Man City accused of breaching Premier League financial rules and could face points deduction or even EXPULSION

Man City have been charged with more than 100 charges of alleged breaches of financial rules, which could lead to a points deduction or even expulsion from the Premier League.

It follows a four-year investigation by the Premier League into the finances of the Manchester club.

The Premier League issued a statement on Monday morning, with the allegations dating back to the 2009/10 season through to the 2017/18 campaign.

A range of penalties could be meted out to Man City if they are found guilty of the charges, including a points penalty or even sending off.

The club are said to have breached league rules requiring the provision “in good faith” of “accurate financial information giving a true and fair view of the financial position of the club”.

The Premier League says the precise financial information required relates to “revenue (including sponsorship revenue), its related parties and operating costs”.

The second set of offenses relate to the alleged breach of the rules ‘requiring a member club to include full details of manager remuneration in its relevant contracts with its manager’. This is linked to the 2009/10 to 2012/13 seasons, when Roberto Mancini was in charge.

These shortcomings also refer to the obligation for a club to include full details of player remuneration in the relevant contracts, for the 2010/11 to 2015/16 seasons inclusive.

There are also alleged breaches relating to failure to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, which relate to the period 2013/14 to 2017/18.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a two-year UEFA competition ban in July following alleged breaches of FFP regulations

The fourth set of alleged breaches relate to Premier League profitability and sustainability rules in the 2015/16 to 2017/18 seasons inclusive.

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.

The Premier League statement concluded: “Proceedings before the Commission will, in accordance with Premier League rule W.82, be confidential and heard in private. Under Premier League rule W.82.2, the Committee’s final decision will be published on the Premier League’s website.

“This confirmation is made in accordance with Premier League rule W.82.1. The Premier League will not comment further on this until further notice.

Reacting to the news, former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan told talkSPORT: “You have to remember that these are accusations and Manchester City have to answer them.

“Pep started sowing the seeds because they obviously knew this was coming, suggesting there were X number of clubs in the Premier League who wanted Man City banned.

“When we heard Pep say that last week we were wondering ‘why are you talking about it’, now that’s the reason why.

“Man City have these allegations and accusations to respond to. I didn’t think the Premier League would have the balls to do that and having the balls to make it stick is another matter.

“I’ve always argued that they have important questions to answer and this idea that people are xenophobic or have a problem because the ownership model is not the one that people like because of their ethnicity or their his persuasion is nonsense.

“It’s about the idea that there is an element of financial doping. By this I mean they used companies they own to artificially inflate sponsorship deals that gave them the opportunity to fall within the bounds of financial fair play.

“There are a lot of allegations here.”