Manchester City found guilty of financial rule breaches across nine seasons but vow to appeal

Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules, an independent commission ruled on Tuesday, with the club immediately vowing to appeal the verdict.

The charges span nine seasons — from 2009/10 to 2017/18 — and cover a wide range of alleged misconduct. City were also found guilty of the majority of charges relating to their failure to co-operate with the Premier League’s investigation, though one of the four co-operation charges, Charge 4(B): Appendix 34, was not upheld.

The 115 charges can be broken down into five broad categories. Fifty-four charges relate to City’s failure to provide accurate and up-to-date financial information across the nine-season period. A further 14 charges concern the failure to provide accurate financial reports for player and manager compensation during the same window, including details of former manager Roberto Mancini’s contract.

Seven charges relate to breaches of Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Regulations between 2015/16 and 2017/18. These are separate from City’s earlier legal victory over the Premier League regarding PSR rules the league introduced after the scope of these particular charges was set.

Five charges accuse City of failing to comply with UEFA regulations, including UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations. Again, these are distinct from City’s successful 2020 Court of Arbitration for Sport challenge against UEFA over a separate set of FFP breaches.

Finally, 35 charges concern City’s failure to co-operate with Premier League investigations from December 2018 to the present. The commission found that City committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith — upholding three of the four alleged breaches in this category.

The Premier League released a formal statement confirming the verdict, which the commission described as finding the club in breach across the financial reporting charges in their entirety. City responded with a statement of their own, disputing the findings and confirming they will pursue an appeal.