Manchester City’s punishment for breaching Premier League rules should be handed down before the end of this season, senior football figures have told BBC Sport.
The Premier League said on Tuesday that City had been found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of its financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. Among the findings was that the club artificially inflated revenue by more than £900m through “sham” sponsorship deals.
City have repeatedly denied guilt and have signalled an intent to lodge an appeal by the end of this week. There have been fears that a process which has already taken three years since City were charged could be drawn out for much longer. Senior figures within football, though, have told BBC Sport they see no reason why the case cannot be concluded by the end of this season.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one club official said: “It benefits everyone for this to be resolved as quickly as possible.” Asked whether they believed it would be, the official replied: “Instinctively yes, but it has to be done right. We can all see what the risks are if it’s not. But those risks have been there throughout the process, as they’ve won the league multiple times during it.” Another source said the process “should” be resolved by the end of the season, and expressed the hope that any appeal would be “compressed”.
The final decision rests in the hands of the independent commission, with the Premier League board and City both able to suggest a suitable punishment before the panel makes its ruling. There is an increasingly strong desire to have the case resolved before the campaign’s close, amid fears that allowing City to reach the end of the season without punishment could lead to uncertainty and farce — particularly if they were to win the title.
One section of the Premier League regulations states that an appeal should conclude no more than 12 weeks after it is filed, and that a decision should be made within 30 days of its end. Procedures can be hurried to meet certain deadlines, such as the end of a league season. However, Ferran Soriano, the club’s chief executive, has suggested the case will run for a long time.
Manchester City cannot make a further appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but could potentially claim the process was not impartial at the High Court. In its statement formally announcing the guilty verdicts, read on Monday, the Premier League said it wants the process to be “concluded as soon as possible”.
City won eight trophies during the period for which they were investigated.