Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has given insight into the penalties Manchester City could face if they are found guilty of breaching Premier League finance rules.
Man City are still waiting for the result (Image: Allstar via Getty Images)
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire says Manchester City are unlikely to be automatically demoted from the football pyramid if they are found guilty of the 115 charges.
The club’s long-running legal dispute with the Premier League remains unresolved despite the conclusion of an independent hearing. The city is accused of violating financial regulations from 2009 to 2018.
They have consistently denied wrongdoing and are commonly referred to as 115 charges, although there could be as many as 130 potential violations. During the relevant period from 2009 to 2018, City won three Premier League titles.
According to the Liverpool Echo, City released their latest financial report in December and confirmed they were still awaiting the independent commission’s verdict. “On 6 February 2023, pursuant to Premier League Regulation W.82.1, the Premier League referred an alleged breach of Premier League Regulations by Manchester City Football Club to the Committee pursuant to Premier League Regulation W.3.4.
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“Following the accusations, the club has issued a public statement saying it welcomes the review of this matter by an independent committee in order to comprehensively consider the irrefutable evidence supporting the club’s position. As at the date of publication of these financial statements, the independent committee is still in the process of reviewing this matter.”
There has been speculation about possible sanctions since the charges first emerged, with some suggesting City could face relegation to League Two or even the National League. Still, Maguire believes the contrasting rules between the Premier League and the English Football League make it a likely scenario for a significant point deduction.
“If there are 115 charges against Man City, Man City will have to defend 115 times, and that will require hundreds or thousands of pieces of evidence,” he said. “If you look at the cases against[Nottingham]Forest and Everton, they were relatively narrow in scope and effectively one charge from the Premier League, but there were tens of thousands of pieces of evidence submitted by the Premier League and the clubs during that particular hearing.
Manager Josep Guardiola denies any wrongdoing (Image: Getty Images)
“Also, the charges against Man City are far more serious than what we have seen, resulting in points deductions for Everton and Forest. For City, this is effectively a fraud charge, alleging that the Premier League took money from the owners and disguised it as sponsorship income.”
“This is a very serious crime. It’s a very serious allegation, so we need pretty overwhelming evidence of guilt, but there are three people on the independent panel, so it takes time.”
“They’re incredibly successful in their respective fields, so they don’t work together every day, so they don’t have a lot of time. And they might only get together a few times a month because they already have work commitments. So this process is very time-consuming.
Manchester City are the most dominant team in the Premier League in recent years
“I think the Premier League regrets having made 115 charges. They could have chosen the ones they thought were the strongest and with that background there would have been a verdict by now. If you look at the verdicts from the hearings against Everton and Forest, one thing is clear: What is clear is that these cases were cases where football clubs were involved in activities that resulted in an advantage on the pitch, such as overspending or concealment, as evidenced by the Commission for those clubs.
“Both of them received point deductions. The charges against Man City are not for a single PSR calculation, but for nine years. So there would have to be a significant number of multiple deductions, adding up more than zero to get 40 to 60 points. Is that possible? Yes, it is possible. Could it be more? Absolutely.”
“But the Premier League and the EFL are independent of each other, so there’s no way the Premier League could say Man City would be relegated to League Two because the Premier League has no authority over what happens in the EFL. From an EFL perspective, Man City being in the Championship would be a huge asset and would generate a lot of interest.”
“With the English football system being structured by three governing bodies (FA, Premier League and EFL), I don’t think the Premier League would be able to impose the penalty that the EFL would have to incur. So it would have to be a point deduction. And if the result was relegation, the EFL would be obliged to accept Man City into the Championship next season.”
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