Man City will be 'RELEGATED' from Premier League, says Football Finance Expert

Carlo Garganese

26 Feb 2025 04:50 CST
3 min read

Pep Guardiola, Man City, 2024/25 — © IMAGO

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes that Manchester City will be relegated if they are found guilty of their alleged 130 breaches of Premier League financial rules.

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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.

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.

However, according to Maguire, they will be relegated from the Premier League if the trial results in a guilty verdict.

"A points deduction would be the most likely outcome should the club be found guilty,” Maguire said on the Football on Trial: The Manchester City Charges podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

"As for the quantum of points deduction, if Everton were initially given a 10 points deduction for going around about £10/12 million over the limits in one particular season, I think, in order to set an example to the rest of football, it's got to act as a deterrent.

"We'll probably be looking at somewhere in the region of 60 to 100 points, which would effectively guarantee relegation out of the Premier League and into the lower tiers of football in the EFL."

© IMAGO - Man City could be relegated from the Premier League if they are found guilty

Manchester City's reported financial breaches

Breach	Number of Charges
Failure to provide accurate and up-to-date financial information (2009-2018)	54
Failure to provide accurate financial reports for player and manager compensation (2009-2018)	14
Failure to comply with UEFA's regulations, including Financial Fair Play Regulations	5
Breaching Premier League Profitability and Sustainability regulations (2015-2018)	7
Failure to co-operate with Premier League investigations (2018-2023)	35

City currently have 44 points in the Premier League this season with 12 games remaining.

This means that even with a 60 point deduction, they would be far too adrift to have any hope of staying up this season.

David Ornstein, though, reported last week that Man City are confident that they won’t receive anything more than a fine when the verdicts are announced.