Premier League faces 'dilemma' as executives push for further Man City charges after 2018

An increasing number of English football executives are pushing the Premier League to investigate Manchester City for the seasons since 2018, or to bring further charges against the club, in the wake of last month’s landmark guilty verdict on 114 counts of financial rule breaches. The pressure is described internally as a significant “dilemma” for the game.

City, owned by Abu Dhabi interests, were found guilty of the charges in a case already regarded as one of the most controversial in football history. The club is currently in the process of appealing the verdict, and sanctions are expected by many sources to arrive this month.

The renewed scrutiny stems directly from the independent commission’s published findings. The document laid out in detail how City’s sponsorship deals were inflated through disguised owner investment, supported by accompanying graphs covering the period from 2009 to 2018 — the years examined following a tranche of emails first published by Der Spiegel in November 2018. The question now being asked openly among directors is whether those practices simply ceased at the 2018 cut-off point, given that the club’s reported commercial income remained at comparable levels thereafter.

As one source put it: “What changed overnight?”

The commission found that Manchester City and its Abu Dhabi-based sponsors were “Related Parties.” Executives argue that if those relationships did not materially change after 2018, the club’s failure to report them or have the fair market values of sponsorships independently assessed could form the basis for additional charges covering subsequent seasons.

While those calling for further scrutiny acknowledge the burden of another lengthy investigation, the wait for sanctions has sharpened focus on the post-2018 era. There is at least some possibility that the commission recommends the stripping of City’s 2012, 2014 and 2018 league titles — an outcome currently viewed as unlikely, but one that would immediately raise further questions about the period of dominance that followed.

City built on Pep Guardiola’s 2017-18 title-winning season to deliver the most sustained run of success the Premier League has witnessed: four consecutive league titles, six championships in seven years, a first domestic treble, and the 2022-23 treble that included the Champions League.

Executives feel that questions about this era have not been adequately addressed by the Premier League, though the competition’s policy and legal position on the matter has yet to be made fully public.