What sort of punishment is it facing?
To be clear, City has only been accused of monetary rules violations at this point.
If the club is found to have breached the foundations, nonetheless, the Premier League lays out sanctions that might include business penalties like reprimands and fines and — much more worrisome should you’re City — points deductions within the standings and even expulsion from the highest division.
That appears like a giant deal.
Expelling City from the Premier League can be a really big deal. Rewriting the league’s record books, and its title history, can be just as big. Manchester City has spent billions constructing a serial Premier League champion and annual Champions League contender. Losing any of it within the stroke of a pen can be astonishing.
Explain the costs to me like I’m a baby.
The Premier League laid out its accusations against Manchester City in five points affected by legalese and references to rules like B.13, C.71, C.72 and C.75 (amended to C.79).
Let’s simplify them:
The primary point contends that for each season from 2009-10 to 2017-18, Manchester City did not abide by rules requiring member clubs to supply accurate financial information to the league, giving it “a real and fair view” of the club’s revenues (think sponsorships) and operating costs (think salaries).
What does that mean? All Premier League clubs join to a code of compliance, promising to behave as good-faith actors and supply up-to-date and true versions of their accounts to be audited every yr. City has long faced accusations that it has inflated the worth of its sponsorship deals with entities linked to its Gulf owners, including with the United Arab Emirates’ national airline, Etihad, and the telecommunications company Etisalat.
One other set of charges suggests that, within the Premier League’s view, Manchester City was not truthful in its reporting of contracts detailing the compensation of its manager and certain players in several seasons.
What you may not know: City is accused of reducing the fee of player and coach salaries by paying portions of them through third parties or secret agreements, an allegation that first emerged when the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported that Manchester City’s former coach Roberto Mancini actually had signed two contracts when he joined the club in 2009. The primary paid him £1.45 million (about $1.7 million) to teach Manchester City. The secondary agreement paid him barely more to seek the advice of with a U.A.E.-based team, Al Jazira, for less than 4 days a yr. Manchester City’s chairman, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, can also be chairman of the corporate that owns Al Jazira.
