Manchester City have accepted a £2m+ fine for breaking a little-known Premier League rule repeatedly over the past two years.
Rule L.33 of the Premier League states: “Any Club which without good reason causes to be delayed either the kick-off of a League Match from the time fixed or the re-start after the half-time interval shall be dealt with under the provisions of Section W (Disciplinary) of these Rules”.
Manchester City were found to have delayed kick-offs in 22 games across the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons, with the Premier League issuing a warning for the first instance – a 78 second delay to starting the second half against Crystal Palace in August 2022.
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Manchester City were late onto the field 23 times in two seasons
The club have then been hit with a series of gradually increasing fines for subsequent breaches, from £10,000 for the second offence and £200,000 for their most recent.
City have been particularly tardy about starting the second halves of games, with their kick-off time missed five times and their second-half restart missed 18 times in the past two years. Away to Newcastle United in January, City were late out for both halves.
The most recent and longest delay came in City’s title-deciding victory over West Ham United on the final day of last season, when City were two minutes and 46 seconds late to start a game that should have kicked off concurrently with all nine other Premier League games that day. It was immaterial in the end anyway as City ran out victorious to prevent Arsenal pipping them to first place.
City accepted the breaches, apologised, and will pay a fine totalling £2,090,000 to the Premier League.
Other rules that can see Premier League clubs fined include:
- failing to submit their teamsheet at least 75 minutes before the scheduled kick-off time
- failing to send a coach to a briefing with the referee at least an hour before kick-off
- failing to allocate a unique squad number to each player and register that with the league
- failing to ensure players’ names and numbers are printed clearly and in the right places on shirts (and numbers on shorts), an in the right size and style
- failing to ensure the goalkeeper wears a distinct colour and shirt and socks
- failing to ensure the captain wears a league-provided armband
- failing to pay transfer fees on schedule
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