NewzMANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City artificially inflated its revenue by more than $1 billion over nearly a decade, circumventing fair-play rules that restricted rival clubs and allowing it to pad its roster with some of soccer’s biggest stars, an investigatory panel found in a bombshell report published Tuesday.In what is widely viewed as the biggest scandal in Premier League history, the independent panel determined that the United Arab Emirates-backed team committed almost all of the 115-plus violations it was accused of during a period in which City changed the landscape of the world’s most popular soccer league. That included 80 from 2009-18 for alleged financial misdeeds and another 35 from 2018-23 for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation.City’s alleged financial wrongdoing — made possible in part through what the league said were “sham” commercial deals — was worth more than 900 million pounds ($1.19 billion). 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 heavy reputational damage to its Abu Dhabi ownership.The Premier League said sanctions will be decided during a separate hearing held by the independent commission at an unspecified date.The club plans to appealCity has always denied wrongdoing and said in a statement that it was “disappointed and surprised” by the ruling.
It plans to appeal the verdict and said it would be “relentless” in its fight to clear its name, which would further drag out a case that has already run for more than three years.Any appeal by City would have to be made by Friday, the league said.In an internal video to City staff — obtained by broadcaster Sky News — the club's CEO, Ferran Soriano, went into detail about why he felt the verdict was wrong.“This has gone on for so long that it is important to remind ourselves that the whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation: that the owner's personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi,” he said. Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Pre…
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