English football was thrown into chaos on Friday as reports claimed Manchester City, the most dominant team of the last decade, have been found guilty of 114 of the 115 financial rule breaches levelled against them by the Premier League.
In a development that could rewrite Premier League history, The Athletic reported that the independent commission hearing the case – English football’s longest and most expensive legal battle – has returned a near-total guilty verdict.
The news sent shockwaves through the Etihad and far beyond. City are expected to appeal, and the club immediately insisted the process is far from over.
‘The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality,’ City said in a statement to British media. ‘As such Manchester City FC’s position remains consistent with the club’s statement of February 2023.
‘The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair minded regulator, free from partisan influence.’
The Premier League declined to comment. ‘It’s a confidential process, we’re not commenting at all,’ a spokesperson said.
If confirmed, it would be the most seismic ruling in English football history, a case that has hung over the league like a dark cloud for more than three years and raised brutal questions about financial regulation, competitive integrity, and whether the league can tame its own giants.
A Decade Of Alleged Deception
The Premier League referred City to an independent commission in February 2023 over alleged breaches spanning 14 seasons – from 2009-10 to 2022-23. The club has always denied any wrongdoing and hired top King’s Counsel David Pannick to lead its defence. The Premier League was represented by Adam Lewis.
The hearing began on September 16, 2024, and ran for nearly three months until December 6, heard by three members appointed by the independent chair of the Premier League Judicial Panel.
At the heart of the case were the most serious allegations: that City failed in every season from 2009-10 to 2017-18 to provide accurate financial information giving a ‘true and fair view’ of revenues, including sponsorship income, and operating costs.
This was not the first time City faced such accusations. In 2020, UEFA banned them from the Champions League for two years after finding they had overstated sponsorship revenue between 2012 and 2016. City overturned that ban on appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
But this Premier League case is unprecedented in scale. Since Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group bought the club in 2008, City have won eight Premier League titles, the Champions League, four FA Cups and seven League Cups. They currently top the Premier League after winning their opening five matches.
Rodri Breaks Silence: We Believe The Club
Former City midfielder Rodri, speaking on Friday on the eve of Spain’s Nations League clash with England at Wembley, said he had always trusted the club.
‘Hopefully, justice can be done, whatever happens obviously, but I trust in the impunity of that club which I know very well. And they always transmitted their confidence that they’d done everything correctly,’ he told reporters.
‘Until the moment they’re proved wrong, we will believe the club and I’ve been there and I know how they work and how they cooperate,’ said the midfielder who now plays for Barcelona.
He insisted City’s achievements cannot be erased: ‘What we did, they cannot take out of us. It’s something that is not paid by money, it’s paid with effort, with partnership, with being shoulder to shoulder every day.’
What Punishment Now? Relegation, Points, Or Massive Fine?
The stakes could not be higher. Other clubs have already been punished. Everton were docked eight points in 2023-24 after two separate breaches of Profitability and Sustainability Rules, while Nottingham Forest lost four points in March 2024. Newcastle United only narrowly avoided sanctions after a desperate player sale before June 30, 2024.
But the charges against City dwarf all of those.
Legal experts say the rumoured verdict is not the end, but the beginning of a new war.
‘The rumoured verdict is not the end of the story but the beginning of a new phase in what has become one of the most closely watched legal battles in global sport,’ said Ian Hargreaves, partner at Quillon Law.
He said the key questions now are what sanctions are proportionate and whether the decision can survive appeal.
‘There is a wide range of options, with a transfer ban at the more moderate end of the spectrum and expulsion from the league the most severe repercussion,’ Hargreaves warned.
MP Caroline Dinenage, chair of Britain’s Culture, Media and Sport select committee, also reacted: ‘The reports have profound implications for our national game. The extraordinary length and cost of this process raise serious concerns, and the affair again gives rise to questions about financial fairness across the football pyramid. The matter must be allowed to take its course and due process must be followed, but I sincerely hope any further stages are completed as swiftly as is reasonably possible.’
For now, City remain champions on the pitch. Off it, the fight for their legacy has just exploded.