The current Premier League champions, Manchester City, have been charged with breaking financial regulations for more than 10 years and it could see the club face expulsion from England’s top-flight league.
Since 2008 — the year the blue side of Manchester was taken over by its current owner of Sheikh Mansour — City has been one of the most dominant sides in England, while the team has also picked up four Premier League titles over the last five years under its current manager, Pep Guardiola.
The charges, which have been released by the Premier League this morning, have been outlined as “unprecedented” and they accuse the club of repeatedly failing to provide accurate financial information. In addition, the Cityzens have also been accused of not disclosing contractual payments and failing to cooperate with Premier League investigators.
With this in mind, a spokesperson on behalf of Manchester City said: “Manchester City F.C. is surprised by the issuing of these alleged breaches of the Premier League rules, particularly given the extensive engagement and vast amount of detailed materials that the EPL has been provided with.
“The club welcomes the review of this matter by an independent commission, to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in the support of its position. As such, we look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all.”
The current accusations date back to 2009, a year after the club’s takeover by the brother of the ruler of Abu Dhabi which lead to an incredibly quick turnaround of both financial spending and success. During this period, there have been reoccurring suspicions about City’s financial spending on both transfers and wages by the Premier League and also Europe’s football governing body, UEFA.
In 2020, UEFA banned Manchester City from the Champions League for two years for financial rules violations, however, the club appealed the decision and had the ban overturned. But, unlike UEFA, the Premier League does not have a statute of limitations in its regulations. Additionally, Manchester City will not be able to appeal the chargers either, due to the current rules stated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Man City latest: under Premier League rules the club will not be able to appeal any sanction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (which overturned the UEFA ban)
— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) February 6, 2023
The sheer scale of the wrongdoing Manchester City has been accused of has never been seen before and no previous investigation has lasted as long as this current case against the current Premier League champions.
In other sports news, the Brooklyn Nets have traded Kyrie Irving.
