Manchester City 'found guilty' on 114 of 115 Premier League charges: Every possible punishment explained

Manchester City have reportedly been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League for alleged financial rule breaches dating back to 2009.

The reported decision arrives more than three-and-a-half years after the charges were formally filed in February 2023 and almost eight years after the Premier League's investigation into City's finances began.

This is the most extensive financial regulatory case in Premier League history, involving far more alleged breaches and a much longer period than the recent cases involving Everton and Nottingham Forest.

No punishment has been confirmed yet, with City expected to appeal against the findings in the coming weeks.

With that in mind, Sports Mole explains what City were charged with and looks at the punishments the Premier League could still hand down.

© Iconsport / PA Images

Every one of Manchester City's 115 charges explained

The 115 charges cover a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018 and are split into five categories, with the biggest group consisting of 54 allegations that City failed to provide accurate financial information, including details relating to revenue, sponsorship revenue, related parties and operating costs.

A further 14 charges concern payments to managers and players, including details surrounding Roberto Mancini's contract during his time at the Etihad Stadium, while seven relate to alleged breaches of the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules between the 2015-16 and 2017-18 seasons.

Five charges concern alleged breaches of UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations between 2013-14 and 2017-18, while the remaining 35 allegations concern City's alleged failure to cooperate with the Premier League's investigation between December 2018 and February 2023.

City have denied any wrongdoing throughout the process, with the club stating that the matter "remains ongoing" and that "significant elements" are still to be completed, with sanctions yet to be determined.

How could Manchester City be punished for 115 charges?

With no punishment decided yet, the timetable for the sanctioning process remains unclear.

A reprimand is technically among the sanctions available to the commission, although the Premier League rules do not prescribe a fixed punishment for financial breaches.

An unlimited fine is another option, with Rule W.51 allowing a commission to impose any sum it considers appropriate, meaning City could potentially face a bill running into tens of millions of pounds.

Meanwhile, a points deduction is one of the main sporting sanctions under discussion, with football finance expert Kieran Maguire previously suggesting a penalty of between 40 and 60 points if City were found liable for a substantial proportion of the allegations.

Stripping City of any of the three Premier League titles they won during the period covered by the charges would be a much more complicated matter, with sports lawyers previously noting that panels are generally reluctant to change results long after a season has finished.

The commission could also impose a transfer ban covering one or more windows, with UEFA having used similar sanctions in previous Financial Fair Play cases.

Expulsion from the Premier League would be the most severe sanction expressly contemplated by the rules, although the consequences for City's subsequent league status would involve separate considerations.

Rule W.51.7 also gives the commission the power to combine punishments or make "such other order as it thinks fit", leaving the door open to a package involving a fine, points deduction and transfer restrictions.

© Imago

Comparing Manchester City's 115 charges with previous cases and punishments

Previous cases also show that sanctions do not necessarily scale directly with the size of a financial breach. 

Nottingham’s PSR excess was almost twice that of Everton in their first case, though Forest received less than half the points deduction, with their early guilty plea and other mitigating factors playing a part in the final decision.

City's case is difficult to compare with either of those examples, although Juventus' 15-point deduction in Italy is perhaps the closest figure available when looking for a previous sporting punishment on this scale.

That case, however, centred on false accounting and inflated transfer fees over several seasons rather than 114 upheld charges covering nine years and five different areas of alleged wrongdoing.

City have also been through a major financial case with UEFA before, seeing a two-season Champions League ban overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020 after the panel found that much of the evidence relied upon was too old to be used.

The Premier League's rules do not contain the same time limit, so City cannot rely on that particular argument this time, although the 2020 case does show how significantly a punishment can change once an appeal has been heard.

There is still no straightforward way to know what the final sanction will look like, particularly because the Premier League rules give the independent commission wide discretion rather than prescribing a fixed punishment for financial breaches.

A points deduction is one possibility, with football finance expert Kieran Maguire previously suggesting a penalty of between 40 and 60 points if City were found liable for a substantial proportion of the allegations.

At the same time, the length of the case and the appeal that is likely to follow any punishment mean that the final outcome could look very different from the commission's first decision by the time the matter is finally settled.