A football finance expert predicts Man City will finally get a verdict in their FFP case “this week” after months of speculation.
Hearings by the independent commission investigating the 115 complaints brought against Man City by the Premier League began in September 2024 and concluded in December 2024.
The Premier League launched an investigation into Man City in 2018 and, after several legal delays, charges were finally laid in February 2023, with the club being referred to an independent commission.
The charges against Citizen relate to the club’s obligation to accurately report financial information, including the amount of sponsorship deals, details of manager and player salary information, and the club’s responsibility as a member of the Premier League to comply with UEFA’s financial regulations and the league’s own Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR).
They are also accused of not cooperating with the league’s investigation. In total, there are fees associated with each season between 2009-2010 and 2022-23.
Man City released a statement on the day of the accusations, strongly denying the allegations and saying they welcomed the opportunity for an independent panel to “fairly conduct a comprehensive review of the irrefutable evidence supporting our position”.
read more: Who will replace Pep Guardiola as Manchester City manager?
“We therefore look forward to a complete conclusion to this matter,” the club added.
Josep Guardiola had expected to know the verdict in February or March, but revealed that those predictions are now more than six months off.
Former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Bolson has always argued that the longer the wait, the worse the verdict could be for citizens.
Coach Bolson told Football Insider:
“I think that’s why people are expecting it. It doesn’t mean anything about what direction it went in, it’s just because of the passage of time.
“I’ve always said that I think the longer this situation goes on, the worse it’s going to be as a concept for City. But it’s very difficult to know if this is too late or if that’s even close to being true because we don’t know any of the details.”
F365’s expanded coverage of Manchester City
👉 Premier League CRISIS Rankings: Forest 2nd, West Ham 3rd, but what about Liverpool and Manchester United?
👉 Guardiola says to quit Man City and ‘regenerate’ amid ‘expectations’ of FFP verdict
👉 Barton launches X-rated abuse against Manchester United legend Rooney over Man City ‘conspiracy theory’
But Bolson now believes a verdict could be handed down “this week” after several months of waiting, adding: “I think it could happen at any time for the parties.”
“It wouldn’t be a huge shock to me if I got a release email this week. Sure, maybe not, but it wouldn’t be a surprise.
“Of course we’ll see how long it takes for it to spread to the outside world.”
David Winnie, a former Scottish international footballer and now a sports lawyer at London-based Gilson Gray, revealed in August why fans were still waiting for a verdict in the Man City case.
Winnie told I Paper in August:
“First of all, the amount of charges is huge. There are a lot of issues that the three-person committee will have to consider in terms of evidence, documents, leaked emails, various disclosure obligations. It’s a lot.
“And I think the three-person committee understands the weight of that decision, so I think they want to get it right.
“The hurdle to jump here is the ‘balance of probabilities,’ but the seriousness of the charges may actually result in the committee applying greater scrutiny.”
Read: Erling Haaland’s outrageous stats to match Dimitar Berbatov’s Premier League goals
Asked about the possibility of other clubs taking action after the verdict, Winnie added: “Once the verdict is out and some, but not all, of these charges are proven, I wouldn’t be surprised if other teams in the Premier League jump on the bandwagon, so to speak, and start their own lawsuits against clubs or the Premier League itself.”
Asked what punishment Man City could face if found guilty of the most serious charges, Winnie replied:
“[If it’s a fine]they can put in whatever number they want and Man City will just reach into their back pocket and pay it. For them, a fine is a victory.
“In that case, we may be looking at incrementally increasing the penalty points that could be applied retroactively to previous seasons in which we lost the title.
“The ultimate would be expulsion from the Premier League, that would be the nuclear option.
“They will have restrictions and there could be registration restrictions, conditional penalties, suspensions or a combination of all of those, but I think the big thing for Man City that they don’t want is expulsion from the Premier League. Anything else they will deal with and they can deal with.”
