In a damning 40-page document, an independent commission laid bare its findings into Manchester City’s breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules. Here, Sky Sports takes a look at the key revelations…
Guilty on all serious financial charges
Manchester City were found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.
The charge that was not proven was regarding one element of the Premier League’s non-cooperation case.
‘Disguised funding scheme’
The independent commission repeatedly concluded that a number of City’s commercial agreements were “shams”.
City used a “disguised funding scheme” where Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) partially funded sponsorship fees. This allowed the club to avoid breaking the record for the largest single-season loss in Premier League history.
Sponsorship inflated by more than £830m
The club filed accounts that the commission found concealed the true nature of their finances from auditors and football regulators.
City overstated their sponsorship income by £830.69m with agreements that were “far in excess” of fair market value.
The commission concluded that City’s financial statements for the seasons between 2009-10 and 2017-18 “did not show a true and fair view” of the club’s financial position.
The commission found three separate remuneration agreements that were omitted from City’s accounts and paid by ADUG.
‘The Fordham Arrangement’
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Sky Sports News has obtained a video of Man City CEO Ferran Soriano that was sent to internal staff and players at the club after the guilty verdict in relation to allegations of serious breaches of financial rules
City used a third party, Fordham, as a device to overstate income by £24.5m and understate expenses by £49.414m.
The commission described ‘The Fordham Arrangement’ as being “little more than a front for ADUG”.
The Fordham Arrangement was, the commission contended, “a further device by which ADUG funds could be paid into the club in a manner that concealed their true origin” and which enabled “the club to remove operating expenses from its financial statements”.
The Fordham Arrangement was part of a system called ‘Project Longbow’ which “was a multi-strand project whose purpose was to explore how the club might boost its revenues and reduce its operating losses”.
But while “many of the strands of Project Longbow were genuine, legitimate attempts to achieve those aims. One was not. That was the Fordham Arrangement”.
‘Dishonest witnesses’
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Sky Sports News’ Kaveh Solhekol explains what Man City’s penalty could be and when a decision will be made
The independent commission heard factual evidence from 27 witnesses over 42 days in the last quarter of 2024, with a core bundle of key documents running to “many tens of thousands of pages”.
The commission says the club made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the investigation.
It also found some witnesses on behalf of the club gave false evidence, while other City witnesses were found by the commission to give knowingly untrue evidence and so had been dishonest.
City ‘intended to circumvent PL rules’
The commission found City had breached UEFA and Premier League financial rules, while also ruling that “by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL rules”.
The Premier League said it regarded City’s conduct as having “extremely serious, significant, sustained and intentional or reckless breaches of rules critical to the proper and fair operation of the Premier League’s league competition”.
Manchester City have confirmed they will appeal against the ruling and have until Friday October 2 to do so.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com
