Premier League finds Manchester City guilty on all charges

The Premier League has found Manchester City guilty of all 115 charges of financial breaches and of most charges of failing to cooperate. The club can appeal until 2 October.

## Independent commission finds 115 breaches

The Premier League tasked an independent commission with investigating Manchester City's financial dealings. That commission, made up of legal, financial and other experts, has concluded that the club is guilty of all the charges, **115** in total, relating to serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules. The period examined spans **nine seasons**. Manchester City play in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. This is no minor case: it is the most serious accusation a top-flight English club has faced in the modern era.

The commission also found Manchester City guilty of most of the charges of failing to cooperate with the League's investigation. Of the four alleged breaches in this area, **three** have been confirmed. The wording of the statement, as its content makes clear, is scathing: it speaks of misconduct, concealment and a clear intention to evade the rules.

## Sham contracts to inflate revenue and expenses

The mechanism described by the commission is a disguised funding scheme. Manchester City arranged sham contracts with several commercial partners. Those contracts misrepresented the true agreement between the parties. The aim was to artificially inflate the club's revenue and reduce its costs. Several sponsors paid only a portion of the sponsorship fees due. The rest was funded by **Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG)**, the club's owner.

The commission details other sham agreements, also funded by ADUG, allowing the club to record operating expenses lower than the real ones. And it mentions a fictitious circular agreement with **Fordham**, an entity that acquired the image rights of the club's players. That agreement was also funded by ADUG. The purpose of the whole scheme, according to the commission, was to inflate revenue and reduce costs by more than **£900 million** over the period in question. With those figures, the club appeared to comply with the financial rules.

As a result, Manchester City filed false accounts and concealed its true financial position from its auditors and from football's regulatory bodies. The commission concluded that, through its conduct, the club clearly intended to evade the Premier League's rules. City did not accurately declare its revenue and expenses for the purposes of the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Regulations and UEFA's Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations. Had all the agreements been declared accurately, the club would have breached both the League's and UEFA's spending limits by a very considerable amount.

## Four years of obstructing the investigation

During the **four years** the Premier League's investigation lasted, Manchester City repeatedly failed to meet its duties of cooperation and utmost good faith towards the League. The commission concluded that the club made concerted efforts to stop and obstruct the investigation. Those efforts were no minor detail: they form part of the core of the non-cooperation charges now confirmed.

The independent commission did not merely describe accounting irregularities. It speaks of a pattern of conduct sustained over time. Nine seasons of alleged breaches, four years of investigation and a conclusion that deems the breaches serious. According to the statement, the club not only falsified accounts: it also tried to hold back those reviewing them.

## The sanction will be decided at another hearing

Now that the charges have been proven, the question of the sanction will be addressed separately at a later hearing before the independent commission. Under Premier League rules, that hearing will remain private and confidential until publication of the outcome is permitted. There is no specific date yet for the punishment to be known.

The club has the right to appeal the independent commission's findings. It has until **Friday 2 October** to exercise that right. The Premier League Board's intention is for the whole process, including the appeals and the publication of the relevant decisions, to conclude as soon as possible.

This is an ongoing legal and financial matter. Any consequences for Manchester City's future will depend on the outcome of the sanction hearing and the appeals.