Man City warned of historic 100-point deduction in 115-charge FFP case – with finance expert telling Premier League champions they could be ‘heading out of the division’

The reigning Premier League champions, who have captured that title in each of the last four seasons, are about to see their protracted Financial Fair Play case heard. Proceedings are set to open on Monday, before being wrapped up by the end of the calendar year.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  City face accusations of breaching financial regulations over the course of a nine-year period from 2009, with various punishments being speculated on if they are found guilty of monetary mismanagement. Those range from fines to demotion out of the English top-flight.

  • WHAT FINANCE EXPERT SAID

    Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has told talkSPORT of the possible consequences for City if all of the charges brought against them hold up in a legal battle: “It can’t be a financial punishment, that would make everybody think the whole thing was a waste of time. If you take a look at the hearing at both Everton and Nottingham Forest, the commissions both said this is a minor breach of the rules.

    “Now if the allegations against Manchester City are proven, that surely has to be a major breach of the rules, effectively that the club misrepresented the money coming into the club, the club have also been accused of disguising payments to players and managers through third-parties, effectively being paid offshore via Abu Dhabi for services provided by members of staff. That is also completely against the rules one would think, although it could be that it’s within the Premier League rules so we would have to be looking at a very significant points deduction.

    “If all 115 charges are proven, then you would imagine the points deduction would be somewhere in the region of 60-100 points on the basis that they would want the club to suffer enough to be heading out of the division.”

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    WHAT NEXT?

    City have maintained their innocence throughout and continue to fight the FFP case in a bid to clear their name. Any appeals against punishments that are handed out by the Premier League would see the matter drag on into 2025. If they were to be removed from the Premier League, then the Blues would find themselves outside of the top tier for the first time since 2001-02.