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)
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A documentary about Manchester’s famous homeless charity run has just dropped on YouTube
Danny Jones
An award-winning, short, and completely free documentary about Manchester’s famous annual homeless charity run is now available to watch in its entirety on YouTube.
Following a number of short snippets and teasers shared on social media over the last few months, the mini-doc by local moviemaker Gigi Shum was finally released on the streaming platform this past June.
Documenting not only the backstory of the inspiring Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness – now a much-loved annual tradition that has since spread to multiple other locations – it also gives a peek behind the curtain at those who organise it and the thousands of inspirational participants.
You can watch one of the most recent trailers here.
Capturing the sixth edition of the consecutive relay run, which spans the length of an entire day (which was another record-breaking year before being smashed in November 2025), Shum didn’t shy away from getting some laps done herself, but she also managed to shoot a truly important public access film.
A trail runner herself with a number of other works to her name already, including a well-supported Kickstarter revolving around neurodiversity, Gigi prides herself on “exploring the neglected truth in the world” through touching tales like The 24 Hour Run.
The adopted Manc and MetFilm School graduate’s roots may hail from Hong Kong, but she’s well and truly immersed and embedded herself in the Greater Manchester community through spotlighting local initiatives like this.
More importantly, this is much more than a student project: the bitesize 21:22 picture has been nominated and won at numerous festivals across the globe, including shortlists like the Florence Film Awards, a finalist in both the Independent Shorts and LEEDSflix competitions, among several others.
Aside from the obvious humanitarian and charitable angle of The 24 Hour Run‘s narrative, the talking heads with members of the team and numerous inspiring runners taking on incredible challenges on behalf of the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme make you proud to be from this part of the world.
You can watch it in full down below.
About the same run-time as most sitcom episodes – we’d argue this is a well more worthwhile watch.
Deeply moving stuff, we’re sure you’ll agree.
Speaking after a limited number of exclusive screenings, Gigi told The Manc: “What began as a question about why people run through the night transformed into an exploratory journey of human resilience, community, and active compassion on the streets of Manchester.”
It’s also worth mentioning that the young director and producer is doing lots more to contribute to the region, helping out as part of the Manchester Refugee Support Network (MRSN), supporting asylum seekers who may otherwise end up sleeping rough themselves.
They’ve raised hundreds of thousands for the likes of the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity since the event’s inception back in 2019. Mayor Andy Burnham himself may be looking toward no.10 Downing Street moving forward, but fundraising on behalf of this organisation will always be a part of his legacy.
Better still, this dedicated crew of volunteers have also generated vital funds for similar causes in the likes of Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Hereford, and soon to be even more.
Set to debut in Liverpool later this year, another city renowned for backing themselves and looking after their own, we can’t wait to see how much more impact they make on the North West.
Featured Images — The MCR 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness (supplied)
Sport
Government grants pubs permission to stay open until 5am for England’s next World Cup match
Emily Sergeant
Pubs across the country are being granted permission to stay open until the early hours of the morning on Sunday.
As England’s World Cup journey continues, the Three Lions are set to face Mexico in a Round of 16 knock-out match at the Azteca Stadium on Sunday night, but due to time differences between the two countries, this means that kick-off will be at 1am GMT here – a time when pubs are closed, and let’s face it, a lot of us are already in bed ready for work the next day.
But, in what is set to be a big ‘boost’ for pubs and bars – and football fans – nationwide, the Government has given permission for alcohol licensing hours to be extended for Sunday night’s match.
The Home Secretary has the legislative power to extend licensing hours on occasions of ‘exceptional international, national or local significance’, so this change removes the need for individual premises to apply for extended hours.
This extension to 5am adds to the already-granted extensions for England’s knock-out games that kicked off up until 10pm.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed is set to write to Council leaders across the country to inform them of these changes.
“Football might be coming home but we’re making sure fans don’t have to,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in an emphatic statement.
Pubs are allowed to stay open until 5am on Sunday / Credit: Road to Victory | We Are Football (Supplied)
“Pubs staying open until the final whistle is good news for supporters and good news for the pubs and venues that bring our communities together. The whole country will be backing the team. Come on England.”
Michael Kill, who is the CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), said the extension is ‘fantastic news’ that will be ‘hugely welcomed’ by operators.
He continued: ““This pragmatic approach allows venues to focus on what matters most – bringing communities together to support the national team.
Danny Jones -
6th February 2023 
