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?
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00:00Hello everyone, Adam here again from 442.
00:09Now if I said the number to you, 115, what would you think of?
00:15Maybe 10 years ago you'd have thought of Element 115, I think that was a thing, but it's probably
00:21Manchester City now isn't it, so that's what we're going to talk about today.
00:25So firstly I feel like before we talk about the 115 charges, it's important to have a
00:29little bit of a history lesson, obviously you know Manchester City are rich, they were
00:34taken over, but a bit of a history lesson into their financial misdemeanours and what's
00:39happened in the past with them and other governing bodies.
00:42So of course they were bought by Sheikh Mansour and the Adog consortium in 2008 which is really
00:48where the spending started, and then the trophies came up until 2014 when UEFA fined Manchester
00:55City as well as 8 other football clubs for breaching financial rules, Manchester City
01:00got fined £60m, paid it, yet did not admit that they had any wrongdoing at all, so they
01:08were adamant that they were on the best behaviour, didn't do anything wrong, but they did pay
01:12the fine to UEFA of £60m, that was in 2014.
01:17And then in 2018 Der Spiegel, the German newspaper reported email leaks from within Manchester
01:22City and from those email leaks Der Spiegel stated that and I quote, the club's newfound
01:28glory years are rooted in lies.
01:31Der Spiegel reported that basically City inflated their sponsorship deals so that they could
01:36spend more money whilst appearing to UEFA and other people like they were spending within
01:41cheque and keeping everything clean.
01:44So as a result UEFA investigated this internally and as a result of that investigation they
01:49banned Manchester City from the Champions League for two years.
01:53City then appealed this as we all know to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in which
01:57they were then found not guilty and exonerated and let back into the Champions League which
02:02takes us up to now where the Premier League have dumped 115 allegations on Manchester
02:08City's head.
02:09So what are Manchester City's charges you ask?
02:11Well I'm obviously not going to read out a list this big of all of them because that
02:15would be very time consuming and they're all fairly samey samey they're all to do with
02:20financial mismanagement but the basis of most of them is there's allegations that City have
02:25failed to fully report financial reports at the end of each year particularly in relation
02:29to revenue.
02:31There is also allegations that City have failed to disclose player salaries and how those
02:35players are paid you know whether that be with offshore payments or you know in-house
02:40things they've they've failed to disclose the full way that they they pay the wages
02:43of their players effectively and that they have failed to cooperate with the Premier
02:48League's internal investigation so a bit of an extra slap on the wrist there for that
02:52one as well they failed to cooperate with the Premier League which UEFA also accused
02:56them of two or three years ago apparently they failed to cooperate with UEFA as well
03:01so there is that too.
03:02Now it's important to note that none of these 115 allegations actually have any evidence
03:07pinned to them yet in the public domain so there's nothing visible that anyone can go
03:10online and read that is you know cast iron that has been presented to court to the independent
03:16commission it's all up in the air and it's all allegations at the moment there's no hard
03:21evidence as it stands now and the burden of proof lies on the Premier League at the moment.
03:26So why is it taking so long when Everton have just been punished like that?
03:30Well because Everton have one charge City had 115 the cases in terms of magnitude just
03:35don't stack up City's case is absolutely huge there's going to be so many more moving parts
03:40experts witnesses statements documents things like that in this case that it's just going
03:47to take so long and when you consider the fact that Everton's case that has just gone
03:51was in court a 28,000 page document that was for one charge if you do the maths on that
03:5728,000 times 115 it's a lot it's going to take a lot of reading and a lot of getting
04:02through it's going to be time consuming so that's why the date scheduled is roughly 2025
04:08when we're going to get a verdict and a decision on this whole thing.
04:11So what is the real difference between the Man City charges and the Everton charge?
