NewzMANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City has been found guilty of arranging “sham” contracts as part of a slew of financial breaches that helped it dominate English soccer in what’s become the biggest scandal in Premier League history.City, in an independent panel's verdict published Tuesday, was found guilty of almost all of the unprecedented 100-plus charges against it over a nine-year period in which the Abu Dhabi-backed team changed the landscape of the richest and most popular soccer league in the world.City's alleged financial wrongdoing was worth in excess of 900 million pounds ($1.19 billion), and Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said the ruling showed City “systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade."“This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history,” Masters said.City now faces severe sanctions that could include a huge points deduction or even expulsion from the league, causing severe reputational damage to its Abu Dhabi ownership.The Premier League said sanctions will be decided in a separate hearing held by the independent commission.City has always denied wrongdoing and said in a statement that it was “disappointed and surprised” by the ruling. It also plans to further drag out a case that has already run for more than three years by appealing the verdict and said it would be “relentless” in its fight to clear its name.Any appeal by City would have to be made by Friday, the league said. City chief executive Ferran Soriano was asked for comment by broadcaster Sky News, but replied: “I have nothing to say, thank you.”The explosive ruling comes after it emerged last week that the charges against City were expected to be upheld following an exhaustive process.The Premier League initiated its case more than three years ago and allegations first arose in 2018 from leaked club emails and documents.City was accused of a raft of financial violations from 2009-18 — a period when the northwest club, long in the shadow of great rival Manchester United, was transforming itself into a record-breaking global superpower that has won multiple Premier League titles and the Champions League.The violations included failing to provide accurate financial information and submitting inflated figures for sponsorship deals out of Abu Dhabi, hiding payments and breaching financial rules esta…
Potential penalties range from heavy fines to relegation as the club plans to appeal an unprecedented ruling spanning nearly a decade of financial breaches Manchester City have been found guilty of all 115 charges of serious breaches of Premier League regulations, the Premier League confirmed in a 1545-word statement on Tuesday. Manchester City have vowed to appeal against the Premier League’s verdict that they are guilty of breaching financial rules.
City said they were “disappointed and surprised” by the Premier League’s decision to find them guilty of breaking financial regulations between 2009 and 2018. “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 said in a statement. The post Man City to appeal against Premier League guilty verdict over financial breaches appeared first on Vanguard News.
Manchester City has been found guilty of almost all of the unprecedented 115 charges of financial wrongdoing it faced, the Premier League confirmed on Tuesday, in one of the biggest scandals in English soccer history.City, the most successful team in England for the past 15 years and the current Premier League leader, now faces severe sanctions that could include a huge points deduction or even expulsion from the world's most popular soccer league, causing huge reputational damage to its Abu Dhabi ownership.The explosive verdict by an independent commission — which was reported by a number of British media outlets on Friday — “details how the club systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade,” Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in a case that was initiated by the competition more than three years ago and first arose in 2018 from leaked club emails and documents.City said it was “disappointed and surprised” by the commission's verdict, that it was “innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League” and will be “relentless” as it pursues avenues to appeal.City was accused of a raft of financial violations from 2009-18 — a period when the northwest club, long in the shadow of great rival Manchester United, was transforming itself into a record-breaking global superpower that has won multiple Premier League titles and the Champions League.The violations included failing to provide accurate financial information and submitting inflated figures for sponsorship deals out of Abu Dhabi, hiding payments that supplemented salaries of managers and players, and breaching financial rules established by the Premier League and UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, aiming to keep clubs financially stable by not spending beyond their means.On top of that, City faced many other charges of failing to cooperate with the investigation between 2018-23."An independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period,” the league said, “and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the league’s investigation.”Regarding the sponsorship deals, the league said: “Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well a… Manchester City artificially inflated its revenue by more than $2 billion over nearly a decade, circumventing fair-play rules that restricted rival clubs and allowing it to pad its roster with some of football’s biggest stars, an investigatory panel found in a bombshell report. An independent commission found Man City arranged ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
The Premier League confirms that Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges related to breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18. Manchester City say they are 'disappointed and surprised' by the verdict and will appeal. Sky Sports chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol breaks the news that Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges related to serious breaxches of financial rules.
Manchester City has been found guilty of almost all of the more than 100 charges of financial wrongdoing, the Premier League confirmed on Tuesday, in one of the biggest scandals in English soccer history.City, the most successful team in England for the past 15 years and the current Premier League leader, now faces severe sanctions that could include a huge points deduction or even expulsion from the Premier League, causing huge reputational damage to its Abu Dhabi ownership.The explosive verdict by an independent commission “details how the club systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade,” Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in a case that was initiated by the competition more than three years ago and first arose in 2018 from leaked club emails and documents.City was accused of a raft of financial violations from 2009-18 — a period when the northwest club, long in the shadow of great rival Manchester United, was transforming itself into a record-breaking global superpower that has won multiple Premier League titles and the Champions League.The violations included failing to provide accurate financial information and submitting inflated figures for sponsorship deals out of Abu Dhabi, hiding payments that supplemented salaries of managers and players, and breaching financial rules established by the Premier League and UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, aiming to keep clubs financially stable by not spending beyond their means.On top of that, City faced many other charges of failing to cooperate with the investigation between 2018-23."An independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period,” the league said, “and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the league’s investigation.”Regarding the sponsorship deals, the league said: “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,” the league added, “filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators.”The verdict essentially finds that City’s dominance… City to appeal 115 charges ‘on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe’ Manchester City were found guilty of serious Premier League financial rule breaches over nine seasons, though the club denied wrongdoing and said it would appeal the decision.
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