The bomb has finally dropped. Manchester City have been found guilty of 114 out of 115 Premier League financial charges – and now English football will never be the same. For 14 seasons, from 2009 to 2023, City were accused of cooking the books, hiding payments, and inflating sponsorships to buy success. On Friday, an independent commission said it was true.
City will appeal, but the guilty finding stands for now. And if the punishment is a massive points deduction, title stripping, or even relegation, half the Premier League will be celebrating. Because City’s punishment is everyone else’s prize.
ARSENAL: FROM HEARTBREAK TO CHAMPIONS
No one benefits more than Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta’s team have finished second to City twice in the last three seasons, losing the 2023/24 title by just two points on the final day. They did everything right – 89 points, 91 goals – and still lost to a machine later found to have cheated.
If the 2023/24 title is stripped and handed to the runners-up, Arsenal are champions of England for the first time since 2004. The Emirates would finally get its parade. Arteta, Guardiola’s former assistant, would win his first league title because his master was caught.
Even this season, with City top after five wins, a 60-point deduction would turn Arsenal from hunters to champions elect overnight.
MANCHESTER UNITED AND LIVERPOOL: THE HISTORY REWRITE
Jose Mourinho was already celebrating.
‘If they take 2017/18 from City and give it to Manchester United, then yes. I am a Premier League champion with United,’ he said. That was the year City got 100 points and United finished second with 81. Mourinho called it his greatest achievement. If that title is voided, he gets his fourth Premier League medal and United get their 21st title.
Liverpool’s gain would be even bigger. Jurgen Klopp’s Reds lost two titles by a single point – 2018/19 with 97 points and 2021/22 with 92 points – the two greatest second-place finishes in English history. If those titles are stripped from City, Liverpool go from 20 league titles to 22, overtaking Manchester United as the most successful club in English history. Klopp would retire as a three-time Premier League champion.
Chelsea, runners-up in 2021/22, would also be in line for retrospective glory.
NEWCASTLE, VILLA, SPURS: THE TOP FOUR LOTTERY WINNERS
A points deduction this season would detonate the Champions League race. Take 50 points off City now and they drop from 1st to 18th. That means the team that finishes 5th this season will play in the Champions League – a prize worth over £100 million.
That is life-changing for Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Brighton and Chelsea. These are clubs who sold players to comply with PSR while City were found guilty of breaching the rules 114 times. Now they get their reward.
Newcastle, who had to sell Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to avoid a breach in June 2024, would go from PSR victims to Champions League beneficiaries.
THE RELEGATION GREAT ESCAPE
At the bottom, City’s guilty verdict could save three clubs.