Man City FFP: Expert ‘expects’ punishment to be ‘expulsion’ from Premier League on one condition | OneFootball

A football finance expert ‘expects’ Manchester City’s FFP sanction to be ‘expulsion’ from the Premier League on one condition.

Man City are facing more than 100 charges of alleged breaches of the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations between 2009 and 2018. They were referred to an independent commission following a four-year probe into their conduct.

The Premier League face severe penalties, including a huge fine, transfer ban and/or expulsion, if this case goes against them, but they have insisted on their innocence throughout this process.

It was widely deemed that Pep Guardiola‘s side came out better off from their separate Associated Party Transaction (APT) case against the Premier League, so it’s hardly surprising that they are confident.

Man City’s FFP case concluded towards the end of 2024, but this is an incredibly complicated situation and very little has been said about a potential verdict over the past year.

Earlier this month, former Man City financial advisor Stefan Borson claimed the initial hearing was based around liability, with a second hearing to follow if the club is proven guilty on this initial count.

In this scenario, the second hearing would delve into potential sanctions for Man City, with Borson claiming that he ‘expects’ the club to ‘face expulsion’ from the Premier League ‘if everything goes against them in their case’.

“I think the better way to look at it, if we’re forced to have that conversation about what the sanction might be, is really what I said right from the very start of the process three years ago, which is if everything goes against Manchester City, they will not be in the Premier League,” Borson told Football Insider.

“That will either be because of a point deduction that makes it impossible for them to be in the Premier League, by expulsion from the Premier League under the Premier League rules or some other way.

“We know from the rules that the independent commission has a lot of latitude in terms of how it punishes a club under rule W, which is the relevant section of the rules.

“That’s in play here, so they have a lot of flexibility. They can make all sorts of recommendations.”

It has previously been suggested that Man City could be docked up to 60 points if they are proven guilty, but Borson has explained why this is purely speculation.

“The bottom line is if everything went against Manchester City, and as I’ve said before that’s not my expectation, but if it did, City are unlikely to remain in the Premier League,” Borson added.

“Whether it’s 40 points, 60 points, whatever, it’s all largely irrelevant at this stage in terms of trying to figure that out because nobody knows and everybody’s guessing.

“But I think the best premise is that you could not operate under the situation in my view where if everything went against the club on the seriousness of these allegations that they remained in the Premier League.”