The Premier League’s statement on what could change the landscape of English football over the next few years was just 736 words, little intelligibility, but plenty of paragraphs. It was sandwiched between articles about Harry Kane’s goal, coverage of Sean Dyche’s successful Everton debut and some advice for Fantasy Premier League players. But it still managed to set fire to all the sports services in England, which published the first texts at the same time as the courier rang at the Manchester City offices.
Reportedly, the directors of the club had no leaks and did not expect such an important shipment from the league authorities that day. The Premier League has accused City of 115 breaches of league rules. There are four areas: providing false and unreliable information about the club’s financial situation, failure to take into account all details of players’ and coaches’ salaries, violation of national and European rules of financial fair play and lack of cooperation and assistance with the investigation. From leaks, we know that it can walk m. for hiding part of Roberto Mancini’s earnings in the form of sponsorship deals and illegal transfer of part of the salary to Yaya Toure’s agent.
There has never been anything like it in English football before. The various allegations cover a total of thirteen seasons, starting in 2009-10, in which Manchester City won the Premier League and the FA Cup six times and the FA Cup twice. He has played in the Champions League in each of the last eleven seasons. Today, he has a £1bn squad and a coach who warned in 2022 that he would leave if his club was found to be involved in financial scams. The case comes out just after the close of the transfer window, in which only English clubs raged. Even those struggling for relegation spent tens of millions of euros on new players, which was met with statements from directors from other leagues that English teams benefit from financial doping. Moreover, it is a club managed by the state – United Arab Emirates. Lagging behind is the introduction of an independent regulator to control the finances of the Premier League and the frozen Super League which City originally joined.
This is not a repeat of 2022. Manchester City will be harder to get away with
The case differs from the 2020 UEFA trial, when Manchester City were banned from the Champions League for two years and fined €30m for financial irregularities, but successfully appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. Three referees said then that UEFA could not prove some of the allegations, and others had expired. However, there is no time frame for the Premier League trial and there is no appeal to the Lausanne Tribunal. In addition, UEFA has much stricter restrictions on where evidence in a case may come from and rejects all that does not have legitimate sources. The Premier League manual allows them. Both cases have in common that they started with information from “football leaks” in 2018 and high-profile publications in “Der Spiegel”.
A three-man commission is now to be set up to investigate the case, look into the Premier League allegations, question Manchester City representatives and deliver a verdict. At least one of its members must be a financial expert. Hearings will be secret and will take place without the presence of the other party. There is no timeframe for when a decision must be made, and independent British lawyers argue that the only thing that is certain about the whole thing is that it will take a long time. Probably – a couple of months.
The commission – in accordance with the league’s internal rules – can impose a fine on City, it can take away points won in the current season, impose a spending cap, ban the purchase of new players, take away trophies won in recent years, and even demote it to a lower league. We also read that the commission may apply “any combination of penalties or any other penalty it deems appropriate”. For the time being, experts avoid predicting what this case may end up with, but they emphasize that there has never been a case in the world of football with more than a hundred such serious allegations. If the majority can be proven, the sentence will be severe.
– This case was like a meeting of the knockout stage of the Champions League – said Dr. Jakub Laskowski, lawyer of Legia Warszawa, arbitrator of the Football Court of Arbitration of PZPN and CAS after the last such high-profile trial against City. – Excellent arbitrators and lawyers paid like footballers. Manchester City showed that not only on the pitch is a very strong team. In the first CAS judgment in this case in 2019, when the arbitrators rejected the Manchester club’s appeal as premature, they were represented at the hearing by 8 well-known and experienced lawyers from renowned UK and Swiss law firms, with a legal team working on the case of over 20 people – he said. Now City’s legal team should be just as strong.
Pep Guardiola warned last year. “If you deceive me, I will leave the next day”
“Manchester City is surprised by the allegation of alleged breaches of Premier League rules, particularly given the extensive involvement and the vast amount of detailed material that has been provided to the EPL. that exist to support our position, and therefore we expect this matter to be settled once and for all,” the club said in a statement.
The Premier League has been investigating Manchester City’s suspicious activities for the past four years. The source of suspicion was “football leaks”, which the club has seen for years as an organized campaign against itself and one of many attempts to harm it. English experts also note that Premier League clubs are at war and the league authorities may have acted under pressure from City’s rivals. Eight clubs – Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, Leicester City, Wolverhampton, Newcastle United – signed a letter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in March 2020 to argue for the exclusion of Pep Guardiola’s team from the Champions League.
The coach himself said in May 2022: – When the board is accused of something, I ask them to explain and I trust them. But be warned, if they lie to me, I won’t be here the next day. I will leave and we won’t be friends anymore. The directors at Manchester City are two of his friends with whom he has already worked at FC Barcelona – Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain. It is not known how Guardiola will react. He will most likely talk about it during a press conference on Friday.
Source: Sport.PL
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
