Manchester City
BREAKING: The latest update on The 115 charges against Manchester City are a mystery. The question of FFP, to which no one is willing to accept the answer
When people talk about Financial Fair Play and Manchester City’s Premier League charges, the name of the team is always brought up.
Three people from different countries walk into a bar. “But what about man city???!” they all scream at the same time, then pass out from anger.
When there is news about Financial Fair Play or the Profitability & Sustainability Rules (PSR) that do the same thing in the Premier League, a lot of people get very angry about Manchester City. “What about Man City?” is asked a thousand times on the internet every time a club is charged or fined.
It’s too bad that people who are interested in City rarely end up finding out the answers on their own. So, here is a quick rundown of what City is being charged of and how their case is different from most others.
It’s too bad that people who are interested in City rarely end up finding out the answers on their own. So, here is a quick rundown of what City is being charged of and how their case is different from most others.
There are claims that they didn’t help with the Premier League probe, didn’t follow PSR rules, and, most seriously, for nine seasons they didn’t really give honest information about their finances. These are very hurtful accusations that would lead to very harsh punishments if proven (which is a big if).
Why did it take so long?
Since City was charged in February 2023, the whole process might take more than two years to finish. That seems like a long time, and Pep Guardiola is one of many people who would like it to be over sooner.
But because there are so many charges and they are so difficult, and because the hearing will have such huge effects, there needs to be time to do everything right. At the time, football business expert Kieran Maguire told the Manchester Evening News, “The Premier League is hurting itself.” For every charge, you need time to prepare a defense for each one.
City hasn’t “gotten away with it,” but their day of punishment is coming later because things are so much more complicated. The hearing starts in September 2024, and Premier League CEO Richard Masters can’t say for sure what the decision will be. The hope is that the hearing, any possible challenges, and the decision will be made by the end of the 2024–25 season.
Why do people treat City differently than other teams?
Some teams, like Everton, Nottingham Forest, and Leicester, are treated differently than City because their situations are so different. City is not so much denying multiple murder charges as they are saying there is no victim. On the other hand, both Everton and Forest have admitted to breaches, but they think the reasons they gave are enough to keep them from getting harsh punishments.
Richard Masters, the CEO of the Premier League, told a select committee, “They are very different charges.” These two clubs would be in the same situation if they were found to have broken the spending rules for the year 23. It doesn’t matter if they are the current winners or not.
“The charges brought against Man City, which I am not allowed to talk about at all, are being heard in a completely different setting.” The hearing has been set for a certain date.
What happened with Leicester? Does it have anything to do with City?
It’s hard to say if Leicester will be important to City because the panel is independent, but their case is at least more important than Everton and Forest’s because the Foxes are fighting the charges against them instead of just giving reasons for mitigation.
On September 3, it was reported that a panel agreed with Leicester’s claim that the Premier League couldn’t punish them for breaking the PSR because their last set of accounts for the three-year cycle was turned in a month after they were relegated.
Even though this might seem like a small point, the laws need to be clear, and Leicester said that they “simply sought to ensure that the rules are applied based on how they are actually written.” That could have effects on City. Stefan Borson, a football finance expert, has said that charges for extra payments to Roberto Mancini don’t always match up with how the rules were written at the time.
The image of the Premier League has been hurt by Leicester’s win, which is not a legal matter. There is nothing more at stake in City’s case than this.
But why not deal with City first?
That being said, this is a fair thought that doesn’t fit with what the clubs have already decided. The Premier League AGM in 2023 agreed to make changes to the rules that would speed up simple cases. Everton, Nottingham Forest, and the other teams agreed to these changes.
This meant that standard rules were made for how to handle PSR cases during the season where the violations happened. This way, everyone can be sure that no one got away with an unfair competitive edge.
City’s breaches happened in the past and have been ignored, so they are not simple. For all of the above reasons, work is being done on the case at the same time as other cases. It just takes longer.
That means City are getting away with it, right?
If it turns out that they broke PSR and lied about their finances all the time, they will have had an unfair edge over their competitors for years. That’s why, if the Premier League proves the case, the punishment will be more like being kicked out of the league than losing a few points.
Meanwhile, the most serious charges are so strong that there will have to be a lot of proof to back them up. In an article for the International Sports Law Review, Dr. Dan Plumley and Dr. Gregory Ioannidis say, “It would not be good enough for the Premier League to say that Manchester City did not cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation.”
“The Premier League would have to go further and show that Manchester City either didn’t provide accurate financial information about their income or lied about it, as required by current rules.” The Premier League has a lot to deal with here. That being said, it shouldn’t be easy because the accusations are very serious.
Even though it’s not perfect, everyone agreed to use it after all.
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