The “sporting trial of the century”, as the press has dubbed it, pitting Manchester City against the Premier League from Monday, concerns possible financial misconduct and threatens a staggering sanction for Pep Guardiola’s club.
. A “trial”, finally
The Premier League, whose role is to organize and regulate the powerful English championship, referred Manchester City to an independent commission in February 2023, suspecting the club of possible financial malfeasance between 2009 and 2018.
The announcement had the effect of a bomb in the kingdom and far beyond, as much by the scale of the facts alleged as by the pedigree of the accused. Since then, the wait has dragged on, generating frustration among the parties and in particular City, which claims its innocence and assures that it has “irrefutable evidence” for its defense.
The development came on Thursday from the British press: according to it, the three members of the independent commission will hear both sides from Monday, confidentially and in an unknown location.
The discussions are expected to last two months, with a verdict expected in early 2025. The possibility of an appeal pushes the epilogue back to several weeks, or even months.
. 80 + 35, suspicions galore
Specifically, the club faces 115 indictments: 80 financial offenses (period 2009-2018) and 35 additional ones for an alleged lack of cooperation in the investigation.
According to the Premier League, the “Citizens” would have breached the League’s regulations requiring the provision “in good faith” of “accurate financial information giving a true and fair view of the financial position of the club”, bought in 2008 by the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) consortium, owned by Sheikh Mansour.
The holding company is suspected of having hidden direct financial investments by inflating sponsorship revenues from Etihad, the Emirati airline and main partner of the club (shirt sponsor and stadium naming), in order to circumvent the rules.
Manchester City must also answer for alleged violations of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (2013-2018 period) and the Premier League (2015-2018).
The independent commission must also determine whether Roberto Mancini, one of the former coaches, received undeclared salary supplements, a practice which could also have benefited certain players.
. What possible sanctions?
Under Premier League regulations, the northern English club face sanctions ranging from a simple reprimand to exclusion from the championship, including the deduction of points, with the risk of relegation to a lower division.
The commission may also make sanctions, subject to appeal, conditional on the completion of corrective actions within a specified time period.
In other words, the mountain can give birth to a mouse, or give rise to a real earthquake.
Since its takeover by Abu Dhabi, the club in the sky blue jersey has notably won eight league titles (including the last four, a record run in England) and a Champions League, the European Holy Grail, in 2023.
Off the pitch, however, the club was fined €60 million in 2014 for breaching UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules. For the same reason, it was banned from all European competitions for two years, but the decision, handed down in February 2020, was later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
. Guardiola in waiting
Coach Pep Guardiola has never really gotten involved in the matter, admitting that he does not know the details of the procedure.
“I am not a lawyer. There are many lawyers in this country and in Spain, many,” he repeated again on Friday. “It starts soon, I hope it ends soon. The independent commission will make its decision and I am waiting for it impatiently,” he insisted.
In the past, the Spaniard has already stated that he would remain at the helm of the team even in the event of administrative relegation. However, he only has one year left on his contract.
jta/bm
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