Lawyers and legal experts hand Man City verdict as Liverpool get severe hint

Manchester City are in for a busy summer of scrutiny as their battle with the Premier League heats up before the start of the new season.

Since February 2023, City have had 115 Financial Fair Play (FFP) charges hanging over them. The Premier League alleges that between 2009 and 2018, the Manchester club provided inaccurate financial information over the payments to players and managers as well as failing to cooperate with the investigation that followed.

City have always denied they are guilty of these charges and have insisted that they have ‘irrefutable evidence’ which will clear their name when the case is eventually heard. In the meantime, the club has gone on the attack and is attempting to sue the Premier League over their associated party transactions rules.

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These regulations relate to scrutiny over how much money an owner’s business can pay into a club through a sponsorship deal. In City’s case, it relates to Etihad Airways being their principal sponsor.

City believes that the Premier League’s rules directly contradict the UK’s competition laws and is pursuing damages from the top flight. This case is separate to that which the Premier League have put against the club over FFP and in theory should not alter that verdict.

In all this legal mess, Liverpool and City’s other Premier League rivals remain in the dark over what is to come. To try and figure out what will come next, the ECHO has taken a look at what three lawyers and experts think they verdict will be.

Dr Dan Plumley – Football finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University

“I don’t think the rumoured penalties of Manchester City facing expulsion or relegation from the Premier League are sensationalised at all,” he said. “Given the number and nature of allegations, if any of them are proven, then we could see significant penalties imposed on them.

“I don’t think we’ll get a verdict until 2025 with a hearing scheduled for autumn, but from the Premier League’s point of view I think they’d like a resolution before the end of next season. If there is a punishment, then the authorities would likely want it to be delivered at the start of the 2025/26 season, so I get the feeling that the summer of 2025 will be an important time for this process.”

Daniel Geey – Sports lawyer

Speaking to The Sports Agents podcast, Geey said: “I read through the 115 charges press release and it didn’t read like any of those charges related specifically to what is happening in these next two weeks. These new rules were brought in after 2021 and almost every one of the [115] charges is pre-2021 and they relate to various other things: duty of cooperation, manager remuneration, adhering to PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules), UEFA FFP regulations.

“Some might see it as if Man City win, this is just the first step to overturn the charges. I think they are quite distinct, is the truth.

“This is a very narrow argument about how commercial agreements between a linked party to a club should be valued. In any other context apart from football, nobody would care less about this but we say Manchester City and Premier League and everybody is interested.

“It’s over a very narrow construction and even if Manchester City win, my view from reading the rules is that it simply means that regulation is deemed unlawful under the competition rules. I think the PSR rules still stay in place but the Premier League would have to come up with new drafting on what would be deemed an associated party transaction.”

Professor Rob Wilson – Football finance expert

Discussing the recent updates on City’s battle with the Premier League, Wilson told OLBG: “Everything was pointing to the case between Manchester City and the Premier League starting in the autumn so this is a last hurrah to try and prevent all of that from going on by saying our lawyers are better than your lawyers. It’s another attempt to pull the resources of the Premier League in multiple different directions.

“I think that’s the reality of why we’re having to wait so long for the case with the 115 charges to be heard, because City will have been wrapping the Premier League up in all sorts of litigation and legal discussions. They are playing a legal game and the only people that are winning in all this are the lawyers.

“I think it’s a hail mary from Manchester City, a last throw of the dice to prevent going to court. If City are found guilty of the 115 charges, I think there’ll be significant points deductions and a major fine.”

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