04:15Well the main thing is that Everton actually had an admission of guilt they admitted that
04:19they did do what they were accused of so what they were accused of was breaching the Premier
04:24League's profitability and sustainability guidelines for three seasons throughout the
04:30pandemic ending in the 2021-2022 season so basically the maximum loss is allowed in that
04:37period were 105 million to which Everton exceeded because they had to sort of rejig
04:42their finances with the pandemic they changed the way that they structured their youth development
04:47program for instance and that's really why they've been slapped on the wrist and the
04:51independent commission deemed Everton to have had an unfair sporting advantage so Everton
04:58went yep we do so that's kind of what happened but I think Everton may well appeal it now
05:03because they feel they've been hard done by but that's that's a separate discussion but
05:07the admission of guilt really is the difference between this case and Man City's 115 charges
05:14if you think about it in very simple terms like let's say there's two court hearings
05:18for separate burglars and they've burgled two different houses but burglar A is Man
05:23City burglar B is Everton and burglar B has gone yeah I actually did rob that house your
05:28honour well that court hearing is going to be a lot quicker because not as much evidence
05:32is needed to prosecute burglar B who has said that he's he's done it whereas burglar
05:38A is standing firm so you've got to find the evidence to prove that he did that's kind
05:41of how it is but 115 charges as opposed to one so a lot more paperwork as well so what
05:47might happen that is the big question really isn't it well nobody really knows but you
05:51can assume given that Everton seemingly been made an example of with a 10 point deduction
05:55for one charge that the Manchester City punishment and possibly the Chelsea one as well if that
06:01happens will be draconian I don't think it will be a case of you know if it's 115 charges
06:07then City will be dot 1,150 points I don't really think that's how it's going to work
06:11otherwise I'd be having a kick about at Sunday League with Haaland if that's if they fell
06:16that low it's not going to be that bad but a relegation and huge points deductions massive
06:21fines seem like a real possibility if City are charged the main issue I think with all
06:26this is timing and let me explain why so there's no definitive date on when the decision is
06:31going to be made by the Independent Commission with Man City yet they assume it's going to
06:34be 2025 but they don't know exactly when so let's say that I don't know for example at
06:40the end of the 24-25 season so in like June 2025 that's when Manchester City are accused
06:48of this and charged let's say they're docked 100 points or relegated to League One or something
06:52like that City would then obviously appeal this and then they'd be going into the new
06:56season playing in League One problem is then with an appeal that might get heard in October
07:01November December in 2025 and the verdict will be reached from the appeal to which then
07:07you'd have to restructure the whole English pyramid if Manchester City then got away with
07:11it so it's going to be a tricky one to punish them very harshly because of the restructuring
07:15of English football that's going to need to take place and the fact that if they are charged
07:19that's not the be all and end all because City may well appeal it and be able to overturn
07:24that after the punishment has been issued if you understand what I'm saying so it could
07:28cause some real problems for other clubs if City are punished so severely as and when
07:33it happens it'd be also interesting to see what happened really if this this punishment
07:38was brandished mid-season to City and they were sort of on like minus 80 points mid-season
07:43it'd be like watching 11 of the best players in the world play the most futile football
07:47ever because it's nothing to play for so yeah it's going to be interesting City will appeal
07:52it if they are deemed guilty and then that's going to cause a whole different problem for
07:57the EFL for everyone really involved in English football because of the restructuring that
08:01may have to take place and the fact that they may have to restructure it and then go back
08:05on that restructuring depending on the appeal it's very very convoluted what what could
08:09end up happening in a couple years time but for now we do not know do we we're just going
08:13to have to wait and see I'm sure this story is going to come up time and time again in
08:17the months going by leading up to 2025 and I'm sure more evidence will be presented as
08:22time progresses but as of now there isn't on it's purely purely allegations so we'll
08:27have to wait and see but you can let me know in the comments what you think either Manchester
08:31City deserve whether Everton were treated too harshly and made an example of what you
08:35think of FFP you know as a as an introductory thing that came in 10 years ago I think it
08:41was in there to kind of keep the status quo at the top of the game those teams that make
08:45revenue from their past successes and try and stifle new teams from prospering really
08:51with new investors it's to kind of keep them at bay at the time that's my take on it but
08:55you can let me know what you think about all those things regardless don't forget to subscribe
08:59I've been Adam I hope you had a very lovely day and I'll see you very soon goodbye