Manchester City chairman insists club will prove innocence as guilty verdict on 114 charges looms

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has released a public statement to supporters insisting the club will prove their innocence, after reports on Friday 25 September indicated that an independent commission is expected to find City guilty of 114 of the 115 financial rules charges brought against them by the Premier League.

City have been under investigation since 2023 over the wide-ranging charges, which relate to alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations. No official verdict has been issued, and the Premier League has not commented publicly, with the process described as legally sensitive, private, and confidential.

Nevertheless, the reports prompted Al Mubarak to post a letter directly to supporters on the club’s website. In it, he drew on his 18-year association with the club and acknowledged that fans had spent Friday evening fielding questions from friends and family in the wake of the coverage.

“The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began,” Al Mubarak wrote.

He added that there was much he would like to share to explain the club’s confidence in their position, but that the strict confidentiality of the legal process prevented him from doing so — noting that even the letter itself had undergone several legal checks before publication.

Al Mubarak urged supporters to re-read the club’s statement from Friday as well as the one issued in February 2023 when the charges were first made public, saying “every word matters and holds true.”

He also addressed the speculation around potential punishments and appeal routes that had intensified in the 24 hours following the initial reports, warning against those he said were “quick to reach their own conclusions” and dismissing the surrounding noise as an attempt to “undermine the momentum” of the club.

With the commission’s process still ongoing and no official findings published, the scale of any potential sanction — and City’s right to appeal — remains unclear. The case is widely regarded as the most significant disciplinary proceeding in Premier League history.