Manchester City could receive an eyewatering points deduction punishment that could make Premier League relegation inevitable if found guilty of breaching major financial rules.
That is according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire, who has also claimed that the Premier League champions cannot be deliberately banished from the division, as they bid to defend themselves against the 115 charges. A trial date has been set but a verdict is expected at some point this year, with both sides having an option to appeal.
Speculation has run rampant over what punishment the Citizens could face with allegations reaching back more than a decade. Speaking to the Overlap Fan Debate, however, Maguire believes the Premier League are unlikely to automatically relegate Manchester City to the Championship because the English Football League is a separate organisation. However, a mammoth points deduction – up to 100pts – has been predicted if compared with Everton and Nottingham Forest’s cases.
Maguire, who is an academic at the University of Liverpool, said: “In the case of City, there’s actually three charges. It’s not 115. Has money come in from the owners which they pretend to be from the sponsors? If that is the case, then that is fraud. That is about as serious as it gets. And, if found guilty of those charges, then the book will be thrown at Manchester City and it’s going to be a massive points deduction. You can’t relegate [expel] them because the Premier League and the EFL are independent bodies, so the EFL doesn’t have to accept them.
“Given the Everton and the Nottingham Forest points deductions, they were both described by the commission of being ‘minor breaches’. Well, what Manchester City are being accused of is major breaches over a nine to ten year period. So, you would be looking at somewhere between 60 and 100 points if you go through on a charge by charge basis. So, it would relegate them.”
Maguire also suggested any appeal would be likely be unsuccessful. He concluded: “I think there are very narrow grounds for appeal. It’s only if the conduct of the committee itself was unprofessional in some way that one of the parties can potentially make an appeal. If Manchester City are found guilty then the whole board of directors has to resign because they will have been found guilty of misrepresentation, effectively lying to a commission.”