Kieran Maguire
Football finance expert

Gary, Hebden Bridge: Is there any chance this could be resolved by the end of the season?

There is a very high chance it will be resolved by the end of the season. Because if it is not, we could end up in another situation very similar to that of Burnley and Everton where a club could be relegated and Manchester City are not given a deduction. And next season, a club that finished in 18th could say had that deduction been applied earlier, we wouldn't have been relegated. So that would add to the complications.

Certainly looking at the Premier League's press release itself, it does seem that it is very keen to resolve it as quickly as possible. If you take a look at the length of time that it took the commissions in respect to Nottingham Forest and Everton, once they have heard the evidence, applying the sanctions is the quickest part. It's listening to evidence in the torturous process.

Kieran Maguire
Football finance expert

Andrew, Manchester: Is there any chance that HMRC will investigate fraud or illegality from Manchester City?

I think it's unlikely because in theory, there could have been an underpayment of PAYE or National Insurance as far as some of the parallel contracts are concerned. But at the same time, had City not been cheating the system, they wouldn't be in a place to pay the actual high wages which they were able to pay which were on the basis of the sponsorship money coming from the owner and not from the sponsors themselves.

HMRC might consider it but there is not a lot for them to go on. There is certainly no corporation tax to recover football clubs lose money and City would have lost more money had it not been for the activities it undertook.

Staying with the back pages, over at the Mirror, they have been even more direct, splashing a headline that reads "Shameless".

Writing for the Mail, Oliver Holt, meanwhile, has called for any punishment for Manchester City to fit the scale of the 'crime'.

Image source, Mirror

Image source, Mail

The Telegraph says Manchester City could be thrown out of the Premier League for the "cheating scandal".

The Times also note that City's Premier League rivals, who were left "stunned and shocked", are already discussing whether the Abu Dhabi-backed club should be removed from the top flight.

Image source, Express

Image source, Telegraph

Image source, Times

So how did the papers react to confirmation that Manchester City are guilty of breaching the Premier League financial rules?

From "£900m sham" on The i to Star Sport's "We Are The ShamPions", today's headlines leave little doubt about the reputational damage the verdict has caused the club.

Image source, The i

Image source, Star back page

Manchester City

According to the Premier League, Manchester City have the right to appeal the independent commission’s findings and have until Friday, 2 October to exercise that right.

Manchester City

• November 2018: Football Leaks allegations emerge with Der Spiegel publishing claims Manchester City breached financial fair play rules.
• March 2019: Uefa launches a formal investigation off the back of Der Spiegel's findings.
• May 2019: City criticise the investigation and launch an appeal process.
• November 2019: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) deems City's appeal inadmissible.
• February 2020: Uefa announces a two-year ban for City from European competitions and a €30m fine.
• July 2020: City's European ban is overturned after an appeal to Cas.
• July 2021: City lose a jurisdiction ruling that allows the media to report the Premier League is continuing to investigate the champions for alleged financial breaches.
• April 2022: Der Spiegel publishes a fresh report claiming the Premier League has been investigating the club for three years, providing detailed claims.
• February 2023: The Premier League charges City with 115 financial breaches.
• September 2024: The start of a 10-week hearing between the Premier League and City on the 115 charges.
• February 2025: City manager Pep Guardiola says the club expect to learn the verdict "within one month". Guardiola left the Etihad at the end of last season.
• 25 September 2026: Reports emerge that a verdict has been reached, with sources telling the BBC that City have been found guilty of breaking the majority of the charges.
• 29 September 2026: Premier League releases its findings via an independent commission and confirms the guilty verdicts.

Premier League

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)

We'll break all those things down for you with the statement from the Premier League.

Premier League

Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, 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."

Manchester City

Manchester City have responded to the Premier League statement with a statement of their own:

"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."

BBC Radio 5 Live

Nicky Campbell is hosting a Manchester City charges special on BBC Radio 5 Live right now.

Listen along at the top of the page.

Premier League

In relation to the 'sham' contracts, the Premier League statement says:

"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'."

The sham commercial deals were described as being part of a "disguised funding scheme" to the scale of £830.69m.

The panel also found Manchester City guilty of all charges except one relating to non-cooperation with the Premier League investigation.

The sham commercial deals were described as being part of a "disguised funding scheme" to the scale of £830.69m.

On Tuesday the Premier League confirmed that Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges related to breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

An independent Commission found that during that time period, the club arranged "sham contracts" with a number of its commercial partners, as well as "relying on sham agreements to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs".

The statement also said that City were guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate.

The Premier League published a redacted version of the commission's report, which said the charges "concerned well over 100 alleged individual breaches of Premier League Rules across four broad charge categories".

Good morning.

Yesterday the Premier League confirmed that Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges related to breaches of the Premier League's financial rules.

City maintain their innocence and say they will appeal the ruling.

We'll have all the latest reaction coming up right here.

Image source, Getty Images