Manchester City have found themselves in hot water following reports suggesting the club has been found guilty of all but one of the 115 charges relating to financial breaches in the Premier League.
According to The Athletic, sanctions for the club have not yet been decided, with all possibilities remaining on the table and City expected to appeal.
Possible sanctions could include removal from the Premier League, the loss of titles and points deductions.
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The charges relate to Manchester City and their dealings over a period from 2009 to 2018, with the club put under the spotlight in 2023.
Between 2008 and the end of the 2017/18 campaign, Manchester City won eight trophies, including three Premier League titles, three League Cups, an FA Cup and a Community Shield.
But with such a dramatic story potentially moving towards a conclusion, plenty of pundits have had plenty to say.
Oliver Brown, the Chief Sports Writer of The Telegraph, believes the club’s success is now littered with asterisks.
“Every last one of the 20 major trophies they have earned through Abu Dhabi’s bankrolling now comes with an asterisk,” Brown wrote.
“Where City promised “irrefutable evidence” of their innocence, an independent commission has ruled that they are overwhelmingly guilty, with 114 of 115 charges of financial irregularity upheld.”
Brown also went on to criticise the club’s handling of the situation on social media, comparing it to another major breach in sport.
“As their worst nightmare came to pass, they spent the afternoon posting on social media about their “flying start to the season”, Erling Haaland’s player-of-the-month award, and a restaurant in the Etihad Stadium’s entertainment district that featured a menu evolving with the changing moon,” Brown wrote.
“Quite the PR flex.
“It offered an echo of Lance Armstrong’s famously dismissive attitude, even after he had been banned for life for leading what the US Anti-Doping Agency described as the most sophisticated doping programme in sporting history.”
When discussing a possible sanction for City, Brown referred to a case involving Swindon Town in 1990 and believes a similar punishment would be justified.
“In 1990, Swindon Town were given a two-division demotion, later reduced to one, after admitting to 36 breaches of rules related to irregular payments,” Brown wrote.
“Now, for all City’s protestations, we are talking about 114, at the highest level of the global game.
“Truly, we are in unprecedented territory, and it warrants an unprecedented punishment.”
Former Manchester City chairman David Bernstein spoke with BBC Radio about the potential penalties and his belief a heavy sanction could be handed down.
Bernstein said he doesn’t know exactly what punishment will be given out, but expects it to be serious.
“I think the penalty will have to be a severe one, but quite how it will fall, I don’t know,” Bernstein said.
“I think it would be a travesty if the appeal process is allowed to go on for years.
“This is sort of pushing to the long grass because in a way, the longer this goes on, the more the problem is compounded.”
He also believes there is a real possibility of other clubs taking action against Manchester City.
“Whether you’re going to get legal suits between other clubs and Manchester City, I have no idea, but there’s no end to the possible problems coming out of this.”
With City expected to fight the reported findings, David Ornstein of The Athletic spoke about the prospect of further legal action.
“The more conversations I’ve had indicate that there are lawyers out there who have been proposing action to clubs for quite some time,” Ornstein told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Clubs will have been speaking.
“There is so much at stake here, it’s inevitable we’ll see action.
“The clubs will come forward to try to take action and that is one of the greatest stories in all of this.”
With the reported decision emerging, Rory Smith, football correspondent for The Observer, spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live about City seemingly being caught off guard by the timing.
“If you look at the way the day played out, it’s pretty clear City weren’t expecting it to come out today,” Smith said.
“They put a statement out via a spokesperson.
“I think they’ve been caught cold by it.”
Dale Johnson, Football Issues Correspondent, also spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live about the wider problems the case could create, referencing clubs that may have missed out on major opportunities.
“You’ve got the teams that finished second in the Premier League,” Johnson said.
“It’s about the teams that finished fifth and sixth and missed out on the Champions League or were beaten by Man City and were relegated.
“There’s a much stronger claim for the teams at the top end of the table but if you can make a strong legal argument, then there is a chance a claim would be there too.”
Johnson would go on to speak about the charges and how the alleged breaches operated during the period in question.
“This is eight years in the making,” Johnson said.
“The income had been disguised as sponsorship income.
“This was alleged as meeting financial fair play rules and the profit and sustainability rules.
“This made it appear the club wasn’t losing money but it actually was.”
For James Benge, a CBS Sports correspondent, the ramifications could change the course of English football.
“It’s not just kind of referring to things on your books a bit incorrectly and retroactively inflating sponsorship deals, all of which City denied,” Benge said.
“But I mean, literally paying your players off the books so that you can have the best team in England and then go on to win those three titles that was won between 2009 and 2018.
“It’s a period that changed English football.
“And this right now is a moment that could change English football.”
While the final findings and sanctions are yet to be handed down, Benge is correct that this is a moment that could change English football, with the fallout potentially stretching well beyond Manchester City.