Manchester City chairman Mubarak says he remains confident the club will prove its innocence after being found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules.
The news was revealed on Friday The vast majority of the 115 charges brought against City by the Premier League relate to a series of breaches between 2009 and 2018, including claims that City’s sponsorship revenue was not paid by agreed companies and that City made off-the-books payments to players and staff.
City have maintained their innocence throughout the process and insisted on Friday they had not yet received a final decision and expected to appeal. In a statement to supporters on the club’s website, Al Mubarak added that he believed the process still had a long way to go and he remained confident the club would be vindicated.
“Following Friday’s media coverage, many of you will have spent the evening answering questions and responding to messages from friends, family and colleagues,” he said. “Me too. This is what I say to my family: there is still a long way to go in the Premier League and our confidence and determination to prove the club’s innocence is as strong as when we started.”
“There are many things I would like to share with you to help you understand why we are so confident in our position. But the strict confidentiality of the legal process and our determination to respect it means I cannot do so at this time. Even this letter has been subject to multiple legal checks to ensure it complies.”
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Al Mubarak went on to say the club was being undermined, with City’s initial response saying they expected the Premier League board and executives to “behave as an independent, impartial and impartial regulator without partisan influence”.
Mubarak said: “While some are quick to jump to their own conclusions and there is too much noise around us, nothing has changed. We have faced challenges together before and won. There are still many who want to disrupt the momentum of our club. We will not give them that chance.”
More than 24 hours after the news broke, the Premier League has yet to issue a formal statement on what it considers to be a private matter. City will have 14 days to lodge an appeal after receiving the final ruling from the independent panel, which will convene between September and December 2024. Premier League rules state that any appeal must be heard within a maximum of five days and decided within 12 weeks.
If the guilty verdict is upheld on appeal, sanctions that could be imposed by the panel include fines, suspensions, points deductions or expulsion from the Premier League.