Man City FFP: Expert expects ‘imminent decision’ before Christmas as two reasons for delay revealed | OneFootball

A football finance expert expects Manchester City’s FFP case against the Premier League to conclude “before Christmas” as a decision is “imminent”.

Man City have been facing over 100 charges for alleged breaches of the Premier League’s FFP rules since the start of 2023.

Pep Guardiola‘s side were referred to an independent commission by the Premier League, which investigated the club’s alleged conduct between 2009 and 2018.

If Man City are found guilty, they could be given a fine, transfer ban, points deduction or expulsion from the Premier League. However, they have insisted on their innocence throughout this process, and a heavy punishment feels pretty unlikely.

The FFP case concluded before the end of last year, but there has been little word on when the verdict will be announced in recent months.

Despite this, former Man City financial advisor Stefan Borson has insisted that the verdict of the case should be announced “before Christmas”.

“I think Simon [Jordan] thinks it’s going to come out next year, I think it still could come out before Christmas,” Borson said on talkSPORT.

“The decision has been imminent for quite some time, there’s not a lot that they can do. It doesn’t take that long.”

Borson has also explained why he thinks the panel and the lack of agreement between Man City and the Premier League are behind the prolonged “hold up”.

“Nobody knows because even the parties themselves expected to have been told by now,” Borson added.

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“All the lawyers are surprised there is no decision at this stage, and that’s on both sides. I’ll tell you who’s holding it up – the panel making the decision.

“They hold the pen. They are the people who everybody waits for to deliver the decision. Well, nobody knows.

“We know the long list – you can cobble it together from all of the people on the judicial panel – but we don’t know who is on that list. We can make some guesses that it’s probably two lawyers and maybe one accountant.

“But we don’t know who is on the panel and what they were told to produce by when.

“We can now assume I think, given how long it has been and that everybody is so surprised that they don’t have a decision, that actually there’s very little guidance given to them and they weren’t effectively paid for their time from the moment the case ended.

“Arguably, the Premier and Manchester City together, with the panel, should have agreed a process whereby the hearing ends and then effectively they are exclusively paid to deliberate and produce, over let’s say three months or at worst six months, the decision during the closed season.”