The Premier League accuses Manchester City of financial breaches worth more than £900m

The motivations of the Premier League

"The Independent Commission found that between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons: - Manchester City entered into fictitious contracts (which falsified the true agreement between the parties) with several commercial partners, and also used fictitious agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs. The club submitted falsified financial statements and concealed the true financial situation from auditors and football regulators. The spending limits imposed by both the Premier League and UEFA were significant. During the Premier League's investigation, Manchester City committed multiple breaches of its obligations of cooperation and utmost good faith towards the League (three of the four alleged breaches were confirmed). The statement goes on to say that "the Independent Commission found that Manchester City entered into fictitious commercial agreements with several sponsors during the period under review, as part of a disguised financing scheme, under which these companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees. The remainder was financed by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), the club's owners. As part of the scheme, further fictitious agreements, financed by ADUG, were entered into to enable the club to record lower operating expenses to those actually incurred, as well as a fictitious circular agreement with Fordham, an entity which purchased the image rights of the club's players, funded by ADUG. It emerged that the aim of these schemes was to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs by more than £900 million during the period in question, in order to appear to comply with financial regulations. of accounts and football control bodies".

According to the commission's conclusions, "with its conduct, the club clearly intended to circumvent the Premier League regulations." According to the CEO of

Premier League, Richard Masters, the commission establishes that "the club has systematically breached the rules of the Premier League for almost a decade and therefore justifies the Premier's decision to pursue this case against Manchester City".

Manchester City's note

"The Club is unrelated to the accusations made by the Premier League and there is substantial and irrefutable documentation to support all the positions taken in relation to this case - City announced through an official note published on its website -. The club will therefore be firmly determined, and where necessary proactive, in any competent legal forum".

The club then states: "The Premier League proceedings are still ongoing and have significant elements that have not yet been concluded. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeals available to them on the basis that the decision contains clear errors in law. The Club has diligently respected due process for eight years, believing that the Premier League is acting as an independent, neutral and fair regulatory body, free from partisan influence. The club is clearly limited in what it can further declare until the end of all future proceedings".