of financial rules.
