Manchester City have been charged by the Premier League for breaking financial rules.
City have been accused of more than 100 breaches with the Premier League referring the club to an independent commission.
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.”
What will Man City’s punishment be?
What happens next?
According to numerous reports, point deductions and even expulsion from the Premier League are on the table.
One person who will understand the case more than pretty much anyone is Stefan Borson.
Borson is a former financial advisor to Manchester City and is a fan of the club. He’s also a former banker, current lawyer, CEO and general counsel to a Public Limited Company dealing with allegations of historic accounting issues. Oh and he’s well across Financial Fair Play too.
And his immediate reaction to the news was rather telling.
He tweeted: “Alarmist or not, the sheer extent of the PL charges are at a level that IF found proven, must lead to relegation.”
Wow.
Sporting Intelligence’s Nick Harris, who is also an expert when it comes to money in football, wrote: “Stefan is a former financial adviser to Man City, a Man City fan, a former banker, current lawyer, CEO & general counsel to a PLC dealing with allegations of historic accounting issues. Also well across FFP issues. So this is an interesting view.”
And in response to someone suggesting that a team of lawyers will work for Man City, Borson says the Premier League will have similar firepower.
“And yes 50 lawyers will fight hard but so will the PL’s 50 lawyers. All the same firms/chambers/quality/reputations. City have no financial advantage at all in the level of lawyers available.”
However, he suggests we could be years away from a ruling.
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