Manchester City are making headlines.
Despite the international break, the Etihad club dominates the debate.
The fact that Manchester City have won all 7 of their matches this season, including 5 in the Premier League, is not the reason for the headlines.
Instead, of course, were the findings of an independent commission after being tasked with reviewing 115 alleged breaches of Premier League rules.
Manchester City’s lawyers managed to delay the verdicts for years, but this international break saw official guilty verdicts announced for more than 100 offences.
However, The Times exclusively claims the rival Premier League clubs are determined to see the appeals process carried out in time and the guilty verdicts not overturned, with the sanctions imposed in time for the 2027/28 season.
The Times reports: “The breaches involved artificially boosting their income by more than £900m over nine years through ‘fraudulent’ sponsorship deals. Manchester City’s rivals will demand that the case against the club be completed by the end of the season for the sanctions to come into effect for the 2027-28 season. A club boss told The Times that extending the case until next season would be ‘unacceptable’ and with the timetable for appeals new Premier League rules should apply.
Manchester City last Thursday, October 1, Martyn Ziegler told The Times: “Under the new Premier League rules for this season, the appeals process must be completed within 12 weeks and a result delivered within 30 days, meaning the case could be closed by the end of January. Any sanctions could be appealed, but would face similar time limits. However, City’s lawyers could argue that the case was already underway before the new rules were agreed, as the new timetables should not apply. The club’s chief executive Soriano told European club chiefs on Monday that work would still take “a long time”.
The man from The Times added: “Now the verdicts have been announced, but other top clubs believe it cannot continue. One leading club boss said: “There should be new rules on appeals timetables. We’ve all waited too long and it’s time for it all to end. In the opinion of many clubs, after all this time it would simply be unacceptable to go beyond the end of the season.”
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