Man City guilty of almost all the 115 financial charges, Premier League says in explosive verdict

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

Manchester City artificially inflated its revenue by more than US$1 billion over nearly a decade, circumventing fair-play rules that restricted rival clubs and allowing it to pad its roster with some of football’s biggest stars, an investigatory panel found in a bombshell report published yesterday.

In what is widely viewed as the biggest scandal in Premier League history, the independent panel determined that the United Arab Emirates-backed team committed almost all of the 115-plus violations it was accused of during a period in which City changed the landscape of the world’s most popular football league. That included 80 from 2009-18 for alleged financial misdeeds and another 35 from 2018-23 for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation.

City’s alleged financial wrongdoing -- made possible in part through what the league said were “sham” commercial deals -- was worth more than £900 million (US$1.19 billion). Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said the ruling showed that City “systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade.”

“This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history,” Masters said.

City now face severe sanctions that could include a huge points deduction or even expulsion from the league, causing heavy reputational damage to its Abu Dhabi ownership.

The Premier League said sanctions will be decided during a separate hearing held by the independent commission at an unspecified date.

CLUB PLANS TO APPEAL

City has always denied wrongdoing and said in a statement that it was “disappointed and surprised” by the ruling. It plans to appeal the verdict and said it would be “relentless” in its fight to clear its name, which would further drag out a case that has already run for more than three years.

Any appeal by City would have to be made by Friday, the league said.

In an internal video to City staff — obtained by broadcaster Sky News — the club’s CEO, Ferran Soriano, went into detail about why he felt the verdict was wrong.

“This has gone on for so long that it is important to remind ourselves that the whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation: that the owner’s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi,” he said. “This is just not true. Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows it could not happen and that it did not happen.”

DRAWN OUT INVESTIGATION

The allegations first arose in 2018 from leaked club emails and documents, and the Premier League initiated its case more than three years ago. Yesterday’s findings come after it emerged last week that the accusations against City were expected to be upheld following an exhaustive process.

City is accused of providing misleading information about its finances over a nine-year period from 2009-18 — a span in which it emerged from the shadow of its crosstown rival, Manchester United, won three titles and signed some of the world’s best players, including Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne.

The violations included failing to provide accurate financial information and submitting inflated figures for sponsorship deals out of Abu Dhabi, hiding payments and breaching financial rules established by the Premier League and UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, intended to keep clubs financially stable by not spending beyond their means.

On top of that, City faced many other charges of failing to cooperate with the investigation between 2018-23.

“An independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period,” the league said, “and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the league’s investigation.”

Regarding the sponsorship deals, the league said: “Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on ‘sham’ agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs.

“The club,” the league added, “filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators.”