Now it’s official: for an independent commission, Guardiola’s former club has hidden costs of 900 million pounds. A short appeal and final verdict that could erase a decade of Citiziens history.
End of the rumors and rumors chasing each other. Manchester City is facing sanctions that risk compromising its present and future for having been found guilty of serious financial violations in the period from 2009 to 2018. Also to take a firm position, erasing the accusation of wanting to cover up the scandal to avoid being overwhelmed by it, it was the Premier League that made official the verdict of the work of the independent commission which in recent years has tried to clarify the sea of documents that became public after the Der Spiegel scoops.
The last piece is missing, in addition to the foreseeable one of an appeal by Manchester City who continue to profess the correctness of their behavior. What is not yet known are the sanctions that City faces which could also concern the revocation of the many titles won in that period, the subject of the investigation, or touch on the current situation of Maresca’s team. When will the decisions arrive? The Premier League doesn’t communicate it, but the feeling is of an acceleration.
The Premier League statement: Manchester City guilty
Here is the statement with which the English league definitively clarified the outcome of the work of the independent board which has worked on the Manchester City issue for years:
“An independent commission has found Manchester City FC guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules over a period of nine seasons, and of the majority of charges relating to failure to cooperate with the League’s investigation.
The Independent Commission found that between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons:
- Manchester City entered into “fictitious” contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with several commercial partners, and made use of “fictitious” agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs;
- The club presented falsified financial statements and hid the true financial situation from auditors and football regulators;
- Manchester City have significantly breached both Premier League and Uefa spending limits;
- During the Premier League’s investigation, Manchester City committed multiple breaches of its obligations of cooperation and utmost good faith to the League (three of the four alleged breaches were confirmed).
The Independent Commission found that Manchester City entered into fictitious commercial agreements with several sponsors during the period in question, as part of a hidden funding scheme, under which these companies were only required to pay a portion of the expected sponsorship fees. The remainder was financed by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owns the club. Under this system, further fictitious agreements, financed by ADUG, were concluded to allow the club to record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred, as well as a fictitious circular agreement with Fordham, an entity that purchased the image rights of the club’s players, financed by ADUG.
It emerged that the aim of these ploys was to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs by more than £900 million during the period in question, in order to appear compliant with financial regulations. The consequence of this, as found by the Commission, was that the club presented falsified financial statements and concealed the real financial situation from the auditors and football control bodies. The Commission concluded that “By its conduct, the club clearly intended to circumvent the Premier League rules.”
As a result, Manchester City did not correctly report its income and expenditure for the purposes of the Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules and UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play rules. The Commission found that, if all relevant agreements had been correctly reported in the club’s financial statements, the club would have materially breached the spending limits of both the League and UEFA.
Furthermore, over the course of the four-year investigation conducted by the Premier League, the club committed multiple breaches of its obligations of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League. The Commission concluded that the club has “made concerted efforts to stop and obstruct the Premier League investigation.”
MANCITY GUILTY: HERE’S WHAT HE RISKS
The leaders of the Premier League: now the sanctions against Manchester City
Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, said: “The main decision sets out the facts that occurred at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically breached Premier League rules for almost a decade.”
“This also confirms the validity of the Premier League’s decision to prosecute Manchester City in this case. While the process so far has been long and difficult, the League remains determined that the facts are established independently.”
“One of the Premier League’s key responsibilities is to ensure that the Laws, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition. It is vital that the Championship remains competitive and fair for all clubs and fans. We take this role extremely seriously.”
“This disciplinary proceedings, and this decision, are the most significant in the history of the Premier League. There are still elements to be defined, including, crucially, the determination of the sanction to be imposed for these breaches. Now that we have the Commission’s decision, we are committed to proceeding quickly with the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the League, our clubs and our fans“.
Manchester City, what happens now
Also in the official press release from the Premier League it is also possible to find out what the will of the board of the richest and most famous football tournament in the world is, forced to take a position in order not to end up overwhelmed by the scandal itself:
“The League can publish the Principal Decision because the Commission has determined (and an Appeals Committee has confirmed) that the Commission’s decision is a ” final award”. Now that the allegations have been proven, the issue of sanctions will be addressed separately in a further hearing with the Independent Commission. In accordance with Premier League regulations, this hearing will remain private and confidential until the outcome is permitted to be published.
The club has the right to appeal the findings of the Independent Commission and has until Friday 2 October to exercise this right. The intention of the Premier League board of directors is that the entire process (including any appeals and the publication of the relevant decisions) will be concluded as soon as possible.”
