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LONDON. — Members of the English Premier League football’s “Big Six” are reportedly pushing hardest to see Manchester City handed the severest punishment for breaching more than 100 financial rules.
In a bombshell announcement on Monday, the English Premier League charged City with more than 100 financial rule breaches.
Should Man City be found guilty, they face a range of potential sanctions including a points deduction or even an expulsion — though it could take years to come to a conclusion. The report adds there is a growing sentiment that the retrospective action of stripping City’s titles is “meaningless” and a fine is “not likely to have much of an effect”.
And English Premier League rivals are demanding Manchester City are RELEGATED if found guilty of a staggering 100-plus breaches of FFP rules.
The Etihad outfit were left stunned as top-flight chiefs dumped the unprecedented charges after a four-year probe into the club’s financial affairs.
City were accused of a series of financial dodges between 2009 and 2018 including:
Hiding the true source of the club’s funding
Declaring only part of salaries to players and former boss Roberto Mancini
Breaching Uefa AND Premier League financial fair play regulations.
Deliberately obstructing the English Premier League investigation since it was opened in December 2018, including during this season. And while angry City insisted they would be “vindicated”, English Premier League clubs are demanding blood and a swift verdict AND punishment before the end of the season.
One club chief said: “If these charges are proven there must be proper punishment — and the only fitting one is for them to be relegated.
“We’re talking about a decade of alleged abuses and want the Premier League to do the right thing.”
The decision to bring 30 charges detailing 115 alleged breaches of regulations — and signed off by the League board including chief executive Richard Masters — came out of the sky blue for City chiefs who only knew it was coming in a telephone call to chief executive Ferran Soriano from English Premier League bosses, timed to coincide with the public release.
Of the allegations, the biggest group accused City of failing to provide “accurate financial information” giving a “true and fair” picture of the club’s financial picture between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.
City are accused of obscuring the true source of millions of pounds in revenues.
That money, claimed to have been legitimate sponsorship earnings from Gulf-based companies including Etihad Airways and investment giants Aabar is alleged to have actually directly from the club’s owners, Abu Dhabi United Group. — The Sun/Mailonline
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