Tag Archives: Premier League

Manchester City Statement on the Charges

City have now issued a statement:

Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission, that has been published today. 

The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case.  The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums. 

The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted.   Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe. 

The Club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.  

The Club is obviously restricted in what it can say further until all future proceedings are complete.

https://www.mancity.com/news/club/manchester-city-club-statement-premier-league-63926128

The Premier League Statement

The Premier League have issued this statement on the investigations into Manchester City. It may take a while to digest this and City have until Friday to lodge an appeal, so the process isn’t over yet. Here’s the League’s statement:

An independent Commission has found Manchester City FC guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.

The independent Commission found that between Seasons 2009/10 and 2017/18:
– Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on ‘sham’ agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs
– The club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators
– Manchester City was significantly in breach of both the Premier League’s and UEFA’s spending limits
– During the Premier League’s investigation, Manchester City committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League (three of the four alleged breaches were upheld)

The independent Commission found that Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the period, which were part of a disguised funding scheme, whereby those companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees. The remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club. As part of the scheme, further ‘sham’ arrangements, funded by ADUG, were entered into to enable the club to record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred, as well as a ‘sham’ circular arrangement with Fordham, an entity that purchased the club’s players’ image rights, that was funded by ADUG.

The purpose of these schemes was found to have been to artificially inflate the club’s revenues, and reduce its costs, by more than £900 million during the affected period, to appear to comply with financial rules. The consequence of this, as the Commission found, was that the club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators. The Commission concluded that ‘by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules‘.

As a result, Manchester City failed to accurately report its income and expenditure for the purposes of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules and UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Rules. The Commission found that, had all of the relevant agreements been reported accurately in the club’s accounts, it would have been in breach of both the League’s and UEFA’s spending limits by a very substantial amount.

In addition, during the course of the four-year investigation conducted by the Premier League, the club committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League. The Commission concluded that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the PL investigation’. 

Richard Masters, Chief Executive of the Premier League, said: “The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade.

“It also vindicates the Premier League’s decision to pursue this case against Manchester City.  While the process to date has been both long and difficult, the League has remained determined that the facts be established independently.

“It is a key responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the Rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition. It is paramount that the League remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans. We take that role extremely seriously.

“This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history. There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches. Now we have the Commission’s decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the League, our clubs and fans.”

The independent Commission’s findings are set out in a Core Decision, of which a redacted version has been published (click here). The Commission’s award comprises both the Core Decision and a large number of additional appendices, which the League is committed to publishing as soon as it is able.

The League is able to publish the Core Decision because the Commission has ruled (and an Appeal Board has confirmed) that the Commission’s decision is a ‘final award’.

Now that the charges have been proved, the issue of sanction will be addressed separately in a further hearing with the independent Commission. In accordance with Premier League rules, that hearing will remain private and confidential until such a time as publication of the outcome is permitted.

The club has the right to appeal the independent Commission’s findings and has until Friday 2 October to exercise that right.

The Premier League Board’s intention is that the full process (including any appeals and publication of relevant decisions) is concluded as soon as possible.

Notes to Editors

Premier League investigation, independent Commission process:

– The Premier League began its investigation into Manchester City in December 2018, and a complaint was subsequently issued under Section W of the League’s rules in February 2023
– The independent Commission held a 42-day hearing, which concluded in December 2024
– In explaining the length of time it had taken to provide the parties with a decision, the independent Commission wrote: ‘It has taken us much longer than we would have wished, and much longer than we had anticipated would be the case when the hearing concluded, to produce our Decision. That is regrettable. 

‘However, we were fortunate to have available to us throughout the period in which our Decision has been being prepared not only all of the documents that were used at the hearing but also 

(a) verbatim transcripts of the evidence given by each witness and expert at the hearing. Those transcripts ran to approximately 7,000 pages, and (b) extremely detailed written submissions from the parties (that they had supplemented orally over four days at the end of the hearing) on the evidence and each of the numerous issues that we were tasked with determining in the proceedings.’

