Glasner urges quick end to Manchester City saga and fears damage to Premier League

· Guardian-Football

Forest manager believes football fans may ‘switch off’ ‘The most important thing is the integrity of the league’ Oliver Glasner has said Manchester City being found guilty of arranging “sham contracts” has damaged the Premier League brand globally and believes the integrity of the English top flight is under threat. The Nottingham Forest head coach said the league faces a job to repair its image and suggested supporters might switch off after City were found to have artificially inflated their income by more than £900m.

Oliver Glasner has said Manchester City being found guilty of arranging “sham contracts” has damaged the Premier League brand globally and believes the integrity of the English top flight is under threat.

The Nottingham Forest head coach said the league faces a job to repair its image and suggested supporters might switch off after City were found to have artificially inflated their income by more than £900m.

City have appealed against last week’s seismic judgment of an independent commission that they broke financial rules across a nine-year period. If City’s appeal fails, the panel could determine a range of sporting sanctions, including expulsion from the league and point deductions. Glasner said the case must be finalised “as soon as possible” to protect the competition’s integrity.

Glasner cited his experience of Crystal Palace being demoted from the Europa League at the court of arbitration for sport (Cas) last year for breaking Uefa’s multi-club ownership rules as an example of how legal processes can drag.

> “Let’s wait until the final verdict is spoken, but my wish is just that this is quick,” Glasner said. “Because we didn’t know with Palace if we were in the Europa League or Conference League and then it was ‘you will hear on Thursday’ and then that became Monday, because it was always delayed. Then we got the final verdict 10 days before the Conference League started.

> “And that’s why I think this must be [completed] as soon as possible. There is still damage for the Premier League, not just in England. It’s a big topic all over the world, especially in Europe. The most important thing is the integrity of the league because as soon as the fans can’t trust it, they won’t watch it any more.”

Last week Aston Villa’s Unai Emery became the first Premier League manager to discuss the City case. “If other clubs had been artificially inflated and that were now coming to light, there would obviously be some damage,” Emery said, in an interview published with Spanish outlet Diario de Sevilla. “That is something for the courts and the relevant authorities to decide.

> “I feel sorry because of the way that [City] team played. Under [Pep] Guardiola, there were times when they were unmatched.”

City deny wrongdoing and formally lodged an appeal last Thursday. “The club’s firm position is that, on multiple grounds, the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe,” a City statement read.

> “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. We will continue to respect due process and are necessarily restricted in what we can say further until all proceedings are complete.”

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