Why Man City's 115 Charges Could See Them Kicked Out Of The Premier League
Manchester City have been accused of 115 breaches of the Premier League's rules. In light of Everton's points deduction though, the spotlight has again fallen over Pep Guardiola's club as their investigation rumbles on without a conclusion in sight. But why is that, when can fans expect a resolution, and just how much trouble might City actually be in?
Transcript
00:00 Hello everyone, Adam here again from 442.
00:09 Now if I said the number to you, 115, what would you think of?
00:15 Maybe 10 years ago you'd have thought of Element 115, I think that was a thing.
00:20 But it's probably Manchester City now isn't it, so that's what we're going to talk about
00:24 today.
00:25 Firstly, I feel like before we talk about the 115 charges, it's important to have a
00:29 little bit of a history lesson.
00:32 Obviously you know Manchester City are rich, they were taken over, but a bit of a history
00:36 lesson into their financial misdemeanours and what's happened in the past with them
00:41 and other governing bodies.
00:42 So of course they were bought by Sheikh Mansour and the A-Dub consortium in 2008, which is
00:47 really where the spending started, and then the trophies came up until 2014 when UEFA
00:54 fined Manchester City as well as 8 other football clubs for breaching financial rules.
01:00 Manchester City got fined £60m, paid it, yet did not admit that they had any wrongdoing
01:07 at all.
01:08 So they were adamant that they were on the best behaviour, didn't do anything wrong,
01:11 but they did pay the fine to UEFA of £60m.
01:14 That was in 2014.
01:17 And then in 2018, Der Spiegel, the German newspaper, reported email leaks from within
01:22 Manchester City, and from those email leaks Der Spiegel stated that, and I quote, "The
01:28 club's newfound glory years are rooted in lies."
01:31 Der Spiegel reported that basically City inflated their sponsorship deals so that they could
01:36 spend more money whilst appearing to UEFA and other people like they were spending within
01:41 cheque and keeping everything clean.
01:44 So as a result, UEFA investigated this internally and as a result of that investigation, they
01:49 banned Manchester City from the Champions League for two years.
01:53 City then appealed this, as we all know, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in which
01:57 they were then found not guilty and exonerated and let back into the Champions League, which
02:02 takes us up to now, where the Premier League have dumped 115 allegations on Manchester
02:08 City's head.
02:09 So what are Manchester City's charges, you ask?
02:11 Well, I'm obviously not going to read out a list this big of all of them because that
02:15 would be very time consuming and they're all fairly samey samey.
02:19 They're all to do with financial mismanagement, but the basis of most of them is there's allegations
02:24 that City have failed to fully report financial reports at the end of each year, particularly
02:29 in relation to revenue.
02:31 There is also allegations that City have failed to disclose player salaries and how those
02:35 players are paid, you know, whether that be with offshore payments or, you know, in-house
02:40 things.
02:41 So they've failed to disclose the full way that they pay the wages of their players,
02:44 effectively, and that they have failed to cooperate with the Premier League's internal
02:49 investigation.
02:50 So a bit of an extra slap on the wrist there for that one as well.
02:53 They failed to cooperate with the Premier League, which UEFA also accused them of two
02:58 or three years ago.
02:59 Apparently they failed to cooperate with UEFA as well.
03:01 So there is that too.
03:02 Now, it's important to note that none of these 115 allegations actually have any evidence
03:06 pinned to them yet in the public domain.
03:09 So there's nothing visible that anyone can go online and read that is, you know, cast
03:14 iron that has been presented to court, to the independent commission.
03:17 It's all up in the air and it's all allegations at the moment.
03:20 There's no hard evidence as it stands now.
03:23 And the burden of proof lies on the Premier League at the moment.
03:26 So why is it taking so long when Everton have just been punished like that?
03:30 Well, because Everton have one charge, City had 115.
03:34 The cases in terms of magnitude just don't stack up.
03:36 City's case is absolutely huge.
03:38 There's going to be so many more moving parts, experts, witnesses, statements, documents,
03:43 things like that in this case that it's just going to take so long.
03:47 And when you consider the fact that Everton's case that has just gone was in court a 28,000
03:53 page document that was for one charge.
03:56 If you do the maths on that 28,000 times 115, it's a lot.
04:00 It's going to take a lot of reading and a lot of getting through.
04:03 It's going to be time consuming.
04:04 So that's why the date scheduled is roughly 2025 when we're going to get a verdict and
04:09 the decision on this whole thing.
04:11 So what is the real difference between the Man City charges and the Everton charge?
04:15 Well, the main thing is that Everton actually had an admission of guilt.
04:18 They admitted that they did do what they were accused of.
04:21 So what they were accused of was breaching the Premier League's profitability and sustainability
04:27 guidelines for three seasons throughout the pandemic, ending in the 2021-2022 season.
