Last week, Manchester City began their legal battle against the Premier League. With several soccer fans around the world waiting to see what the verdict will be, it is important to know how this began.
The Premier League has charged the reigning league champions with over 100 breaches of rules between the 2009-2010 season and the 2022-2023 season. The charges include the breaking of financial fair play rules, a failure to include details of player and manager contracts, a failure to give accurate reports of the club’s finances, and a failure to cooperate with the Premier League during its investigation. These breaches, along with City’s dominance during that time, has raised questions about what their punishment would be for their actions.
Murray Rosen KC, the head of the Premier League’s independent judicial panel, has selected three people to hear the charges. The hearings will be conducted privately with many believing it will take up to ten weeks before the final verdict is announced. Once the verdict is public, appeals can be issued by either side which can lead to arbitration. It can be assumed that regardless of what the verdict is, one side will likely issue an appeal.
Many fans, analysts, and other members of the media have long been speculating on what City could be issued. This has ranged from points deductions to suspension from competitions with former Liverpool striker Sean Collimore stating that the club should be relegated down to the National League, the fifth tier in the English Football League. This would force the club to sell most of their better players as they would likely want to keep playing at the highest level.
The biggest loser in this trial is English football. If City are to be proven innocent, many theories will arise as to why the club was innocent with many questioning the integrity of both the Premier League and football as a whole. However, if City were to be charged with an extreme punishment such as having their league titles erased, most of the Premier League’s recent history will be gone which will lead to many questions as to why action was not taken earlier.
