If you hadn’t got round to reading the independent commission’s 40-page report just yet, here are the headlines. From 2009 to 2018, Manchester City cheated, repeatedly and systematically, cooking the books to the tune of £900m. Abu Dhabi pumped money into the club in the form of “sham” sponsorship agreements to artificially inflate revenues. Club officials disguised payments to hide spending. They submitted false accounts, concealed the truth and lied to investigators.
During the nine-year period, City’s revenues swelled from £87m to £500m, an increase of 475%. By comparison, Arsenal’s revenues grew 73% and Manchester United’s grew 112%. It enabled City to transform from the Premier League’s middle reaches to assembling a world-class squad of players paid more than Real Madrid. Sergio Aguero, scorer of perhaps the most famous goal in Premier League history, earned around £16m a year.
