Man City charges: Standard Sport name punishments after Premier League rule breach

Our reporters have their say on the Manchester City situation

The football world is talking about Manchester City, though not necessarily in a positive light.

Man City are facing a serious and, potentially, unprecedented punishment after being found guilty of the majority of their Premier League charges by an independent commission.

As revealed on Tuesday in a statement from the Premier League, City’s charges are in relation to breaching financial rules over a nine-season period between 2009/10 and 2018/19.

In addition, City, who have been found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to their alleged failure to co-operate with the Premier League’s investigation, have until Friday to appeal the commission's verdict and have publicly confirmed their intention to do so.

If that appeal fails, Premier League Rule W.64 does sets out a range of potential punishments for clubs found guilty of financial breaches.

These range from a fine, to a points deduction, suspension from competition and, the most serious, expulsion from the Premier League entirely.

But what should be the punishment for City if they are found guilty?

We put that question to our Standard Sport football reporters, Dom Smith, Matt Verri and Sam Tabuteau, along with our sport reporters, Oli Gent and Arthur Ferridge, and this is what they had to say...

Dom Smith

Talk of potential punishments has felt something of a free-for-all in recent days, but it is crucial the book is thrown at Manchester City. Unprecedented breaches of financial regulations deserve unprecedented punishment.

The Premier League is facing an integrity gap in the wake of the guilty verdict and must act strongly to punish City and regain control.

One option I could see sending the right message would be to force the club's owners to sell — a vote of no confidence in them as fit and proper owners of a top-flight club on these shores for the way they flagrantly broke rules, and a reminder to other powerful owners to stick to them.

Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan

PA

But my favoured punishment would be a big enough points deduction to guarantee their relegation to the Championship, and a multi-window transfer embargo as well.

If reports are true that City knew this summer they were going to be found guilty, then they surely conned players who joined them this summer, wilfully withholding that information from Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson and others.

That is brazenly unethical, so future spending must be curbed.

Matt Verri

To start with, City should be stripped of the titles they won during the period of their financial breaches. Not to be re-awarded, but as a permanent reminder of the scale of their cheating.

A fine in the region of £900million, representative of how much their revenue was inflated, must be imposed and distributed to the Premier League clubs from those nine season. A lengthy transfer ban is also needed.

One big points deduction is not enough and would allow City to come straight back up. There should be a sliding scale of points taken off them for the next nine seasons, starting with 70 points and working down from there.

This should guarantee at least a couple of relegations and then hurt the club’s attempts to rebuild for an appropriate length of time.

Sam Tabuteau

The independent commission's verdict is damning and while the process is still on ongoing with Man City claiming to have "irrefutable evidence" in their favour, the punishment not only for the crimes they have been found guilty of but also their non co-operation must reflect that.

This is a seismic decision, in which City have flagrantly and unashamedly flaunted the rules, bringing the Premier League and the English game into disrepute.

Man City enjoyed great success during the period between 2009/10 to 2017/18

Getty

The only punishment I see fit is a substantial multi-season points deduction, with all titles from the years in which they have been found guilty retrospectively deemed null and void.

Arthur Ferridge

If ever there was a time for the book to be thrown at a club, this is it. City must feel the full force of the independent commission. All penalties, though, must be proactive rather than retrospective.

Expulsion from the Premier League seems unlikely, so a good place to start would be a considerable points deduction. Looking at the precedent set by Everton's six-point penalty in 2023, City should be hit for at least enough to send them down to the Championship.

Considerable deductions in subsequent seasons should keep them there for a while, if not send them further down the pyramid.

On top of that, a hefty fine in the hundreds of millions and transfer ban of at least two seasons seems just.

Oli Gent

This scandal will scar the Premier League for years to come, and it is down to the independent commission to try and salvage some form of integrity in the top flight.

Stripping City’s titles would be the bare minimum punishment, but the idea that they could be relegated would be detrimental for the entire English pyramid.

It would skew all four tiers of the Football League, and it would require the EFL to accept them, seeing as they are a different entity to the Premier League. The further question would be which league would they be placed in, and who would be moved up - or down - to fit them in?

Man City will appeal the independent commission’s verdict

AFP/Getty

I don’t see immediate relegation being a realistic outcome, but I can envisage a multi-season points deduction that would maroon them in mid-table mediocrity, and effectively bar them from European competition for a number of seasons.

A transfer ban should also be placed upon them, especially if they are found to have lied to new signings, while it should be a given for the current ownership to be forced to step aside.