Man City receive Premier League expulsion update as two top club chiefs make feelings clear

· Mirror

Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of the Premier League financial regulations during a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018

Executives from two top clubs have reportedly admitted that they would be 'staggered' if 15 clubs wanted to expel Manchester City from the Premier League. Although rival clubs are pushing for severe ramifications for City's cheating, the two high-profile figures believe it would be 'commercial suicide' to boot the club out of the top flight.

On Tuesday, the Premier League said that City had been found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of its financial regulations between 2009/10 and 2017/18. They included that City artificially inflated revenue by more than £900million through 'sham' sponsorship deals.

City, however, have denied any wrongdoing and intend to appeal by the end of this week. The club believe they are "innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League" and say they have "a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" to support their case.

Although City have been found guilty, the punishment is yet to be decided. Some have called for City to be relegated from the top-flight this season, while others feel an even harsher sporting punishment should be handed out to the eight-time Prem winners. Alongside that, more points deductions, transfer bans and heavy fines have been suggested as other potential sanctions.

But now, according to Sky Sports, two senior executives at different top-level Premier League clubs have said that they would be "staggered" and "amazed" if 15 clubs were prepared to vote to kick out Manchester City from the league, with such a move described as a potential "self-inflicted commercial disaster".

Expulsion from the Premier League is one possible punishment that the independent commission could consider, but if clubs voted against such a decision, another sanction is set to be put in place instead.

Discussions, meanwhile, remain ongoing between and within bosses of other Premier League clubs about how they would react to developments, with a number of them considering their own legal positions with regard to a potential financial claim against City.

But many rival clubs consider City such a key part of the commercial attraction of the Premier League, both in the United Kingdom and across the globe, that if rival clubs voted to throw them out, it would cost them a huge amount of revenue per season.

> "If Man City were expelled, that would have massive commercial consequences for everyone in the league, and ultimately it would cost the other clubs an awful lot of money," one unnamed executive told Sky Sports.

Apart from this, there is a counter-feeling among some top clubs that City remaining in the Premier League would be damaging to the brand and integrity of the competition. Therefore, an extended period outside the top flight for City would be needed to maintain the league's global image in the long term.

Gary Neville, meanwhile, feels the only 'fair' punishment for City is for their billionaire owners to be removed. He said:

> "Manchester City will recover as a football club because Manchester City have been there longer than these owners, they'll be there long after them, and it's got an immense history. > > "Points deductions, fines, transfer bans, removing the titles - not giving them to others, just removing the titles - it's significant punishments. The only punishment that would be fair would be have huge consequences - the biggest consequence - would be removing the owners. > > "That is the only consequence if I was Manchester City that I would be worried about. And as a fan of Manchester City, if you wanted to keep the investment that you've currently got, that would be the one I'd be most concerned about.

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