Ex-City chairman says £440m summer spend makes 'mockery' of Premier League charges

Former Manchester City chairman David Bernstein has publicly condemned the club’s £440million summer transfer spend, arguing it exposes the futility of Premier League financial regulation while 115 charges against City remain without a verdict.

Bernstein, 83, who also served as FA chairman between 2011 and 2013, made his remarks in the Sunday Times as frustration grows across the game over the pace of the independent commission’s deliberations. City were charged with 115 breaches of Premier League financial rules in February 2023. A 12-week hearing concluded in December 2024, but the commission has yet to publish its ruling.

“The fact they have done this against the background of the 115 Premier League charges is extraordinary and makes a mockery of regulation in England’s top division, supposedly the best-run league in the world,” Bernstein wrote.

City’s summer business included a £125m outlay on Enzo Fernandez — equalling the British transfer record — alongside the £116m signing of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest and an £86m deal for Ayyoub Bouaddi. The club have strongly denied all allegations.

Bernstein also questioned the Premier League’s decision to pursue all 115 alleged offences simultaneously, suggesting a more targeted approach would have been more practical. “Why the league decided to prosecute all 115 alleged offences is a mystery to me,” he wrote. “Surely common sense would point to simplifying the process by taking a handful of the bigger, clearer issues and pursuing these as specimen cases.”

He added: “Justice delayed is justice denied, and the longer this process is drawn out, the more the resulting implications and challenges are compounded.”

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has acknowledged the verdict has taken longer than anticipated, though he has stressed that the independent process must be allowed to reach its natural conclusion. “The process is the process. It will resolve itself,” Masters said. “I literally can’t say a thing about it. There’s only one available option, which is to allow the process to reach its natural conclusion.”

Masters also sought to play down suggestions of widespread unrest among clubs, saying the case was not dominating boardroom conversations to the degree that online commentary might imply.