Premier League investigations, independent Commissions, and Appeal Boards

– The Premier League Board has the power to investigate any suspected or alleged breach of Premier League Rules
– Where, following the conclusion of an investigation or otherwise, the Board believes that there is a suspicion or allegation of a Rule breach, it has a number of options available to it. One of these options is to issue a written complaint and refer the matter to a Commission
– The League has established an independent Judicial Panel, comprising a number of legal, financial and other experts
– Members of the Judicial Panel are appointed by its independent Chair. It is also the Chair of the Judicial Panel who selects members of the Judicial Panel to sit on Commissions, which are independent of the Premier League. The Chair of the Judicial Panel at the time of the Complaint in these proceedings was Murray Rosen KC. The current Chair of the Judicial Panel is Sir Gary Hickinbottom
– All proceedings convened under Section W of the Rules are confidential and heard in private
– The Commission appointed under Section W of the Rules has a broad discretion as to the sanctions it wishes to apply, the non-exhaustive list set out in rules includes fines, points deductions and other sporting sanctions
– Whenever a Commission makes what is described as a ‘final award’ in the rules, such decisions are published on the Premier League website
– A party to proceedings that wishes to challenge a decision of the Commission may do so under Section W of the Premier League Rules, by filing an appeal to be heard before an Appeal Board
– Appeal Boards are also appointed by the Chair of the Judicial Panel and must have three members, one of whom should have held judicial office, and would sit as the chair of the Appeal Board
– An Appeal Board has wide discretion in respect of the appeal, and may allow it, dismiss it, or make any other order that it thinks fit (including varying the order of Commission)

For further information on the disciplinary process, please see Section W of the Premier League Handbook.

Confidentiality 

– The disciplinary proceedings between the Premier League and the club have been confidential, as provided for in the League’s Rules
– Premier League Rules provide for the publication of the outcomes of final awards of Commissions
– It has recently been determined that certain aspects about the findings of the Commission in these proceedings may be published under the League’s Rules.
– At this stage, the Premier League is only permitted to publish a redacted version of the summary of the Commission’s ‘core findings’
– The process remains ongoing and any further information related to the proceedings that has not been published by the Premier League remains confidential. When the Premier League is able to do so under the League’s Rules – unless legally prevented from doing so – the Premier League will publish the full Decision and any further updates. In the meantime, all aspects of the ongoing process will be confidential

You can read the statement on the PL’s own site if you’re wondering whether this is accurate or not:

https://www.premierleague.com/en/news/4727779/premier-league-statement-manchester-city-fc

Four Titles in Five

On this day (22 May) in 2022 Manchester City beat Aston Villa 3-2 to win the Premier League in dramatic style. In 2012 whenCity won the League with that last day drama I thought ’ah, well we’ll never experience anything like that again. Next time it’ll feel different’ but then they did it again! As time goes by we tend to think of those incredible days as a great way to win the title but at the time it doesn’t feel like that! Here’s some of my film from that day:

Here’s a link to film of the game itself:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-3-2-aston-villa-extended-highlights-63788844

The 2021-22 season was an incredible season and we should always look back and remember that success (and all the others we’ve enjoyed). To win the Premier League you have to be the best, most consistent team that season. Winning the League – especially one that we are often told is the greatest in the League – is the mark of a truly great team.

Let’s not forget this success made it 4 titles in 5 seasons too! I know City ended up doing 4 in a row, but that is truly exceptional (and unique in England).

Years ago the great City coach Malcolm Allison told me that ‘it’s important to celebrate each success as if it’s your first because it could be your last.’ Never take anything for granted.

