When the news came, it was in a seemingly bland statement that wasn’t even the lead story on the Premier League website. The Premier League had been investigating alleged breaches of its financial regulations by Manchester City for four years, but there had been no prior indication that today would be the day when charges were brought, or that there would be more than 100 alleged breaches. Exactly what they mean, though, or when there could be consequences, remains unclear.
City released a breezy statement, and said it was not concerned. The club insisted it was “surprised” by the news, “particularly given the extensive engagement and vast amount of detailed materials that the EPL has been provided with.” Nonetheless it welcomes the inquiry as “we look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all.” Which might be more convincing if City hadn’t been charged by the Premier League with a failure to cooperate, the one offense for which it was eventually punished by UEFA.
The club was banned from the Champions League for two years by UEFA in February 2020 for breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations, only for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to determine on appeal that “most of the alleged breaches were either not established or time-barred.” There is no time-barring in the Premier League regulations, nor is there any recourse to CAS.
