Five key extracts from Premier League's guilty verdict for Man City | OneFootball

The damning 40-page findings are extraordinary

The damning findings of an independent commission against Manchester City have been laid bare.

All options are on the table in terms of sanctions after City were found guilty of the most serious breaches of the Premier League's financial regulations.

City have confirmed they intend to appeal the decision and this is still a saga with a long way to run.

The findings against City, though, are extraordinary.

In a statement unprecedented in its findings and language used, the Premier League confirmed: "An independent Commission has found Manchester City FC guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period."

That relates to the nine-year period from 2009 to 2018, during which City won their first three Premier League titles and set the foundations to become the dominant team in English football.

Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, described the verdict as "the most significant in Premier League history".

He said it "vindicates" the decision to pursue a long, difficult case, in order to find that City "systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade".

Sham contracts

City were found to have relied on "sham" deals to overstate its financial position by more than £900million.

"The purpose of these schemes was found to have been to artificially inflate the club’s revenues, and reduce its costs, by more than £900m during the affected period, to appear to comply with financial rules," the statement said.

City entered into commercial contracts with a number of sponsors which were found to effectively be a "disguised funding scheme".

The partner would only pay a portion of the sponsorship fee, with the remainder funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.

"As part of the scheme, further ‘sham’ arrangements, funded by ADUG, were entered into to enable the club to record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred, as well as a ‘sham’ circular arrangement with Fordham, an entity that purchased the club’s players’ image rights, that was funded by ADUG."

It described Fordham as "in reality little more than a front" for ADUG.

City therefore "concealed the true state of its finances". The commission concluded that "the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules".

The commission also accused some witnesses of giving false evidence and being dishonest.

It held a 42-day hearing, which concluded in December 2024 and heard evidence from both sides.

In a particularly strong section of the 40-page report, it was suggested that certain witnesses brought forward by City did not act honestly.

"Evidence given by a number of important factual witnesses called to give evidence on behalf of the club was false in a number of key respects," the statement said.

"Certain of those factual witnesses had given evidence at the hearing that they knew to be untrue and so had been dishonest."

Non-cooperation

City were found guilty of the majority of the non-cooperation charges brought against them. Those relate to Premier League investigations between 2018 and 2023.

The commission found that City "made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the PL investigation".

There were multiple breaches of its “duties of cooperation and utmost good faith”.

City were also found to have committed "additional and perhaps more egregious acts of non-cooperation" by making inaccurate, dishonest and/or misleading statements when responding to questions from the Premier League about its financial arrangements.

City have the right to appeal the commission's findings.

The deadline to do so is Friday October 2 and in a statement of their own, City confirmed they are exploring the appeal options available to them.

The independent commission will hold a further hearing on sanctions, which will remain a private and confidential process.

Masters said: "There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches.

"Now we have the Commission’s decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the League, our clubs and fans.”