‘RELEGATION and resignations expected’ as Man City trial verdict IMMINENT

Carlo Garganese

• 18 Mar 2025 07:00 GMT
• 5 min read

News

A decision in Man City’s trial over their alleged 130 breaches of Premier League financial rules will be announced in the coming days - and it could be a bloodbath for the club and the Premier League.

A verdict in the much-publicised case is expected imminently, with City being charged with 130 alleged financial breaches.

An independent hearing has officially concluded following a four-year investigation conducted by UEFA.

READ MORE: Will Man City be relegated amidst 130 charges?

Man City have denied any wrongdoing, but the club have been accused of failing to provide accurate financial information from 2009 to 2018, and failing to co-operate from 2018 to 2023.

City have won eight Premier League titles and 24 trophies in total since the Abu Dhabi United Group purchased the club in 2008, spending over €2.5 billion on new players in the process.

And Football Finance expert Kieran Maguire has explained that we can expect relegation and resignations galore if City are found guilty.

What did Maguire say?

"What I've heard from a few parties already, and I've spoken to a few people today, is that it could be, that there will be a conclusion as to whether Manchester City are guilty or not guilty of individual charges. But the punishment might not be included in this initial report,” Maguire told the Manchester Evening News of the imminent verdict.

"If Manchester City are only found guilty of non-cooperation with the Premier League investigation and I think we can expect something in line with what we saw from UEFA. In that it will be a fiscal penalty.

"If Manchester City are found guilty of misrepresentation, which is effectively corporate fraud, then I think we have to be looking at a significant points deduction. On the basis that, again, if you read the commission reports for Nottingham Forest and Everton, they stressed that they were minor breaches of the rules.

"What Manchester City is being accused of, is effectively fraud over a longer period of time. So therefore, the punishment has to be scaled appropriately.

"I don't think they can relegate the club as such, because this is a Premier League punishment," Maguire said. "The Premier League doesn't control the EFL, so therefore the commission would have to set a tariff - a punishment that will be so severe in terms of points deductions that it would effectively guarantee relegation.

"But they can't do what we saw with Rangers and the SPFL and relegate them to League Two or similar."

Maguire stressed that in addition to relegations if City are found guilty, he also expects the Man City board to step down.

"It brings the governance of Manchester City into disrepute, if found guilty, I don't see how the board of directors can survive because again, looking for precedent, if you look to see what has happened in Serie A and Juventus," he added.

"When Juventus were found guilty of effectively misrepresentation a couple of years ago - this was when they said players had taken big pay cuts during covid and that wasn't the case, the board of directors had to resign.

"If people from Manchester City have made statements, sworn statements to the commission and it's been concluded that those are misrepresentations, then the board of Man City has to be replaced."

If Man City were to win the case, though, Maguire believes that the Premier League board could resign and City would ask for compensation.

"Similarly if Man City win this case, where does that leave the board of the Premier League?" Maguire questioned. "The costs of the case are in excess of £50million to the Premier League, so therefore it must be similar for Manchester City.

"Those costs have to be borne by the individual clubs. Now I know some clubs in the Premier League who don't give a toss about this.

"They say 'we're not competing with Manchester City as far as we're concerned, all of this pressure is coming from a small number of elite clubs who are competing for Champions League places. We're in a different position, they're going to be very angry.'

"It would put pressure on senior personnel at the head of the Premier League in terms of their ability to continue in their posts.

"We did see the Premier League try to claim some costs back from Everton when it charged them last year," Maguire revealed. "Everton said 'ok we'll go along with that' but when they took a look at the size of the bill from the Premier League - it was charging ridiculous amounts of money so it got that scaled back.

"If City are successful expect them to go for the jugular."

READ MORE: Man City's 10 most expensive transfers of all time

City currently are fifth in the Premier League with nine games remaining.

They are also still in the FA Cup.