Man City charges verdict

Welcome along to a truly seismic evening in the history of the Premier League, Manchester City and the sport of football.

Chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol rejoins us, who's been across this throughout much of the past decade.

Kaveh, boil it down to what the Premier League says City are guilty of.

Look, this is as bad as it gets for Manchester City.

The summary of the judgment we've had is absolutely damning about the way City were run over nine seasons.

Uh, some of the language is absolutely extraordinary.

Uh, basically, Manchester City's owners, uh, have been found guilty of secretly putting eight hundred and thirty million pounds of funding into the club, uh, during a period in which they won three league titles.

And in those three seasons in which they won the title, uh, twenty twelve, twenty-fourteen and twenty-eighteen, they reported, uh, sponsorship income of three hundred and sixty million pounds, when in reality, according to the findings of the Commission, the sponsorship income was not three hundred and sixty million pounds, it was actually forty-three million pounds.

Uh, the Commission found that City arranged sham contracts to artificially inflate the club's revenue and reduce its costs.

The club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances.

Uh, City were significantly in breach of both the Premier League and UEFA's financial, uh, rules, and City committed multiple breaches of its duties of cooperation, uh, with the Premier League during its investigation.

And City have been found guilty of breaking well over one hundred of the Premier League's financial rules.

That seems pretty emphatic, but City not having it.

What have they had to say?

Well, City's position all along, since day one, is that we are innocent, that we have done nothing wrong.

Uh, they say that this funding came from legitimate sources.

They say they have evidence to prove, uh, that this commercial funding was actually from, uh, real companies and legitimate sources, and the funding was not from their owners.

But obviously, they presented that evidence, and the evidence hasn't been accepted by this Premier League independent commission.

It's worth pointing out here as well that this is not the first time that City have been found guilty of breaking financial fair play rules.

The first time I reported on them breaking FFP rules was back in twenty-fourteen when they came to an agreement with UEFA to pay a fine of forty-nine million pounds, some of which I think was suspended.

Then again, they were found guilty of breaking, uh, UEFA's rules, and they took that to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in twenty-twenty, and they had their, uh, two-year suspension from the Champions League overturned, uh, because CAS judges decided that a lot of the charges were time-barred because UEFA has a statute of limitations.

Now, the message coming from City is loud and clear, "We are going to fight this all the way." The people at the top of the club are saying to the players and to the fans, "We've got this.

We've been here before.

Uh, we will do whatever it takes to clear our name.

We will have our day in the sun.

Welcome along to a truly seismic evening in the history of the Premier League, Manchester City and the sport of football.

Chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol rejoins us, who's been across this throughout much of the past decade.

Kaveh, boil it down to what the Premier League says City are guilty of.

Look, this is as bad as it gets for Manchester City.

The summary of the judgment we've had is absolutely damning about the way City were run over nine seasons.

Uh, some of the language is absolutely extraordinary.

Uh, basically, Manchester City's owners, uh, have been found guilty of secretly putting eight hundred and thirty million pounds of funding into the club, uh, during a period in which they won three league titles.

And in those three seasons in which they won the title, uh, twenty twelve, twenty-fourteen and twenty-eighteen, they reported, uh, sponsorship income of three hundred and sixty million pounds, when in reality, according to the findings of the Commission, the sponsorship income was not three hundred and sixty million pounds, it was actually forty-three million pounds.

Uh, the Commission found that City arranged sham contracts to artificially inflate the club's revenue and reduce its costs.

The club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances.

Uh, City were significantly in breach of both the Premier League and UEFA's financial, uh, rules, and City committed multiple breaches of its duties of cooperation, uh, with the Premier League during its investigation.

And City have been found guilty of breaking well over one hundred of the Premier League's financial rules.

That seems pretty emphatic, but City not having it.

What have they had to say?

Well, City's position all along, since day one, is that we are innocent, that we have done nothing wrong.

Uh, they say that this funding came from legitimate sources.

They say they have evidence to prove, uh, that this commercial funding was actually from, uh, real companies and legitimate sources, and the funding was not from their owners.

But obviously, they presented that evidence, and the evidence hasn't been accepted by this Premier League independent commission.

It's worth pointing out here as well that this is not the first time that City have been found guilty of breaking financial fair play rules.

The first time I reported on them breaking FFP rules was back in twenty-fourteen when they came to an agreement with UEFA to pay a fine of forty-nine million pounds, some of which I think was suspended.

Then again, they were found guilty of breaking, uh, UEFA's rules, and they took that to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in twenty-twenty, and they had their, uh, two-year suspension from the Champions League overturned, uh, because CAS judges decided that a lot of the charges were time-barred because UEFA has a statute of limitations.

Now, the message coming from City is loud and clear, "We are going to fight this all the way." The people at the top of the club are saying to the players and to the fans, "We've got this.

We've been here before.

Uh, we will do whatever it takes to clear our name.

We will have our day in the sun.