Falsified revenues and salary manipulation: shocking leak reveals details of Manchester City's deception of the Premier League

A British newspaper has dropped a bombshell. An independent judicial commission set up by the Premier League has found Manchester City guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them, in the biggest financial scandal in the history of English football.

The ruling follows more than three years of secret, drawn-out investigations. The Premier League launched them in February 2023 over suspicions that the club had systematically manipulated its financial accounts across nine complete seasons.

City's fate still hangs in the balance despite the gravity of the conviction. According to "The Sun", the club are expected to lodge an immediate appeal, and the commission has yet to decide on the punishment. The options range from a huge fine to a points deduction that could knock them out of the competition, right up to the ultimate penalty of expulsion and relegation from the Premier League.

Under Article W.82 of the League's regulations, all proceedings before the commission are subject to complete confidentiality and held behind closed doors. The final decision and any penalties will be published officially on the League's website under Article W.82.2.

So what are the 115 charges that brought down the champions of England?

The indictment documents reveal that this is not a single breach. It spans five wide-ranging files of financial corruption, stretching from the 2009/2010 season through to 2022/2023:

First: the biggest charge, misleading the League over its true revenues (54 charges)

Here lies the heart of the case. The Premier League accuse the club of deliberately providing inaccurate and misleading financial information on revenues, sponsorship contracts and operating costs across nine consecutive seasons from 2009 to 2018.

These breaches cover Articles B.13, C.71, C.72, E.3, E.4, E.11, E.12 and others, all of which oblige every club to be fully transparent in its budgets.

Second: the secret contracts scandal, hiding the coach's and players' salaries (14 charges)

City stand accused of concealing the full details of their coach's and players' salaries from the League through secret contracts and undisclosed payments.

Coaches' salaries: in the period from 2009 to 2013, relating to the contract of former coach Roberto Mancini, under Articles Q.7 and P.7.

Players' salaries: in the period from 2010 to 2016, where the club failed to include the full details of its players' wages in the official contracts submitted to the League, under Articles K.12, T.12 and T.13.

Third: breaching UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules (5 charges)

City were accused of violating the club licensing and Financial Fair Play regulations of UEFA in every season from 2013/14 to 2017/18, under Articles B.14.6 and B.15.6. This is the same charge for which they were previously punished at European level.

Fourth: exceeding the limits of profitability and sustainability (7 charges)

These are the rules that stop clubs making losses beyond the permitted limit. The club failed to comply with the Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in the seasons from 2015/16 to 2017/18, under Articles E.52 to E.60.

Fifth: obstructing justice, failing to cooperate with the investigation (35 charges)

This is the most serious ethically. Since December 2018 and up to today, the Premier League accuse City's management of refusing to cooperate, obstructing the investigations and failing to provide the required documents and information in good faith, across five consecutive seasons from 2018/19 to 2022/23, under Articles B.15, B.16, W.1, W.2, W.15.

The League insists the judicial commissions are completely independent of both the League and the clubs. Their members are appointed by the independent chair of the Premier League's judicial panel under Articles W.19, W.20 and W.26, guaranteeing the integrity of the ruling.

Now the ball is in Manchester City's court. An appeal statement is awaited, and the fate of titles and trophies built over 14 years hangs in the balance. The football world waits for the final word that could redraw the map of English football entirely.

Click here to read article