Manchester City on Tuesday, September 29, said it was both disappointed and surprised by the verdict of the Premier League Commission regarding serious breaches on its neck.
The Premier League had on Tuesday confirmed that Manchester City has been found ‘guilty of all charges related to serious breaches’ of its financial rules – and that the club fiddled its books by around £900 million.
Last Friday, City were found guilty of a series of breaches over a nine-year, glittering period in its history, in a verdict which sent shockwaves through football and opened the door to huge penalties, including possible expulsion.
However, there has been no official comment on the findings of an independent panel who oversaw a hearing that concluded in December 2024.
That has now, dramatically changed. In a lengthy statement on Tuesday, the Premier League said City arranged ‘sham contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on ‘sham’ agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs’.
Reacting to the verdict in a statement, Man City said it was disappointed, insisting on its innocence.
The statement reads: “The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case.
“The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums.
“The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.
“The Club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.
“The Club is obviously restricted in what it can say further until all future proceedings are complete.”
