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Criminal investigation? Relegation or expulsion? The key Man City questions
Confirmed
In Short: City's rivals, such as Tottenham Hotspur, have called for severe punishments, including points deductions and even relegation, arguing that a points deduction alone would not be sufficient for the scale of wrongdoing.
Manchester City's chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and CEO Ferran Soriano have maintained their stance that the club is innocent, despite the recent guilty verdicts for financial breaches between 2009 and 2018.
The verdict, which has been eagerly awaited by football fans worldwide, has now unleashed a series of questions about the club's future, including potential relegation or expulsion from the Premier League.
The deadline for Manchester City to file an appeal is Friday, with the precedent indicating that the appeal will be considered and decided upon before any punishments are declared.
The extent of City's alleged financial misconduct, as detailed in a 40-page verdict, has increased frustration among rivals who believe the delays and legal battles surrounding the case are highly damaging.
Erling Haaland and other players at Manchester City now face an uncertain future, with potential sanctions ranging from fines and points deductions to expulsion and the stripping of titles.
Manchester City was charged by the Premier League in February 2023 following a four-year investigation into alleged financial breaches between 2009 and 2018, and the club has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Players of Manchester City have celebrated with trophies in recent years, but the potential sanctions could affect the club's history and future, including the possibility of being stripped of titles won during the period of alleged breaches.
What this adds
City's rivals and officials involved in the Premier League are calling for severe punishments, ranging from relegation to lifetime bans for those involved in the alleged financial misconduct.
Background
City issued a statement expressing frustration over the leak of the verdict, reiterating their consistent denial of wrongdoing and their intent to appeal the decision.
What's confirmed
- Manchester City's chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and CEO Ferran Soriano have maintained their stance that the club is innocent, despite the recent guilty verdicts for financial breaches between 2009 and 2018.
- The verdict, which has been eagerly awaited by football fans worldwide, has now unleashed a series of questions about the club's future, including potential relegation or expulsion from the Premier League.
- The deadline for Manchester City to file an appeal is Friday, with the precedent indicating that the appeal will be considered and decided upon before any punishments are declared.
- The extent of City's alleged financial misconduct, as detailed in a 40-page verdict, has increased frustration among rivals who believe the delays and legal battles surrounding the case are highly damaging.
- Erling Haaland and other players at Manchester City now face an uncertain future, with potential sanctions ranging from fines and points deductions to expulsion and the stripping of titles.
- Manchester City was charged by the Premier League in February 2023 following a four-year investigation into alleged financial breaches between 2009 and 2018, and the club has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
- Players of Manchester City have celebrated with trophies in recent years, but the potential sanctions could affect the club's history and future, including the possibility of being stripped of titles won during the period of alleged breaches.
What's still developing
- Players like Fabio Cannavaro, Patrick Vieira and Gianluca Zambrotta left Juventus after their enforced relegation, but Gianluigi Buffon stayed and captained the club to the title They were willing to put up with a single season in a lower tier and, when the club returned to Serie A after winning the Serie B title, they immediately finished third and qualified for the Champions League.
- And the verdict has unleashed some huge questions for both the near and long-term future.
- Man City cannot make a further appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but could potentially claim the process was not impartial at the High Court.
- Some say docking points will not be enough, after the club were found to have used 'sham sponsorships' to inflate revenue over a nine-year period Manchester City’s Premier League rivals have called for “huge” punishments to be handed down, telling The i Paper that a points deduction will not be enough for the scale of wrongdoing.
- Some are calling for relegation, a forced sale and lifetime bans for those at the centre of the club’s use of “sham sponsorships” over a nine-year period.
- Another official involved in the Premier League during the period in question said “a message needs to be sent – and that starts with relegation”, although there appears to be little appetite in the football world to strip City of their titles and reassign trophies.
- Everyone has an opinion on sanctions, and even senior figures at Premier League clubs can only speculate at this stage given the unprecedented scale of what City have been found guilty of.
- The breadth of City’s wrongdoing from 2009 to 2018 was revealed in a damning 40-page verdict issued by the independent commission that has spent more than two years deliberating on a case that one senior figure told The i Paper was “the most important in sport that we will see in our lifetime”.
- Spurs missed out three times during the period in which City were found to have engaged in the wrongdoing.
- Manchester City FC—the eight-time champion of the English Premier League —will face potential relegation, points deduction, fines or other types of discipline after an arbitration commission said it broke league rules to obtain an unfair advantage over rival clubs.
- "No lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant," Mamdani said.
- "It's no wonder if we consider that you [Mamdani] praised criminals convicted of supporting Hamas ; you count as friends people like Hassan Piker, who said America deserved 9/11. Some friends you have. You invite into your home a Palestinian journalist who filmed Hamas terrorists beating and torturing Israeli hostages and later admitted that he refused to publish the videos in order to protect the terrorists. Your wife likes a post praising the Oct. 7 massacre, and another saying Tel Aviv shouldn't exist," Netanyahu added.
Sources
- The i Paperlink
- Sporticolink
- Jpostlink
- Worldsoccertalklink
- Pulsesportslink
- Thecanarylink
- Nebraskaexaminerlink
- Inewslink
- Breitbartlink
- The New York Timeslink
- Football365link
- Epicenter-Nyclink
- WarpBeat — background on Relegation? Titles stripped? Appeals? What next for Man City link
- The Promised Land - A Manchester United Podcast — video link