Associated Party Transaction Rules

So it’s been released today that the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules have been found to be unlawful. There’ll be a lot of claims and counter claims on what this all means but this article in the Times explains the APT verdict in a way that cannot be considered either MCFC-biased or PL-biased. It also shows the financial advantage Arsenal (& others) had by the shareholder loans rules in place. Very Interesting and perhaps shows why those rules had to be challenged:

https://www.thetimes.com/article/c11fc05b-b046-4f6e-b592-29fe7e359080?shareToken=00e535877a056b352ab094a56b7703ee

City have said:

 –        The Club has succeeded with its claim: the Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules have been found to be unlawful and the Premier League’s decisions on two specific MCFC sponsorship transactions have been set aside

–          The Tribunal found that both the original APT rules and the current, (amended) APT Rules violate UK competition law and violate the requirements of procedural fairness.

–          The Premier League was found to have abused its dominant position.

–          The Tribunal has determined both that the rules are structurally unfair and that the Premier League was specifically unfair in how it applied those rules to the Club in practice.

–          The rules were found to be discriminatory in how they operate, because they deliberately excluded shareholder loans.

–          As well as these general findings on legality, the Tribunal has set aside specific decisions of the Premier League to restate the fair market value of two transactions entered into by the Club.

–          The tribunal held that the Premier League had reached the decisions in a procedurally unfair manner.

–          The Tribunal also ruled that there was an unreasonable delay in the Premier League’s fair market value assessment of two of the Club’s sponsorship transactions, and so the Premier League breached its own rules.

The summary of the 164 judgement can be read here:

Click to access partial-final-award-p-164-redacted.pdf

The 1990s: The Super League!

The series of features covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with this reminder of the days when the creation of a Super League was leaked to the press. The Super League eventually became the Premier League and the key clubs behind the move were Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton and Manchester United. Much of the coverage from this period in 1991 focused on these clubs wanting to exert greater control on football’s finances, i.e. to carve up the game’s riches for the biggest clubs of the era. These cuttings are all from the start of April 1991.

Back then the Football League had four divisions and voting rights were equal for all clubs in the top two divisions (the ‘full members’ of the League, hence the Full Members Cup). The bottom two divisions were classed as associate members and they still had voting rights which many in the top division objected to. They felt the clubs outside the top flight should not control the League’s finances and direction.

It wasn’t the first time the establishment of a Super League had been discussed (usually it involved the idea of bringing leading Scottish clubs into a British league system) but it does appear to be the first time the leading clubs in the top division wanted to limit the influence of the others.

You can see from these articles who the leading architects were and how fans reacted. This piece quotes Frank Horrocks from the MCFC Supporters Club. Many of his concerns have proved to be true in the 30+ years that have followed:

All these years on there have been multiple attempts by certain clubs to limit the opportunities for others and create an environment where they can prosper without necessarily investing. Many of the financial issues between the rich and the rest in football that people talk of today were created as a result of the greed of several clubs in the early 1990s.

For Manchester City the 1990-91 season saw a shock managerial departure could have disrupted the club but ultimately they finished 5th, 3 points ahead of Manchester United. Here’s a 2,700 word article on that season:

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This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.

Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.

If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

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Carry On The Glory

‘They’ll carry on the glory of the City, keeping City in first place…’ It was appropriate yesterday that a banner appeared at the front of the South Stand with the words ‘Blue & white they go together, we will carry on forever more’. I’m sure some will think this is an arrogant, modern day boast but most Manchester City fans will recognise that the words come from the 1972 club song ‘The Boys in Blue’. It’s an iconic piece of Mancunian history and another Manchester icon, Alex Williams MBE, presented the Premier League trophy. These things are important. As was the pitch invasion (more of that later). It’s also worth noting, though it was generally missed yesterday, that the victory over Chelsea and trophy presentation came on the anniversary of the club first being accepted into the League as Manchester City back in 1894. No history? See:

A Momentous Event Held Here

Football clubs are often criticised and I get that. People have talked about money spent or the activities of managers and players over the generations but the truth is that a football club is a community of people. It unites a large cross section of society in a way that many other leisure activities do not. From the richest to the most disadvantaged a football club can touch all of society, or at least it can try if it wants to. Manchester City has tried and wanted to for generations now. And that is why selecting Alex Williams to make the presentation, supported by Tom O’Dell (see https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/city-2223-citc-trophy-lift-alex-williams-63820275 ), was important.

