Man City charged by Premier League with numerous alleged breaches of financial rules

Man City have been hit with more than 100 charges of alleged breaches of financial rules, which could lead to a points deduction or even expulsion from the Premier League.

It follows a four-year investigation by the Premier League into the finances of the Manchester club.

The Premier League released a statement on Monday morning, with the allegations dating back to the 2009/10 season right through to the 2017/18 campaign.

A range of penalties could be levied at Man City should they be found guilty of the charges, including a points penalty or even expulsion.

The club issued a robust statement in the wake of the charges.

It 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.”

City are alleged to have breached 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 Premier League says the accurate financial information required related to ‘revenue (including sponsorship revenue), its related parties and its operating costs’.

The second set of breaches relate to alleged breaking of rules ‘requiring a member club to include full details of manager remuneration in its relevant contracts with its manager’. This is related to seasons 2009/10 to 2012/13, when Roberto Mancini was in charge.

These breaches also refers to requirements for a club to include full details of player remuneration within the relevant contracts, for the seasons 2010/11 to 2015/16 inclusive.

There are also alleged breaches that relate to failure to comply with UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations, which relates from 2013/14 to 2017/18.

“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.”

According to The Times’ Martyn Ziegler, City would not be able to appeal any sanction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Reacting to the news, former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan told talkSPORT: “One must remember these are charges and they have to be answered by Manchester City.

“Pep started sowing the seeds, as they obviously knew this was coming, by suggesting there were X amount of clubs in the Premier League that wanted Man City banned.

“When we heard Pep saying that last week we were wondering ‘why were you bringing this up’, now this is the reason why.

“Man City have these allegations and charges to answer. I didn’t think the Premier League would have the balls to do this and having the balls to make it stick is another matter.

“I have always maintained they have significant questions to answer and this idea that people are xenophobic or have an issue because the ownership model is not one people like because of its ethnicity or persuasion is nonsense.

“It’s about the idea that there is an element of financial doping. By that I mean they have been using businesses they own to artificially inflate sponsorship deals that have given them an opportunity to fall within that confines of Financial Fair Play.

“There are a lot of allegations here.”