Manchester City will enter another Premier League campaign without knowing the outcome of the financial misconduct case that has hung over the club for more than three years. The independent commission tasked with ruling on more than 100 alleged breaches of Premier League financial regulations has yet to deliver its verdict, despite the hearing itself concluding in December 2024.
City were charged in February 2023 following a lengthy four-year Premier League investigation. The allegations, which the club has consistently and firmly rejected, cover a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018 and center on the accuracy of financial disclosures submitted to the league.
The charge sheet, believed to total somewhere between 115 and 130 individual breaches, spans several categories. The largest group, 54 charges, concerns failing to provide accurate financial records during the 2009-2018 window. A further 14 relate to inaccurate reporting of payments made to players and managers. City also face five charges tied to breaches of UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, seven concerning the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Regulations between 2015 and 2018, and 35 charges alleging a failure to cooperate fully with the league's investigators between 2018 and 2023.
At the time the charges were announced, Manchester City expressed surprise at the decision, stating it had provided extensive cooperation and a substantial volume of evidence to the Premier League. The club said it welcomed scrutiny from an independent panel, expressing confidence that the process would ultimately vindicate its position.
The hearing itself ran for twelve weeks, from September 16 to December 6, 2024, and many had anticipated a ruling by early 2025. Instead, the gap between the conclusion of proceedings and any published decision has now stretched to nearly three years since the original charges were filed.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters addressed the ongoing delay just before this season kicked off. Speaking to Sky News, he acknowledged the process has dragged on longer than anyone anticipated. "I can't give any update on timing or what's happening," Masters said. "There's only one available route through this, which is to allow the process to take its course. It has taken longer than expected, and I do understand the frustrations."
Masters had voiced similar sentiments a year earlier, emphasizing that the commission operates independently of the league. "It's an independent judiciary essentially," he told Sky Sports last August. "They are then in charge of the process and its timings. They hear the case, they decide the outcome and we have no influence over it or its timing. My frustration is irrelevant really, I just have to wait. Legal processes rarely take less time than you anticipated. But we have to be patient."
Other clubs across the division are similarly eager for resolution. Arsenal's chief executive Richard Garlick told the BBC that both the league and its member clubs are seeking clear answers. "It has gone on for a while," Garlick said. "Everybody - the league and the teams - would want the clarity around what's going to happen next. But it's not something that I can control. It's not something that I can speculate on. I just hope that there is a solution very quickly."
While City's case remains pending, other Premier League financial disputes have reached conclusions in recent months. Chelsea agreed a settlement in March that resulted in a suspended transfer ban and a £10.75 million fine, after the club self-reported historic breaches from the Abramovich ownership era involving unauthorized agents and misleading documentation. The Football Association's subsequent ruling in July closed out all regulatory matters against Chelsea.
Everton, meanwhile, were ordered in June to pay Burnley £35 million in compensation for breaching sustainability rules across three seasons, including the 2021-22 campaign in which Everton avoided relegation at Burnley's expense. Everton, who had already been docked points over the same breaches, are appealing the compensation ruling, arguing it establishes a troubling precedent for future disputes between clubs.
Based on reporting from The Independent.