04:34 So basically the maximum losses allowed in that period were 105 million, to which Everton
04:40 exceeded because they had to sort of rejig their finances with the pandemic.
04:45 They changed the way that they structured their youth development programme, for instance,
04:48 and that's really why they've been slapped on the wrist.
04:51 And the independent commission deemed Everton to have had an unfair sporting advantage.
04:57 So Everton went, "Yep, we do."
05:00 So that's kind of what happened.
05:01 But I think Everton may well appeal it now because they feel they've been hard done by,
05:05 but that's a separate discussion.
05:07 But the admission of guilt really is the difference between this case and Man City's 115 charges.
05:14 If you think about it in very simple terms, like let's say there's two court hearings
05:18 for separate burglars and they've burgled two different houses, but burglar A is Man
05:23 City, burglar B is Everton, and burglar B has gone, "Yeah, I actually did rob that house,
05:28 Your Honour."
05:29 Well, that court hearing is going to be a lot quicker because not as much evidence is
05:32 needed to prosecute burglar B who has said that he's done it.
05:37 Whereas burglar A is standing firm, so you've got to go find the evidence to prove that
05:40 he did.
05:41 That's kind of how it is.
05:42 But 115 charges as opposed to one, so a lot more paperwork as well.
05:46 So what might happen?
05:47 That is the big question really, isn't it?
05:49 Well, nobody really knows, but you can assume given that Everton seemingly have been made
05:53 an example of with a 10-point deduction for one charge that the Manchester City punishment
05:59 and possibly the Chelsea one as well, if that happens, will be draconian.
06:03 I don't think it will be a case of, you know, if it's 115 charges, then City will be docked
06:08 1,150 points.
06:09 I don't really think that's how it's going to work.
06:12 Otherwise, I'd be having a kick about at Sunday League with Harland if they fell that low.
06:16 It's not going to be that bad.
06:18 But a relegation and huge points deductions, massive fines seem like a real possibility
06:23 if City are charged.
06:25 The main issue I think with all this is timing and let me explain why.
06:28 So there's no definitive date on when the decision is going to be made by the independent
06:32 commission with Man City yet.
06:33 They assume it's going to be 2025, but they don't know exactly when.
06:37 So let's say that, I don't know, for example, at the end of the 24/25 season, so in like
06:44 June 2025, that's when Manchester City are accused of this and charged.
06:49 Let's say they're docked 100 points or relegated to League One or something like that.
06:53 City would then obviously appeal this and then they'd be going into the new season playing
06:57 in League One.
06:58 Problem is then with an appeal that might get heard in October, November, December in
07:02 2025 and the verdict will be reached from the appeal to which then you'd have to restructure
07:08 the whole English pyramid if Manchester City then got away with it.
07:11 So it's going to be a tricky one to punish them very harshly because of the restructuring
07:15 of English football that's going to need to take place.
07:18 And the fact that if they are charged, that's not the be all and end all because City may
07:21 well appeal it and be able to overturn that after the punishment has been issued, if you
07:26 understand what I'm saying.
07:27 So it could cause some real problems for other clubs if City are punished so severely as
07:33 and when it happens.
07:34 It'd be also interesting to see what happened really if this punishment was brandished mid-season
07:39 to City and they were sort of on like minus 80 points mid-season.
07:43 It'd be like watching 11 of the best players in the world play the most futile football
07:47 ever because it's nothing to play for.
07:49 So yeah, it's going to be interesting.
07:52 City will appeal it if they are deemed guilty and then that's going to cause a whole different
07:56 problem for the EFL, for everyone really involved in English football because of the restructuring
08:01 that may have to take place and the fact that they may have to restructure it and then go
08:04 back on that restructuring depending on the appeal.
08:07 It's very, very convoluted what could end up happening in a couple of years time.
08:11 But for now, we do not know, do we?
08:13 We're just going to have to wait and see.
08:14 I'm sure this story is going to come up time and time again in the months going by leading
08:18 up to 2025 and I'm sure more evidence will be presented as time progresses.
08:23 But as of now, there is none.
08:25 It's purely allegations.
08:27 So we'll have to wait and see.
08:28 But you can let me know in the comments what you think either Manchester City deserve, whether
08:32 Everton were treated too harshly and made an example of what you think of FFP as an
08:38 introductory thing that came in 10 years ago.
08:40 I think it was in there to kind of keep the status quo at the top of the game.
08:44 Those teams that make revenue from their past successes and to try and stifle new teams
08:49 from prospering really with new investors.
08:51 It's to kind of keep them at bay at the time.
08:54 That's my take on it.
08:55 But you can let me know what you think about all those things regardless.
08:58 Don't forget to subscribe.
08:59 I've been Adam.
09:00 I hope you've had a very lovely day and I'll see you very soon.
09:04 Goodbye.