Manchester City Premier League Charges: Questions and Answers
After City were charged with 101 rule breaches, we look at where the champions are, what it means and what happens next
What is Manchester City charged with?
The Premier League has accused the champions of 101 violations of the competition’s rules. The four allegations include failing to provide “a true and fair view of the club’s financial position, “failing to “include full details” of players and manager payments, violating national and continental financial fair play rules, and failing to “cooperate with, and assist, the Premier League in its investigations.”
An impartial commission will examine these allegations.
What specifics are there?
The Premier League has merely released an expanded charge sheet without any additional information. However, the timelines imply that the accusations correspond to statements that are already in the public domain. First, that City overstated sponsorship agreement values in order to direct more money from their owners toward the team. Second, that Yaya Touré’s agent and manager Roberto Mancini received covert money. Third, the club violated financial regulations as a result of these actions. Fourth, City allegedly impeded the Premier League’s efforts to look into the allegations.
City has consistently vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
What will happen next?
The commission that will hear the accusations has been formed, and the Premier League has requested Murray Rosen KC to choose a three-person panel. This panel must have at least one financial specialist on it. There is no timetable for when the panel will finish its work, and the hearings will be held in private. Legal professionals estimate a few months. Any party may appeal to an appeals panel and then engage in arbitration following the commission’s publication of its decision. If everything else fails, a side might try to come up with a defense to present before the supreme court.
There is no option for any side to go to the court of arbitration for sports under the Premier League’s association regulations.
What could be the punishment if found guilty?
The Premier League handbook’s regulation W.51 states that a commission may impose a variety of sanctions on any club deemed to have broken the law. These include monetary penalties, the deducting of points, and competition suspension or expulsion. The commission may, in fact, “impose upon the Respondent any combination of the aforementioned or such other penalty as it shall judge proper,” according to subclause W.51.7.
Even the prospect of City losing their League titles is still on the table.
What do City say?
The champions are optimistic. In a statement to the press, the club states that it “welcomes the review” and the chance to “impartially assess the complete body of indisputable data that exists in support of its stance.” Club insiders believe the Premier League brought the allegations through political machinations in advance of the government’s expected introduction of a regulator, and they claim City was not made aware of them until they were made public online.
They conclude by mentioning the club’s prior investigation and subsequent exoneration from charges of financial rule violations.
