Relegation from the Premier League is a possibility for Manchester City after their recent charges, talkSPORT have been informed.
It was revealed on Monday morning that City had been charged with more than 100 charges relating to alleged breaches of financial rules.
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City have been charged by the Premier League
The news comes after a four-year Premier League investigation into the club’s finances.
It remains to be seen what will become of the club following the accusations, but football finance expert Kieran Maguire gave a full assessment of the current state of the game during Monday night’s kick-off .
What have Man City been accused of?
“I think we can focus on two main areas. First, the allegation that Manchester City artificially inflated the money coming into the club.
“Particularly with respect to commercial and sponsorship revenue and the reason it matters is that the calculations and limits of financial fair play are effectively revenue minus costs.
“So if you can increase your income, and I think that particularly relates to sponsorship deals with related companies in Abu Dhabi. So I think that’s one area.
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They have been one of the most successful English teams of the last decade
“The second area is the accusation that Manchester City have artificially deflated their costs by employing people under contract but effectively giving them side contracts with money from other sources linked to people connected to the club.
“So you pay a manager £2m a year and on top of that he gets an extra £2m a year for work that actually doesn’t involve or a lot of work and really the manager has spent all his time working for Manchester City.
“So you deflated your costs, inflated your income and that allowed the club to spend more money on other wages and more money on transfer fees and so they had an artificial advantage over the rest. of the Premier League.”
How did these charges arise?
City have been referred to an independent commission by the Premier League.
They allegedly broke the rules between 2009 and 2018, and have not cooperated since the investigation began in 2018.
City are among the best talents in world football
In a statement, the Premier League said City breached rules which required them to provide “accurate financial information giving a true and fair view of the club’s financial position, particularly in relation to its revenue (including sponsorship revenue). ), its related parties and operating costs.
A second set of alleged breaches refers to the violation of the rules “requiring a member club to include full details of the manager’s remuneration in its relevant contracts with its manager”, which applies to Roberto Mancini’s tenure from the 2009 seasons /10 to 2013/14.
These shortcomings are also linked to a club’s obligation to “include full details of player remuneration in its relevant contracts with its players” for the 2010/11 to 2015/16 seasons inclusive.
City are also said to have breached the rules relating to their failure to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules from the 2013/14 season to the 2017/18 season.
The club are also said to have breached league rules requiring member clubs to cooperate and assist the Premier League in its investigations, from December 2018 to date.
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City are the defending Premier League champions
Could Man City be relegated from the Premier League?
“It’s an option,” Maguire said. “The Independent Commission, rather than the Premier League, will be the ones to set the tariff.
“You can go anywhere, from a wiggling little finger, ‘don’t do it anymore, you need to keep your house in order in terms of paperwork,’ to tax penalties, to point deductions, to to relegation and expulsion the club from the Premier League.
“It would be, I think, a very interesting situation in the sense that one of the current shareholders in the Premier League is Manchester City itself, so it would be unprecedented.
“So of course we have the fact that Manchester City would have a right of appeal if they were handed severe penalties by this committee.
“How long that will take is very uncertain given that Manchester City were completely blindsided by the timing of the announcement today.
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Questions have been raised about the club’s finances
“Normally in these things there could be a joint announcement by two parties, well that wasn’t the case and so Manchester City will say ‘well if there are 100 charges we need a time appropriate to produce a solid defense against these 100 charges’, and how long it might take, God knows.
What does this mean for Pep Guardiola’s future?
With a possibility of relegation, questions have been raised over manager Pep Guardiola’s future.
Should such a result happen, talkSPORT’s Alex Crook doesn’t think the Spaniard would stay at the club.
He said“I guess ultimately it will be determined by the outcome of these charges and the punishment.
“I mean, if City were relegated from the Premier League, I don’t see Guardiola hanging around long for the trip anyway.”
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Guardiola has been City manager since 2016
In May last year, Guardiola said he would leave the club if he found out City owners had lied to him.
He revealed, “I told them, ‘If you lie to me, the next day I’m not here. I’ll be out and you won’t be my friend anymore.'”
On the comments, Crook added: “It’s a big moral statement, isn’t it, ‘if they lie to me, I’ll go’.
“His press conference as part of the build-up to their next Premier League game this weekend is going to be fascinating.
“You could bet the first question will be about those comments and it will be interesting to see how he responds.”
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