Rival executives favour longer-term Manchester City sanctions

Rival Premier League club executives want any punishment for Manchester City to reach beyond a single season if the club’s appeal against findings of financial rule breaches fails. BBC Sport reported on 6 October that at least four club boardrooms consider a points deduction causing one season’s relegation insufficient. That count concerns the objection to a single-season penalty, not support for every proposal under discussion. [1]

Some league figures favour spreading a points deduction across several seasons or imposing a transfer ban lasting several windows, according to the BBC. One club source wants City stripped of titles, with the honours left vacant. The BBC has also reported that other clubs had little appetite for removing titles. The Premier League still lists City as champions in 2011/12, 2013/14 and 2017/18. [1] [7]

An independent commission found financial breaches across nine seasons, from 2009/10 to 2017/18. It upheld most, but not all, of the cooperation charges. The Premier League says the accounting schemes were intended to inflate revenues and reduce recorded costs by more than £900 million. That figure describes accounting distortions, not an assessment of what rival clubs lost. [2] [3]

The BBC also describes a proposal to recalculate past league positions through points deductions and compensate rivals according to where they would then have finished. The commission’s call for City’s accounts to be restated concerns financial-rule compliance; it is not a recalculation of league tables. City has appealed, says the commission made material errors of law, principle and fact, and maintains its innocence. The Premier League says sanctions will be addressed separately by the independent commission in a confidential hearing. [1] [2] [3]