BBC calculates £844m in possible receipts for Manchester City’s rivals

BBC Sport’s calculation brings together four types of possible receipts for other clubs: £188.2m from higher Premier League finishes, £349.7m from relegation comparisons, £217.8m from Champions League comparisons and £88.3m related to domestic cups and the Europa League. The rounded figures add up to £844m. The relegation and Champions League categories account for about two-thirds of the total.

For nine seasons in which a club finished 18th, the BBC compares the following season’s payment to a Premier League club with the first year of parachute payments after relegation. For potential Champions League places, it compares City’s subsequent European earnings with other clubs’ Europa League receipts. Neither comparison establishes that a different league position or European result would have followed.

UEFA’s payment tables list City’s 2015/16 Champions League distribution as €83.9m, including €46.9m from the market pool. Its 2016/17 Europa League table lists Manchester United’s total as €44.5m, including €29.6m from the same type of payment; the BBC uses United’s receipts as a comparison for Liverpool. Both tables also include performance and knockout-stage payments. The benchmarks therefore cover more than qualification money: another club would not automatically have received the same amount.

The BBC says it is not calculating compensation and does not claim that any club would definitely have avoided relegation or reached the Champions League. It acknowledges that Liverpool would not necessarily have won the Europa League. Its model also includes a benefit in the other direction: £5.1m that it attributes to Tottenham’s European qualification following City’s 2013/14 League Cup win.

An independent Premier League commission found that City’s financial statements for 2009/10 to 2017/18 did not give a true and fair view. It upheld the broad charges except one concerning co-operation. Its accounting findings — including more than £830m in overstated income — are distinct from the BBC’s estimates of possible rival-club receipts. City denies the accusations, says the decision contains serious errors and has appealed. Sanctions are to be considered separately.