Alex received racist abuse from rivals throughout his playing career and has spent decades working for Manchester. He is a wonderful man, a truly nice guy and someone who absolutely dedicated his life working for Mancunians and those who for whatever reason needed support in some way. He quietly goes about his business and, though he has a MBE, he deserves national recognition at the highest level. Tom O’Dell is a young man who turned his life around via that connection with City in the Community – an organisation established in 1986 by a club whose community work stretches back many decades before this. In fact the club has been doing community work – though it didn’t see it as ‘work’ just being a responsible Mancunian business – since the start.

Manchester City, and other clubs of course, have a long history and legacy. They are here through the generations as an important element of the life of their city and, most importantly, the people. I am aware of three people (I’m sure there are more) who have witnessed every one of the 9 League titles City have won – Geoffrey Rothband, Eddie Bickerdike and the father of Margaret Core. I’ve interviewed Geoffrey before but I’d love to interview the others about their experiences. That continuity in football is important but it often gets overlooked by those who like to criticise. Incidentally, if you know someone who has seen all nine title successes and can talk about them then please get in touch. It would be great to record their memories of 1937 for example.

Yesterday was a wonderful day and a great celebration. I’d heard stories of potential punishments if there was a pitch invasion (some are still waffling on about that) and so, even though I’ve always supported peaceful, celebratory pitch invasions, I posted a tweet suggesting we heed the club’s warning. In the end I’m glad people didn’t and the pitch invasion is a wonderful exhibition of how much winning this trophy still matters. Some claim City fans have no passion or don’t care. That we’ve been spoilt. We all know that’s absolute rubbish and that pitch invasion, along with the other celebrations proved there is still a beating heart within City’s fan base.

Here’s the start of that pitch invasion:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/img_0870.mov

Malcolm Allison once said to me ‘celebrate every success as if it’s your first, because it could be your last’ and I think that’s a valid point. Most fans recognise that no football club dominates for ever (not in England anyway) and that success can be taken away at any point, so let’s make sure we always celebrate these moments as if they are our first.

There were so many positive moments yesterday and throughout the season that it’s impossible to pick out the best yet – and hopefully there’ll be a few more great moments in the weeks to come. Yesterday, I just loved seeing the players celebrate. It’s also telling just how many young fans were around the place or being interviewed by TV… It looks like City’s fanbase is going to continue to grow for some time. Maybe the stadium will need expanding again after the North Stand work is completed?

Oh, and finally, I loved capturing this moment. An excited Rico Lewis running away with the Premier League trophy:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/img_0884.mov

Title Winning Goal From The Villa End

Watch this film taken from the away section at the Etihad last week of Manchester City’s third (and title winning) goal. The celebrations are great to see from this end:

Those celebrations hey? Genuine, powerful, raw… it matters!

Congratulations Manchester City!

Every time City win a trophy in dramatic fashion I always think ’ah, well we’ll never experience anything like that again. Next time it’ll feel different’ but then they go and do something like today. As time goes by we’ll start to think of this as an incredible way to win the title. For now its more of a ’phew!’

Congratulations City. Great achievement and it’s been an incredible season. To win the Premier League you have to be the best, most consistent team that season. Cup competitions are important and it’s great winning them but ultimately winning the League – especially one that we are often told is the greatest in the League – is the mark of a truly great team. Brilliant work City.

Let’s not forget it’s 4 titles in 5 seasons too!

Years ago the great City coach Malcolm Allison told me that ‘it’s important to celebrate each success as if it’s your first because it could be your last.’ Let’s keep celebrating Blues. Never take anything for granted.