City should learn fate before end of season as appeal clock ticks
Manchester City should learn their punishment for breaking Premier League financial rules before the end of the season. Senior figures within football told BBC Sport they see no reason why the case cannot be wrapped up in that time.
The final call sits with an independent commission, a panel set apart from the league to decide the case. The Premier League said in its formal statement on the guilty verdicts that it wants the process concluded as soon as possible.
Reports of the verdicts first emerged on 25 September. The Athletic broke the news, with Reuters reporting that all but one of the 115 charges against City were upheld. The league later confirmed in an official Premier League statement that its commission had found the club guilty of serious breaches.
At the heart of the case is money coming in. City were found to have artificially inflated revenue by more than £900m through sham sponsorship deals. In plain terms, the club made its income look far bigger than it really was.
City have said the process remains ongoing. The club has signalled it intends to lodge an appeal by the end of this week. The case dates back to February 2023, when the league first referred the alleged breaches to the commission.
The rulebook sets a tight clock. League regulations say an appeal should conclude no more than 12 weeks after it is filed. A decision should then follow within 30 days of the end of that appeal.
City cannot take the case further to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the Lausanne-based body that acts as sport’s highest court. That leaves the domestic appeal route as the last word. It is one reason senior figures expect a finish line this season.
What happens next matters for every club chasing points. City face potential sanctions ranging from a fine and a points deduction, where points are stripped in the league table, to relegation, which would drop the club out of the top flight, according to Reuters.
The human response has already started. City’s chairman has rallied supporters since the reports of 114 guilty findings. A former chairman said the club’s leadership cannot continue.
For fans, this means months of noise before clarity. A decision before the summer would let players, managers and supporters start next season knowing where they stand. Ninety minutes will still decide games, but the table itself is waiting on the judges.
