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Manchester City FC has reportedly been found guilty by an independent panel appointed by the Premier League Judicial Panel’s chairman of 114 of 115 charges over how the club financed deals relating to sponsorships, paying its managers, and paying its players. The case first came to light in February 2023, after a four-year investigation into the club’s financial dealings, which started with a handful of incriminating emails leaked to media in Europe.
The club plays in England’s Premier League, which over the past 15 years or so has become one of the world’s most prestigious and popular sports leagues.
I’ll disclose right off the top that I’m an Arsenal fan; Arsenal is one of City’s biggest rivals, and the current reigning champion of the Premier League. Kids all over the world wear Premier League club jerseys these days. You’ve undoubtedly seen Barcelona, Real Madrid, and yes, Manchester City jerseys at just about any soccer game.
“The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. As such Manchester City FC’s position remains consistent with the club’s statement of February 2023,” City told The Athletic in a statement.
Andrew Fox, a senior fellow at London’s Henry Jackson Society (and fan of Premier League club Aston Villa), told FOX Business: “This has been a long time in coming and the credibility of the whole Premier League rides on what happens next. This is the biggest scandal in the history of English football, and Manchester City must face the harshest punishment if the league is to restore its shattered integrity.”
City’s title haul has been gaudy since its takeover by majority owner Sheikh Mansour of the United Arab Emirates in 2008, under the City Football Group. Prior to that, it had last won the Premier League (then called the First Division) in the 1967-68 season. Since then, it has won eight league titles along with a case full of other cup wins.
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The Premier League’s recent history can be divided into a kind of BC-AD on that takeover. Prior to 2008, Manchester City’s Cityzens were mostly the “noisy neighbors” to their more successful rivals, Manchester United’s Red Devils. After that came a gaudy trophy haul as the club built a soccer empire that spans the globe.
On the business side, by 2009, Manchester City was pulling in massive sponsorship deals, attracting the world’s best players and managers, and went from an also-ran to a feared behemoth. The 115 financial charges relate to that time, from 2009 to 2018, precisely when Manchester City’s rise began and it won multiple league titles and multiple tournament trophies. It later captured the biggest prize in club soccer worldwide – the UEFA Champions League – in 2023.
So the financial shenanigans that Manchester City has been found guilty of do matter. For one thing, City owns New York City FC, which plays in the top soccer league in the U.S. – Major League Soccer – along with clubs in Spain, France, Belgium, Brazil and even China – a truly global empire. For another, players move between leagues every summer and winter, and players City bought by breaking the rules affect the other clubs where those players may have gone to play otherwise.
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As early as 2003, then-Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger explained it as only “Le Professeur” could – “financial doping.” Think of it like the Lance Armstrong case. He cheated through doping and won multiple titles that others fairly competed against him to win. He robbed competitors of titles they may have won. His cheating was, like that of City, systemic. It corrupted the sport itself.
Manchester City’s charges carry the same weight. They not only affect the titles the club won, but the titles others didn’t win, final finishing places, which in turn affect which other competitions clubs qualify for, including the Champions League, and even relegation to the next league down. So it’s more than fair to say that City’s actions have impacted every single other club in England, and the players and managers at those clubs, and their careers. And clubs and players worldwide.
It’s easy to say sports don’t really matter, but they do. We love them. We love to debate them. We love to rip our team after losses and praise it to the skies after wins. As well as entertainment, they’re big business. Fans pay for tickets and merch and spend their precious time watching games and supporting them in other ways, networks pay for broadcast rights, and the Premier League is a truly global league. Its games are aired live in the United States, across Europe, and around the world.
According to Deloitte, Manchester City generates over $800 million in revenue, ranking it above every other domestic competitor but one and most worldwide.
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The case of the 114 financial breaches is bigger than the Los Angeles Clippers’ recent case. In fact, this is arguably the biggest sports cheating case anywhere, ever.
Like the Armstrong case, which rocked the entire sport of cycling down to the local team and bike shop, City’s case has dragged on for years and across seasons, and its actions ripple across the whole sport.
So what should happen? The punishments haven’t been decided yet, and City will appeal this verdict. Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, and he was banned from competitive sports for life.
As Fox noted above, City should face the harshest possible penalty, assuming their expected appeals fail. There are recent precedents on that side of the pond. Everton and Nottingham Forest have both been found guilty of singular breaches of the rules, and had points deducted. Chelsea self-reported violations by previous owners, and faced relatively light sanctions for opening up. Manchester City has denied all charges and fought every step of the way, and the UAE government even hit out at the British government over the case.
Relegation one or two leagues down? Expulsion from the English Football League itself? Financial penalties? Titles stripped?
That’s all on the table. The sport’s integrity is too.
Fairness in sports matters.
