Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges relating to serious Premier League financial-rule breaches over nine seasons, with a separate hearing still required to decide any sanction.
The Premier League published the independent commission’s findings on 29 September. They cover the period from 2009-10 to 2017-18 and also uphold the majority of allegations that City failed to co-operate with the league’s investigation.
City have rejected the findings, maintained that they are innocent of the accusations and said they will use the appeal routes available to them. The club have until 2 October to exercise that right, according to the Premier League’s published statement.
Commission findings concern revenue, costs and accounts
According to the Premier League’s account of the commission’s core decision, City arranged and relied on sham agreements with commercial partners. The commission found that these arrangements misrepresented the real agreements between the parties and were used to inflate the club’s recorded revenue and reduce its costs.
The league said the arrangements were part of a disguised funding scheme in which sponsors were required to pay only part of stated fees, with the remainder funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd, which owned the club during the period concerned.
The commission found that the schemes had the effect of increasing revenue and reducing costs by more than £900m across the affected period, so that the club appeared to comply with financial rules. It also found that City filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of their finances from auditors and football regulators.
The findings further state that City significantly breached both Premier League and UEFA spending limits. The commission concluded that, if the relevant agreements had been accurately reported, the club would have exceeded those limits by a very substantial amount.
On the co-operation allegations, the Premier League said three of the four alleged breaches were upheld. The commission found that City had made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the league investigation, which the published account said involved duties of co-operation and utmost good faith.
Those conclusions are the independent commission’s findings, rather than City’s accepted account of events. In its response, City said the published opinion contained material errors of law, principle and fact, and was unsafe. The club said it had evidence supporting its positions and that significant elements of the process remained incomplete.
Appeal and sanction stages remain unresolved
No punishment has been imposed or announced. The Premier League said sanction will be addressed at a further hearing before the independent commission after the charges were proved.
That hearing will be private and confidential under Premier League rules until publication of an outcome is permitted. The league said its board intended for the full process, including any appeals and publication of relevant decisions, to conclude as soon as possible.
Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive, described the disciplinary case and decision as the most significant in the competition’s history. He said the core decision established the facts of what happened at City during the period and supported the league’s decision to pursue the case.
Masters also said the league’s responsibility was to uphold rules approved by its clubs in order to protect a competition that is competitive and fair. That is the league chief executive’s assessment; the immediate practical position is that City’s appeal option and the separate sanctions process have yet to run their course.