Man City Guilty Verdict Explained: Appeal, Sanctions Hearing and Possible Punishments After Premier League Ruling
Manchester City face the most serious crisis in their modern history after an independent commission found the club guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules. The Man City guilty verdict, published on Tuesday, raises one big question: what happens next?
According to the commission, City arranged “sham” contracts with commercial partners to inflate revenues and reduce costs by more than £900 million. It also found that the club filed misstated accounts that hid the true state of its finances, breached both Premier League and UEFA spending limits, and failed to cooperate with the league’s investigation. CBS Sports reported guilt on 114 charges, covering all the financial charges and all but one of those relating to cooperation. The breaches relate to the period between 2009-10 and 2017-18, while the cooperation charges concern the investigation itself.
City have denied wrongdoing throughout. In a statement, the club said it was disappointed and surprised, insisted it is innocent and said a body of irrefutable evidence supports its position. It promised to be relentless in every regulatory and legal forum. ESPN reported that City had known about the verdict since the summer, and chief executive Ferran Soriano declined to answer reporters’ questions.
The first step is an appeal. City have confirmed they will challenge the ruling and have until Friday, October 2, to file. Under Premier League rules, a new three-person commission would hear it. That would end this part of the process, and City cannot take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. They could, however, go to the English High Court and argue that the process was unfair or not impartial.
Punishment is the second step. A separate hearing before the commission will decide sanctions, with the Premier League proposing a penalty and City arguing against it. The date has not been set, though Sky Sports reports the league appears keen to finish the matter this season. The options include fines, points deductions and other sporting sanctions that could apply immediately. The league has no fixed sanctions for financial breaches, because clubs feared that set penalties would let rule-breakers simply accept the price.
Past cases offer limited guidance. Everton lost six points on appeal in 2023-24 and a further two for later breaches, Nottingham Forest lost four, Luton lost 30 in 2008-09 and Derby lost 21 in 2021-22. Relegation would happen only if a points penalty were large enough. Expulsion from the league is a separate and more extreme outcome, and would leave City to apply to the Football Association to re-enter the pyramid, most likely at League Two under EFL rules, subject to a vote of member clubs.
Legal trouble may extend beyond the league. ESPN reports that a number of Premier League clubs have filed documents reserving the right to seek compensation from City in the courts if the club is found guilty, citing lost trophies and Champions League places.
Fans and rivals have been vocal, some calling for titles to be stripped. Nothing of that kind has been decided. The appeal and the sanctions hearing will determine how far the consequences go.
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