Manchester City have been charged with breaching Financial Fair Play regulations by the Premier League, having reportedly committed broken regulations “around 100 times”.
News of the decision by the English top flight broke on Monday morning, 6 February, concluding a four-year investigation by the league, FA and wider footballing bodies.
The club have now been referred to an independent commission over alleged rule breaches committed over nearly a decade-long period following their Abu Dhabi takeover.
According to Sky Sports News‘ Kaveh Solhekol, the Manchester club is alleged to have breached FFP approximately 100 times between 2009 and 2018.
As he explains, City failed to provide “accurate financial information” for at least nine seasons, including not fully disclosing Roberto Mancini’s true salary over a four-year period and failing to comply with UEFA’s financial fair play rules over a five-year period, among various other breaches.
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The Premier League has also accused the organisation of not cooperating since the investigation started back in December 2018 as the club has long denied circumventing the rules in any way throughout the process.
Despite having already been charged by UEFA back in February 2020, when they were slapped with a hefty penalty and a two-year ban from European competitions, the ban was overturned and the £30 million fine was reduced to just £10m.
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According to journalist Martyn Ziegler, this is one of the biggest scandals the Premier League has ever seen, the details of which are highly intricate and unprecedented.
BREAKING: Man City charged by Premier Leaue with numerous breaches of financial rules following a four-year investigation. This is unprecedented: pic.twitter.com/ZGzdX210qP
Ziegler goes on to say that punishment could range from fines and points deductions to even “expulsion from the league”, though it remains unclear how severe the punishment will be.
Furthermore, under Premier League rules, City will not be able to appeal the sanctions in the Court of Arbitration for Sport as they did with the previous ban, so the chances of the decision being brushed off as it was last time seem less likely.
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The club has now issued an official statement insisting that they are “surprised” by the charges “given the extensive engagement and vast amount of detailed materials that the EPL has been provided with”.
They go on to say that they welcome the continued investigation as they are confident they possess a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of [their] position” and “look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all.”
However, it doesn’t look like this case will be going away any time soon. This news also comes just a couple of weeks after boasting of earning the most revenue of any club in world football.
BBC Sport‘s Simon Stone insists that the process of prosecution with “will be expensive and it will drag on” for some time as the club will continue to deny the allegations. The charge sheet itself includes five years in which City are accused of refusing to assist with their inquiry despite refuting said claim.
It also goes without saying that since their takeover in 2008 — a year before the offences are said to have begun — City have enjoyed the most successful spell in their history, winning both the Premier League title and League Cup six times, as well as two FA Cups.
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The next few weeks are going to be very interesting, to say the least.
Featured Image — Alfonso Jimenez (via Wikimedia Commons)
Sport
Manchester City plotting spending spree ‘before’ Club World Cup
Danny Jones
Manchester City are set to embark on somewhat of a spending spree this summer transfer window as the club’s higher-ups are looking to get business done before the 2025 Club World Cup.
With FIFA’s intercontinental club competition set to get underway in mid-June, the Blues don’t have too long to welcome in new players, but Man City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has reiterated their urgency regarding recruitment.
Despite having brought in four new acquisitions in a very short space of time last season, the 50-year-old argued that he wasn’t completely happy with the extent and speed of their business.
Giving a lengthy interview this week, CFG‘s founding chairman has imposed an internal deadline ahead of the lucrative knockout competition.
Speaking with club media, Khaldoon recognised that while there were incomings in January of this year, he believes they “should have been more aggressive in some of the changes we needed to do, adding that he believes it “cost [them].”
“I can tell you today, we have clearly identified who exactly [the targets are], in what positions, and we have our clear number one option, our clear number two option”, he continues.
More importantly, he goes on to add: “We’ll go about our business, and it will be very clear, very swift. Our objective is to try to be ready with the new squad for the Club World Cup.”
He also suggested the flurry of activity this past January was not just atypical of the administration, but felt the squad fell into a crisis state with the number of injuries, insisting they “had to act.”
City have already been linked with a hugely talented and highly-rated European target in the wake of Kevin De Bruyne‘s departure and a lack of strength in depth in midfield.
An initial bid is said to have been received already and will likely be the first of many City summer signings.
He also insisted that the players who joined last season weren’t scattershot, emergency transfers (perhaps barring the resigning of İlkay Gündoğan) but were the start of the rebuild and “gives [fans] an idea of what’s coming this summer.”
Another player linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium is Lyon star Rayan Cherki, who scored in big moments during their Europa League run this year, registering 32 goal contributions across all competitions throughout the 24/25 campaign.
Who would you like to see added to Pep Guardiola’s side this summer, then, Man City fans?
You can watch Khaldoon Al Mubarak’s interview in full down below:
Featured Images — The Manc Group/Manchester City (press shots)
Sport
Ruben Amorim reacts as Manchester United are booed off after Malaysia friendly
Danny Jones
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has delivered a fairly brutal response after his club were booed off by supporters during a friendly in Malaysia.
The Red Devils recently embarked on a post-season tour following a calamitous 2024/25 campaign, both domestically and continentally, with that limp loss in the Europa League final, but have already resumed what has become alarmingly normal service with yet another defeat.
Finding themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline against ASEAN All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur – a squad comprised of various talents from around the region who had never played together before and were only founded as an actual team back in 2014 – it was all far from clean slates and fresh starts.
In the wake of the shock result, Man United were booed off by the Malaysian and other international fans inside the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, which saw more than 70,000 in attendance.
It’s the end and that’s it. Man United got boo’ed by the fans after the final whistle.
They got beaten by non-full team Asean All-Star who just trained together as a group few days before the match. pic.twitter.com/fBxnMiZPN8
For context, the ASEAN All-Stars had only trained together for the first time just days before the game itself, but the de facto exhibition outfit still managed to break the deadlock in the 71st minute against a United side that rarely looked like scoring.
All that being said, Amorim had some choice words for his own players in his post-match duties after their first post-season tour fixture, insisting that while he always remains accountable, those out on the pitch perhaps received somewhat of a deserved reckoning too.
He began by stating, “I’m always guilty of the performance of the team, no matter what. [I have been responsible] since the first day”, but went on to argue: “The boos from the fans, I think it something that we need, maybe.”
Citing that the Old Trafford faithful and die-hard away fans have always been loyal and supportive despite frustration in the league, he suggested that “maybe they will change the way they behave” following this latest reality check.
Despite adding that he has seen reasons for optimism in performances against Man City and Liverpool, for instance, where he felt he saw “belief” and seeds of what’s to come, he’s made very few excuses for the poor displays up to now.
United face the Hong Kong national team in their next friendly on Friday, 29 May, and it’s fair to say anything less than a win would be beyond bad for the predictably unpredictable Premier League club.
You can see his full post-match press conference down below.
Danny Jones -
6th February 2023 
