Manchester City has been found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018, the Premier League announced on Tuesday. An independent commission also found against the club on the majority of charges relating to its alleged failure to cooperate with the investigation.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said the ruling “establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade.”
The club has until Friday to lodge an appeal, and it moved quickly to say it would do so. In a statement, City said it was “disappointed and surprised” by the verdict and maintained it was “innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League.”
City challenged both the process and the substance of the decision. “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted,” the club said, adding that the commission’s opinion “contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.”
The club also took aim at the regulators overseeing the case. “The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence,” it said.
City added that it would “be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums,” citing what it described as “a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” in support of its positions.
The Premier League said it intends for appeals and the publication of any final decisions to be concluded “as soon as possible.”
