Online Reporter
Two senior executives at different top-level Premier League clubs have told Sky Sports News they would be “staggered” and “amazed” if 15 clubs were prepared to vote to expel Manchester City from the league, with such a move akin to a “self-inflicted commercial disaster”.
Expulsion is one of several punishments available to the independent commission, which earlier this week found Man City guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them over alleged financial mismanagement. Other potential sanctions include a fine, a points deduction and/or a transfer embargo.
Man City remain adamant they are innocent and have vowed to fight the judgement.
Sky Sports News has been told discussions remain ongoing within, and between, the bosses of other clubs in the Premier League about how they might react to developments, with a number of them considering their own legal positions in terms of a possible financial claim against Man City.
But in a new and surprising development, we have been told that many rival clubs consider Man City such a key part of the commercial attraction of the Premier League, both in the UK and globally, that if rival clubs voted to expel them, it would be as if those clubs were “cutting off their noses to spite their faces”.
“If Man City were expelled, that would have massive commercial consequences for everyone in the league, and ultimately it would cost the other clubs an awful lot of money,” one executive, who didn’t want to be named, told Sky Sports News.
He went on to explain that, should such a decision come during this or next season, it would mean only 19 clubs playing the remaining fixtures, with broadcasters in the UK and abroad likely to seek refunds due to the reduction in the number and attractiveness of the games they had paid to televise.
Sponsorship and other corporate sources of funding might well be reduced across the board if the most dominant club in English football in the last two decades were no longer playing in the Premier League.
Similarly, expulsion would bring the futures of stars like Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and more into question, which would further risk the commercial attractiveness of the Premier League and, according to one source, would make expulsion “a risk not worth taking”.
A further issue could be the uncertainty created by top clubs deciding to go against the recommended sanction laid out by the independent commission.
It’s thought there is a counter-feeling among some top clubs that Manchester City remaining in the Premier League would be damaging to the brand and integrity of the competition, and that an extended period outside the top flight for City, even though it would lead to short-term financial pain, is necessary to maintain the league’s global image for the future.
The differences of opinion within Premier League clubs will not affect the independent commission’s decision, but it could be a factor if the clubs are forced to vote on City’s possible expulsion.
If that commission were to recommend City be expelled, and then the Premier League clubs voted against such a move, it is unprecedented and unknown what — if any — punishment could then be brought against City.
— Sky Sports.
