After an investigation that went on for eight years, the English Premier League (EPL) finally published its verdict on Manchester City’s 115 charges and found them guilty on 114 of them in what will go down in sporting history as one of its biggest scandals. The English top-division league published the verdict of an independent commission, which claimed that the Manchester-based club had breached almost every charge (114 of 115).
For those unversed, the investigation was kick-started against the club following a leak by a German website, Der Spiegel, which published internal emails suggesting financial wrongdoing at the club. The charges levelled at the city by the league were
54 charges — Failure to provide accurate financial information
14 charges — Failure to provide accurate information about player and manager payments
5 charges — Breaches of UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations
7 charges — Breaches of Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules
35 charges — Failure to cooperate with the Premier League investigation
Backdrop
It is worth noting that Manchester City were taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), which is owned by Sheikh Mansour, who is an Emirati Royal as well as the current vice president and deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Since the takeover, the club went into a significant spending spree and has won eight Premier League titles and as many League Cup titles, alongside four FA Cup titles and the UEFA Champions League during a historic treble-winning season in 2023. Before the ownership, the club had won only 11 trophies in their 128-year history.
The charges levelled by the EPL on the club were for a nine-year period from their takeover in the 2009/10 season to the 2017/18 season (when the emails were leaked)
The Verdict
The Premier League issued a strongly worded verdict claiming that the club breached financial regulations of the league by vastly exaggerating their revenue, which in turn led to higher spending on transfers, as it allowed them to spend more on transfers in order to avoid breaching the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) and Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). Incredibly, the word ‘Sham’ is written eight times in the 40-page verdict.
Disguised Funding Scheme
The core of the issue comes down to what the independent panel labelled as the ‘disguised funding scheme’, which essentially means that the sponsorship revenue shown in the books by the club was not actually paid by companies but instead by the club’s owners, ADUG. Moreover, the valuation was found to be above the ‘Fair Market Value’ (FMV). Essentially, the findings stated that equity investment from the owner was being treated as
The judgement reveals that in the 10-year period of the investigation, the club showed sponsorship revenue of £949.94 million based on companies from Abu Dhabi, but only £119.25 million (12.6%) was paid by the companies, while the remaining £830.69 million (87.4%) was directly invested by ADUG into the club. In fact, in the final two years of the investigation, the level of investment by ADUG was over 90% of the sponsorship.
PL reveals year-by-year split on sponsorship money to Manchester City paid by company and ADUG
Why Did Manchester City Take This Route And Their Justification
In the published verdict, the panel also explained the reason behind City adopting this scheme and claimed they were adamant; they did not want to break the ‘record single-season financial loss’ by a PL member club (Chelsea FC in 2006) of £140million.’ Moreover, the club estimated large losses for the next five years and had concerns over being able to comply with UEFA’s FFP rules.
The document also states that City claimed they misunderstood the sponsorship agreements with Abu Dhabi sponsors and the money paid to the club was entirely through the companies themselves, and the ‘Sponsors had from time to time applied for financial assistance from the AD Government towards their liability to pay the Recorded Sponsorship Fees.’
The independent panel rejected the explanation and claimed that ‘Club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to obscure and conceal the realities of the Disguised Funding Scheme.’
Project Longbrow
The investigation further revealed that the club initiated ‘Project Longbrow’ in 2012 in order to create a ‘multi-strand project whose purpose was to explore how the Club might boost its revenues and reduce its operating losses.’ The panel claimed that most of the project was genuine but had one glaring issue: the ‘Fordham arrangement’
In essence, this was a company the club used to buy players’ image rights, which would help the club record income after selling them. However, the commission concluded that it was an under-disguised scheme, with the company serving as a front for ADUG. In simple terms, the company that was buying image rights from the city was
Player And Manager Remuneration
Moreover, the commission also revealed that issues were found in which contracts of managers and players were not accurately reported. In one case, it was revealed that payments by three individuals from the club (£8.866million, £7.4million, and £500,000) were not recorded in their employment contracts but instead as consultancy agreements with another entity. While the official document has redacted the names, it is largely believed that the first two names are of 2012 league-winning head coach Roberto Mancini and legendary player Yaya Toure.
Dishonest Witness
Perhaps the most shocking part of the verdict comes from the hearing itself, as the commission has accused certain witnesses of having given evidence at the hearing which they knew to be untrue and so had been dishonest.’
What Next?
Manchester City have been allowed to appeal the verdict by the Premier League till Friday (October 2). The club issued a strong statement reacting to the verdict and continues to claim innocence. Meanwhile, sanctions are yet to be decided, but the scale of the crimes suggests a very harsh penalty headed to the Manchester-based club if they cannot overturn the verdict. However, while this case cannot go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, they can appeal it in the High Court if their appeal to the league does not give a favourable verdict.
In all, there is no precedent for the scale of Manchester City’s charges, and it will be recorded in history as one of sport’s biggest sporting scandals. The league called it ‘the most significant in its history.’