JibrinWhat Leicester City points deduction now means for Manchester City as three-year anniversary passes
Manchester City have denied any wrongdoing amid more than a hundred Premier League charges, with a verdict still pending after three years.
It has now been three years since the Premier League first announced that they were referring Manchester City to a commission for alleged breaches of the division’s financial regulations over a nine-season span, which was subsequently extended through to the conclusion of the 2022/23 season.
And it has been 14 months since the commission conducted a hearing into the charges in London, with legal representatives for both the Premier League and Manchester City presenting their cases to a three-person panel.
Yet we remain here, waiting, with no additional clarity on how the commission will rule or what sanctions might be imposed.
Manchester City’s 115 charges sanction remains unsettled
It is believed there may be as many as 134 separate allegations leveled against City, with the Premier League attempting to leave minimal opportunity for the club to exploit gaps in league regulations.
The accusations include inflating the value of sponsorship deals linked to the owners’ other enterprises and undisclosed payments to players and managers that, had they been ‘properly’ recorded, would have placed the club in breach of those rules. The Premier League also claim that City have obstructed their investigation into the allegations. City have consistently denied all accusations in full.
As the Guardian’s Paul MacInnes notes, the longer the process continues, the more indifferent City’s rivals have become toward the possible outcome.
Much of this stems from a straightforward loss of interest in an investigation that began seven years ago. The rival chairmen who were most concerned about City’s alleged violations, Tottenham’s Daniel Levy and Arsenal’s Tim Lewis, have both left their clubs and no longer participate in Premier League meetings.
More significantly, two major reforms to the Premier League’s financial regulations have been implemented since the period of the initial allegations against City. This has reduced the ripple effects of the City case, regardless of the outcome.
If the original rules were still in effect, a decision heavily against City would raise questions about who might be targeted next in the Premier League and whether everything is fully compliant at other clubs.
Conversely, if the verdict were broadly in City’s favor, it could prompt concerns from clubs outside the Premier League’s top tier about whether the wealthiest clubs can bend rules with impunity.
However, in light of the regulatory changes, rival clubs increasingly view the City case with indifference: ‘Those rules don’t apply anymore, doesn’t really affect us one way or another.’
Nonetheless, the Premier League have spared no expense in demonstrating that they are determined to enforce their financial regulations rigorously. Everton and Nottingham Forest experienced this firsthand in 2023/24. The Premier League’s legal expenditures have accordingly skyrocketed.
This is likely to have strengthened the Premier League’s resolve to penalize City heavily if the panel eventually issues a verdict permitting enforcement — a sentiment reinforced by their involvement in the EFL’s case against Leicester City this week.
Unsurprisingly, after Leicester’s legal team left the Premier League authorities embarrassed in 2024, the top-flight officials — who were informed last season they lacked jurisdiction to impose the sanctions themselves — reportedly pushed for an even stiffer penalty than the six-point deduction Leicester received.
The Telegraph’s John Percy reports that the Premier League had aimed for Leicester to be docked 20 points, which would have placed them squarely in the Championship relegation zone with slim survival prospects. As it stands, they remain outside the bottom three on goal difference. For now, at least.
There has been some speculation that the Premier League might still appeal the decision for being too lenient. (Leicester, for their part, are contesting that their deduction is disproportionately harsh.)
Implications for Manchester City
The Premier League’s stringent approach to the Leicester case may have caused some unease at Manchester City. After all, if the league is willing to impose such a severe penalty for a relatively small number of charges, what sanctions might they consider for the hundreds of charges against City if the commission rules against them?
Should the Premier League’s case succeed, the potential outcomes for City range from fines, points deductions, suspension, expulsion from the division, or a combination thereof. City could even be retroactively stripped of the titles they won during the period in question.
As it stands, however, it remains unclear whether the Premier League’s allegations or City’s denials will prevail on any of the charges, let alone across all 100-plus claims.
Even when a verdict is eventually issued, it is unlikely to be the end of the matter. There remains the possibility — even probability — that one or both parties could appeal the decision to an appeals panel, then arbitration, and potentially through the English legal system. If it proceeded fully, this could involve the High Court, then the Court of Appeal, and possibly even the Supreme Court.
Undoubtedly, there is sound reasoning behind the delay. The most compelling is that, given the potentially lengthy appeals process, the commission wants to ensure its verdict is as robust as possible; publishing findings that could be easily challenged or overturned would serve little purpose.
For those expecting swift justice, the wait continues to grow increasingly tedious.
Jibrin
