Manchester City have hired one of the country’s most expensive lawyers as they prepare to fight the Premier League over allegations of financial breaches.
City have been accused of over 100 breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules across nine different seasons beginning in 2009/10. The Premier League alleges that City supplied inaccurate financial information, committed breaches in relation to player and manager remuneration and failed to co-operate with the investigation, which was launched four years ago.
The club have issued their own statement which said the announcement came as a “surprise” and declared they would use “irrefutable evidence” to put the matter “to rest once and for all”. City have now appointed a lawyer to defend them against the allegations, which could see the club relegated from the Premier League, if the charges are proven.
The Lawyer reports that City have chosen Lord Pannick KC of Blackstone Chambers to represent them. Pannick is familiar with City’s case having defended them in their appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020.
He succeeded in having a two-year ban overturned by CAS after being accused by UEFA of "serious breaches" of club licensing and financial fair play regulations. Pannick is a big name in the legal profession, having advised Boris Johnson on the Partygate inquiry and acted against the Government in the Supreme Court case over the prorogation of Parliament.
That experience does not come cheap. The Lawyer says that Pannick typically charges around £5,000 an hour, but has previously asked for £10,000-an-hour for his work.
The publication notes that, if he were paid at the top end of that scale and was working full-time, he would rake in £80,000 a day – the equivalent of £400,000 per week.
That would put him on a par with Manchester City star, Kevin De Bruyne, who is understood to earn over £350,000-a-week with the club. De Bruyne negotiated a new deal in April 2021, which made him the Premier League’s best-paid player.
Since Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr, De Bruyne has regained his title as the Premier League’s highest earner. Even if Pannick only commands £5,000 an hour, he would still be paid more than the vast majority of City’s players.
Pannick will work with Monckton Chambers’ Paul Harris KC and will be up against Kevin Plumb, the Premier League’s general counsel, and his Blackstone Chambers colleague Adam Lewis KC.
While he is unlikely to be working full-time on City’s case for some time, given the complexity and lengthy timescale, Pannick will command huge remuneration when the case is near court. While working on Privatbank litigation court documents showed that he charged £3,000 per hour, along with an £800,000 brief fee.
