Members of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ are reportedly pushing hardest to see Manchester City handed the severest punishment for breaching more than 100 financial rules.
In a bombshell announcement on Monday, the Premier League charged City with more than 100 financial rule breaches,
Should Man City be found guilty, they face a range of potential sanctions including a points deduction or even an expulsion – though it could take years to come to a conclusion.
Sky Sports News have now reported that members of the ‘Big Six’ – which includes Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United – have been eager to see City given the harshest punishment.
The report adds there is a growing sentiment that the retrospective action of stripping City’s titles is ‘meaningless’ and a fine is ‘not likely to have much of an effect’.
City have won six of the last 11 Premier League titles and sympathy from Big Six rivals is likely to be in short supply now.
The charges against the reigning champions relate to financial information regarding revenue, details of manager and player remuneration, UEFA regulations, profitability and sustainability and co-operation with Premier League investigations.
A statement from the league said alleged breaches were committed from September 2009 to the 2017-18 season and will be referred to an independent commission.
City are also facing charges for failing to co-operate with the Premier League since the investigation was launched in 2018.
It adds that the club is alleged to have breached league rules requiring provision ‘in utmost good faith’ of ‘accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position’.
In their own statement City said it was surprised by the alleged breaches.
It read: ‘Manchester City FC is surprised by the issuing of these alleged breaches of the Premier League Rules, particularly given the extensive engagement and vast amount of detailed materials that the EPL has been provided with.
‘The Club welcomes the review of this matter by an independent Commission, to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position.
‘As such we look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all.’
City declined to comment beyond their statement. It is understood, however, that there is a view within the club that the timing of the charges do not come as a coincidence.
The matter will now be referred to an independent commission – but it is reported that many of English football’s top teams are eager to see City pay the price if found guilty.
City have been scored by rivals before, notably back in 2020 when they were initially handed a two-year ban from the Champions League for breaking FFP regulations.
Adamant of innocence, City were later cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport of all charges five months later.
The fight against City is not limited to fellow Premier League teams, though.
LaLiga chief Javier Tebas, who has been a vocal opponent of City’s spending having publicly criticised the club at an event in Manchester back in 2017, took issue on social media at their latest charges.
He tweeted: ‘On 9-5-2017 we denounced in Soccerex Manchester the breaches of the @ManCity and @PSG_espanol of financial fair play.
‘It is incredible that the @premierleague took years to find out. We denounce that there are more cases, will it take so many years too?’
Tebas is refusing to back down in his public criticisms and recently denounced the Premier League’s financial model following a record spend of £815m in the January window.
‘The Premier League market is a doped, inflated market, but LaLiga still has the best players and stars,’ Tebas told The Associated Press.
SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk
