Chelsea have been slapped with the Premier League’s largest-ever fine after the club admitted making £47million in secret transfer payments to unregistered agents and third parties between 2011 and 2018.
A fine of £10m has been imposed, with the club also having been handed a suspended two-year transfer ban, plus seperate immediate nine-month academy transfer ban and £750,000 fine over the registration of academy players between 2019 and 2022.
Chelsea had self-reported the potential breaches after Todd Boehly’s consortium acquired the club in 2022 and this settles one of the Premier League’s major ongoing cases. One case we are still awaiting an outcome, however, is the 115 charges that have been hanging over Manchester City for more than three years.
What can Manchester City expect following Chelsea punishment?
Manchester City were initially hit with 115 charges for alleged rule breaches that date back between 2009 and 2018, back in February 2023. A hearing began in September 2024 and lasted ten weeks, with a verdict yet to be issued.
City deny all the charges, which broadly relate to the club breaching profit and sustainability rules by disguising payments made by their owners as sponsorship, plus handing players and managers undeclared salaries or bonuses.
It has been 15 months since any update has been given on the case, but does Chelsea’s punishment give some sort of idea as to the potential sanctions that City could face, should they be found guilty?
From a macro perspective, City may hope that Chelsea’s punishment of a significant fine, plus a suspended transfer ban, could indicate a reluctance to issue a points deduction - something City would be desperate to avoid.
That would discount the possibility of City being relegated from the Premier League, but the truth is that these two legal cases are both very different beasts and little can be read into the Chelsea punishment.
One mitigating factor in the Chelsea case is that the club self-reported the potential breaches and cooperated fully with the authorities, which is likely to have been a factor in the final punishment.
The Premier League also stated that Chelsea would not have breached their profitability and sustainability rules during the applicable seasons even if the payments had been registered, meaning a points deduction was not seen as an appropriate punishment.
In the City case, we know very little about the exact process of the 2024 hearing, with Premier League rules dictating that no updates will be given until a decision is made, with both sides of the case respecting this.
In fact, it is not known what will happen when the hearing panel reach their decision and whether or not they will recommend any specific punishments or just weigh in on whether rules were breached or not. From that follows questions over whether punishments are suspended or not and any appeals process.
So while the Premier League have shown their teeth in the financial aspect of Chelsea’s punishment, it’s hard to argue that we are any more the wiser when it comes to a resolution in Manchester City’s three-year-and-running case.
