Premier League confirm Man City guilty of all charges related to breaches of financial rules - read full news story here
Man City arranged "sham contracts" with number of commercial partners as part of scheme to disguise secret funding over more than £830m
Statement says City were guilty of majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate - but exact figure not given
Man City continue to deny any wrongdoing
Premier League
The word "sham" is used eight times in the 40-page Premier League report.
"The club knew that the annual accounts that it was submitting to the Premier League in each season did not provide a true and fair view of the club’s financial position, alternatively the club was reckless as to whether those annual accounts provided a true and fair view."
Ben Croucher
BBC Sport journalist on the BBC News Channel
Manchester City have been answering 115 charges, they have been found guilty of all of the financial breaches and a majority of the total breaches against them which include failing to co-operate with the Premier League investigation between December 2018 and February 2023 when they were charged by the Premier League.
The scale of this is absolutely unprecedented, not necessarily just within the Premier League, not just necessarily within English football but indeed all of sport. That is how significant and how serious this is.
Image source, Getty ImagesWhat on earth is Pep Guardiola thinking tonight?
Manchester City fan and host of the Blue Moon podcast, David Mooney on BBC Radio 5 Live: "The book needs to be thrown at the club at this stage. If they are not successful on appeal, they've lied to the fans, the football bodies, everyone. The outcome of that is that everyone has the right to be angry at them."
Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent
If you had the impression that the saga over Manchester City's 115 charges was almost over, think again.
Two years since the hearing began, the Premier League has confirmed that City have been found guilty of all charges related to breaches of its financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.
City have said they are "innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League" and would pursue "appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe."
It appears the chaos and uncertainty is only going to increase now.
City fans, and the rest of football, are left to guess what the punishment might be. And when this all might reach a definitive conclusion.
Kieran Maguire on potential sanctions for Man City
Ben Croucher
BBC Sport journalist on the BBC News Channel
The Premier League want to act decisively and show that there is a real cost to the actions that Manchester City have undertaken but they also need to protect the integrity of their competition as well.
If they stripped Manchester City of their titles during that period that would look very bad for the Premier League. If they kicked out one of their biggest clubs, that would look very bad on the Premier League.
There is a very fine line that the Premier League will need to tread over the course of the next few months and the next few weeks potentially.
You suspect all of that will wait with Manchester City signalling their intention to appeal.
Ben Croucher
BBC Sport journalist on the BBC News Channel
The Premier League has four or five options available to them in terms of sanctions.
They have a reprimand which would essentialy equate to a slap on the wrist - you suspect that that many not happen in a case as severe as this.
They could issue a heavy fine which you suspect would come in to play and indeed many of the Premier League clubs, we know, have been investigating legal avenues to explore lost revenues as a case of Manchester City's conduct during this period.
They could receive points deductions, whether that be retrospectively or coming into future seasons as well.
They could also be kicked out of the Premier League entirely, they could be hit with a transfer ban too.
All of these options are available to the Premier League but right now we do not know how they are going to act. We know they want to act swiftly but the Premier League are in a very difficult position.
If Manchester City fail in their appeal and are removed from the Premier League, where will Erling Haaland be playing next season?
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Manchester City chairman David Bernstein on Radio 5 Live: "It is damming beyond belief. My immediate thoughts are, should the board continue? Should the people involved be suspended immediately?
"Very, very serious. I think it's really terrible. There's a school of thought with lawyers that is deny, deny, deny, but this is a football club that is part of a league and the whole credibility of the league is at stake here.
"I would go as far [to stay it is a deep-seated form of fraud] and if it is, I'm not a lawyer but as a thought this is something so serious that it goes beyond the football authorities.
"The sanctions cannot just be financial, so it's got to be way beyond that. If the appeal fails, Manchester City cannot stay in the league, they have to suffer. And I say that as a supporter and a fan."
Image source, Getty ImagesThe question everyone wants to know: will Manchester City be allowed to remain in the Premier League after this?
Kieran Maguire
Football finance expert on X
The Premier League commission accuses some witnesses of giving false evidence and being dishonest.
Mark Ogden
Senior writer for ESPN on X
The wording of the Premier League statement is so brutal that if Manchester City fail to win their appeal, the sanctions will be enormous.
This is a complex story - one that could define this Premier League era - with a lot of key players and a lot of complicated information.
For the full story on the 115 charges, what has happened, who is involved and everything else you need to know, head over to our in depth piece here.
Premier League
Image source, Getty ImagesIn 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.
Tony Pulis
Former Stoke City manager and BBC Sport columnist
When do we get our FA Cup?
That is what all Stoke City fans have been asking me since the news broke on Friday that Manchester City had been found guilty of breaking the majority of the 115 financial rules they have been accused of breaching.
I thought exactly the same.
While the process is far from over because Manchester City are expected to appeal, I have to say this verdict and the whole situation has left a very sour taste in my mouth.
Taking my Stoke side to the 2011 FA Cup final was one of the highlights - if not THE highlight - of my 50 years in football as a player and manager.
That day in May will also live long in the memory of all Stoke fans who followed their team to Wembley dreaming that they would win the greatest club cup competition in world football for the first time in their long history.
The club we were playing, Manchester City, were on their way to dominating English football.
At that time they had not won a major trophy for 35 years but they were a team that, in transfer fees and wages, cost well above anything Stoke City could ever aspire to.
BBC News Channel
Lisa Nandy, the Culture, Media and Sport secretary, has been speaking to the BBC News Channel.
"It’s incredibly serious, the Premier League report is incredibly stark," she said.
"Manchester City have the right to appeal. This is causing a lot of concern for City fans and all fans of Premier League football."
You can watch reaction on the BBC News Channel live at the top of this page now.
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.
BBC Radio 5 Live
Image source, Getty ImagesOn BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club, former Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart said: "I've heard everyone else go down every single rabbit hole, every single wormhole, every single discussion.
"My honest opinion is I've got no reason not to trust Khaldoon Al Mubarak (club chairman). What he said is enough for me.
"I loved how he spoke. I loved the letter because that was from someone who cared about the club."
Read more here: Hart trusts Man City chair Al Mubarak over ruling.
