Man City charges LIVE: CEO speaks out on verdict, Erling Haaland wish granted, punishment latest

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The latest news on Manchester City's charges after the club were found guilty of alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules

Hello and welcome to Mirror Football's Manchester City charges live blog for Wednesday, September 30.

The Premier League officially announced the club's guilty verdict on 114 breaches of financial rules on Tuesday afternoon, four days after media reports broke the news.

A statement from the league read:

> "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."

As a result, City have until Friday, October 2 to appeal the decision, which the club are likely to do as they continue to protest their innocence.

Manchester City also released a statement of their own in the wake of the Premier League's confirmation. It read:

> "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."

Stay tuned for the latest news and updates in our live blog below as the saga continues to unfold...

City have just days to appeal

As per the Premier League's statement, Manchester City have until just Friday, October 2 to appeal the independent panel's verdict. The club are expected to do so, having continually claimed their innocence ever since being slapped with the charges three years ago.

Richard Masters speaks about situation

Richard Masters, who is the chief executive of the leaguie, 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.”

Premier Leaugue statement

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the Premier League confirmed Manchester City's guilty verdict on breaches of financial rules. It read:

> "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’."

Good morning

Good morning and welcome to Mirror Football's Manchester City charges live blog for Wednesday, September 30.

Stay with us as we bring you all of the latest news and updates throughout the day.

Thanks for joining us!

That brings an end to our live coverage of the Manchester City 115 charges case for today, but we'll be back tomorrow morning with all the latest developments, updates and opinions.

Roy Keane sends brutal 'medals in the bin' message to Man City stars after 115 charges 'cheat'

Manchester United legend Roy Keane has claimed that he would put his medals “in the bin” if he were a Manchester City player, after the club was found guilty of financial breaches. The Premier League issued a statement on Tuesday confirming that City had been found guilty by an independent commission, following charges that were first issued back in 2023.

City issued a statement in response, maintaining their innocence, and outlined their intention to appeal the verdict, with a deadline set for Friday (October 2).

The charges brought against City by the Premier League relate to a nine-year spell between 2009 and 2018, during which time the club won three league titles, one FA Cup and three League Cups, and regularly competed in the Champions League. Keane has already called for City to be punished following the verdict, and has now sent a message to the players who have won major honours for the club.

'Entitled to a fair hearing'

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said Manchester City could be expelled from the Premier League following an independent commission's verdict finding them guilty of all charges relating to financial rule breaches.

The league has disclosed that City violated its financial regulations on a massive scale between 2009-10 and 2017-18 after orchestrating 'sham' commercial agreements as part of a concealed funding arrangement.

Nandy told Channel 5 News:

> "I don't want to preempt any kind of appeal process, and they are entitled to a fair hearing. But what I would say is that the ultimate sanction is very serious indeed. > > "I mean, a club can be expelled from the Premier League if these sorts of allegations are upheld, with obviously huge repercussions for everybody. > > "So there are very serious sanctions, and I think the bigger issue is how do we make sure that we have clearly understood rules that are upheld and applied consistently, and that we can move quickly when they're breached. > > "The Premier League is one of our greatest exports. It brings joy to millions of people, and we want to make sure that we protect it for the fans for the future."

'Beyond worst-case scenario'

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has warned that City's breaches have "gone far beyond the worst-case scenario that anybody initially envisaged".

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Maguire said:

> "If you Google what the word 'sham' means, I'm getting the words 'fake, false, fraud'. It's very, very significant. > > "I think the quantum of money involved – £900million over a nine-year period – is a staggering misstatement, and it looks like it's been a corroborative fraud. > > "The fact that the auditors were unaware of it, there must be collusion at the club. > > "I think it's gone far beyond the worst-case scenario that anybody initially envisaged."

Former Man City chairman speaks out

Former City chairman David Bernstein described the league's findings as "damning beyond belief", insisting that "the sanctions cannot just be financial".

Bernstein, who served five years in the position before his departure in 2003, went further by suggesting the club's board should "be suspended immediately".

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he said:

> "It is damning beyond belief. My immediate thoughts are, should the board continue? Should the people involved be suspended immediately? > > "Very, very serious. I think it's really terrible. There's a school of thought with lawyers that is 'deny, deny, deny', but this is a football club that is part of a league and the whole credibility of the league is at stake here. > > "I would go as far [as to say it is a deep-seated form of fraud] and if it is, I'm not a lawyer but as a thought this is something so serious that it goes beyond the football authorities. > > "The sanctions cannot just be financial, so it's got to be way beyond that. If the appeal fails, Manchester City cannot stay in the league, they have to suffer. And I say that as a supporter and a fan."

'It's cheating'

Ian Wright says it's surreal seeing Manchester City's breaches of financial fair play laid out in writing after the Premier League released a statement.

Speaking ahead of England's clash with Czechia tonight, Wright told ITV Sport:

> "It's cheating on an industrial scale. It's quite surreal seeing it written down like that. > > "The amount of stick I've taken off that. Unprecedented punishment is required here. It's a massive day for the Premier League. They've taken on a whole country, massive. > > "Very messy. It's a problem for them to be going to Liverpool (in their next fixture). In their real time, Liverpool were the team chasing them down. Look at what Jurgen Klopp went through to break them - it probably broke him. It's so sad. It's probably going to get very litigious."

Every word from Ferran Soriano to Man City staff

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