Manchester City have been found guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League financial regulations, after an independent commission ruled on conduct stretching from 2009 to 2018.
The Man City guilty verdict also covers a failure to co-operate fully with the investigation, according to an official Premier League statement. City say they are disappointed and surprised by the finding, insist they remain innocent, and plan to appeal, according to Manchester City.
For Liverpool supporters who spent much of the last decade chasing City for the title, the ruling reopens old wounds. Jamie Carragher, Ian Wright and Roy Keane have all given their verdict on what it means for English football.
Manchester City financial breaches: How the guilty verdict unfolded
The commission’s findings span nearly a decade, from 2009 to 2018, the period in which City rose from Premier League outsiders to the division’s dominant force. The Premier League confirmed in its statement that City had been found guilty on 114 counts, covering breaches of financial regulations and a failure to co-operate with investigators.
City responded quickly. The club said it was disappointed and surprised by the verdict, according to Manchester City, and confirmed plans to appeal while continuing to deny any wrongdoing.
The timing lands awkwardly for City. Their next league fixture takes them to Anfield, a game previewed in our earlier report on the teams and the build up.
Pundits brand 114 breaches cheating on an industrial scale
The pundit commentary reported by Liverpool Echo did not hold back. Ian Wright, speaking on ITV Sport, called the scale of the offending unprecedented.
“It’s cheating on an industrial scale,” Wright said, before turning to the toll it took on City’s closest rivals during Jurgen Klopp’s time at Anfield:
“Look at what Jurgen Klopp went through to break them, it probably broke him. It’s so sad.”
Roy Keane was just as scathing on the same broadcast. He rejected any defence of City’s results on the pitch, saying,
“There was cheating. There was cheating going on.”
Asked how he would feel in the shoes of a City player, Keane said he would be “sticking them medals in the bin.”
Jamie Carragher, speaking on Sky Sports, focused his anger on the club’s ownership rather than its players.
“I just don’t see how the ownership can continue after what has happened here and the way they are actually reacting to it,” he said.
He also challenged City’s public stance on the case, asking, “How can they be surprised, and that they have got irrefutable evidence? Where is it? Put it out there, surely.”
Appeals, pending sanctions, and the impact on Anfield
Manchester City intend to appeal the commission’s findings, according to Manchester City, so the Man City guilty verdict is not the end of the process. No sanction has yet been confirmed, and any punishment remains a matter for future hearings rather than today’s ruling.
Wright expects the case to run on for some time yet.
“Unprecedented punishment is required here,” he said, adding that the legal fallout was likely to drag on: “It’s probably going to get very litigious.”
Carragher went further on the long-term damage to City’s reputation, regardless of any appeal.
“We talk about the fit and proper test for owners, what they have done over ten years now in the Premier League and this stain that will be there for the next ten years about ‘did they win it really, was that fair?'” he said. He added, “Until they move away from the club, I don’t know how this stain is ever removed from the club.”
None of it changes what is in front of Liverpool right now. City face Liverpool with the verdict still fresh, while the current squad carries on with its own form, underlined by a recent victory on the pitch that keeps the Reds’ season on track, whatever the commission decides next.
