- After the champions were charged with 101 rule breaches, we take a look at what happens next
Accusations
The Premier League has charged Manchester City with 101 breaches of competition rules. The charges cover four areas: a failure to give “a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”; a failure to “include full details” of player and manager remuneration; breaches of national and continental financial fair play regulations; and a failure to “cooperate with, and assist, the Premier League in its investigations”. An independent commission will hear the charges.
What will happen next?
The Premier League has asked Murray Rosen KC (a sports mediator and arbitrator) to select a three-person panel to form the commission that will hear the charges. At least one member of this panel must be a financial expert. There is no timeframe on how long the commission will take to complete its work, Legal experts imagine a matter of months. The commission will also conduct the hearings in private.
After the commission publishes its verdict, either side can go to an appeals panel and, after that, arbitration. If all that fails, a party could also try to find an argument to take to the high court. Under the rules of association of the Premier League, there is no opportunity for either party to go to the court of arbitration for sport in Switzerland.
What kind of punishment could Manchester City face?
According to rule W.51 in the Premier League handbook, a commission has the ability to levy a wide range of sanctions against any club found to have broken the rules. These include fines, the docking of points and also suspension, or even expulsion, from the competition. In fact, sub-clause W.51.7 states that the commission can “impose upon the respondent any combination of the foregoing or such other penalty as it shall think fit”. The commission could even strip Manchester City of some League titles.
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