Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges related to breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18, the Premier League has confirmed. The finding follows an independent Commission’s examination of the club’s conduct across a period of nearly a decade.
The Commission found that during that time period City arranged “sham contracts” with a number of its commercial partners, and that the club relied on “sham agreements to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs”. The sham commercial deals were described as being part of a “disguised funding scheme” to the scale of £830.69m.
The Premier League published a redacted version of the Commission’s report, which said the charges “concerned well over 100 alleged individual breaches of Premier League Rules across four broad charge categories”. The club was found guilty of all charges except one relating to non-cooperation with the Premier League investigation. The Premier League’s statement also said City were guilty of the majority of charges in relation to their failure to co-operate.
Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, said the core decision “establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period” and details how the club “systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade”. He added that it “vindicates the Premier League’s decision to pursue this case against Manchester City”.
Masters acknowledged that the process to date had been “both long and difficult”, but said the League had “remained determined that the facts be established independently”. He described upholding the rules as a key responsibility of the Premier League, noting that they are approved by the clubs themselves, and said it is “paramount that the League remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans”. He added that the League takes that role “extremely seriously”.