Manchester City’s Financial Frenzy

Eight Premier League titles to their name, 11 world class players, a world of fans, and over 100 breaches of financial fair play rules. That’s Manchester City for you. One of the biggest clubs in Europe, is now being charged with one of the biggest offences in the history of the English Premier League.

Manchester City have been a dominating force in European football for about 15 years now, and since 2008 they have won 6 Premier League Titles, 2 FA Cups, 3 FA Community Shields, 6 Carabao Cups, as well as reaching the semi-final and final of the UEFA Champions League in 2015/16 and 2021/22 respectively. However, as announced by the Premier League in early February, an investigation is underway to see if all of these achievements were backed up by at least a decade’s worth of financial fraud. 

The Financial Fair Play rules of the Premier League ensure that clubs spend no more than what they earn. This is to create an even chance for clubs when it comes to hiring managers, transfers and paying players. There was already suspicion around Manchester City’s financial dealings, however this escalated when a Portuguese hacker uncovered internal City documents and emails that suggested that the club had engaged in years of financial fraud. So, a five plus year investigation was conducted, and a recent statement by the Premier League confirmed that City had allegedly broken over 100 rules between 2008 and 2018. Talk about offside!

There are 5 main offences in which the statement by the Premier League claimed that City had committed. The first was the manipulation of financial accounts. The Premier League stated that the club did not provide “in the utmost good faith an accurate financial information"across nine seasons from 2009-2018. 

In more detail, it is likely that Manchester City’s accounts were manipulated so that they could pass an audit, or they faked an audit check of their accounts in order to hide that they were spending more than they were earning. City also allegedly inflated their sponsorships from their Abu Dhabi partners, meaning that the accounts appeared as if they were spending as much as they were earning, when in reality they were spending too much (itemised account yet to be disclosed). 

This would mean that City would’ve had a financial advantage in the Premier League throughout all of the years that this scandal was occurring, as they would’ve been able to spend more money on player transfers and wages, meaning that they would have been able to sign better contracts and would have had a large advantage in the league. 

The second offence was the failure to disclose how much manager Roberto Mancini was actually paid during his time at the club. City’s owner, Sheikh Mansour, offered Mancini two contracts in order to get around UEFA’s Financial Fair play rules between 2009-2013. This meant that Mancini had a disclosed salary of £1.45 million at Manchester City, while also having a salary of £1.75 million with Al Jazira (Daily Mail Australia, 2018), Mansour’s club in Abu Dhabi.

However, the only requirement for Mancini in order to earn this Al Jazira salary was to coach for four days a year. So, the owner was able to pay Mancini a full salary of £3.2 million for managing City, but the extra wages were not included in the expenditure = income equation, so that the club could get around the Financial Fair Play rules. 

The third offence included breaking UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, where in 2020 City were nearly banned by UEFA from European Competition for two seasons and also fined £26.8 million (Sky Sports, 2023), because of City’s Abu Dhabi ownership disguising its own funding as independent sponsorship by the state’s commercial companies (more lying about money - City are quite good at it, aren’t they?). However, City took this case to court and it was overturned due to the limitation of the availability of evidence over 5 years, and when charged, the evidence was too old. 

The Premier League does not have this limitation, so Manchester City won’t be able to fight back this time. 

The fourth offence is the breach of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules. These rules are put in place to ensure that no club loses more than £105 million over a three year period

(Premier League Handbook Season 2017/18, Rule E.59).  However, because City was portraying false information about what they were earning so that they could spend more, like a girl after a shopping trip, their spending caught up with them. It has not been disclosed how much City has truly lost over the period between 2013 and 2018, but it is likely to be in the hundreds of millions. 

And that would be why City committed the fifth offence, which was not fully cooperating with the investigation leading to these charges. If one’s guilty they are obviously going to try to make sure they don’t get punished right? If a kid knows he’s going to get grounded for something, it's highly likely that he’s not going to tell his parents what that something was. So over the 5 years in which this investigation has been taking place City have broken another 5 rules by not allowing this investigation to get underway as soon and as smoothly as possible. 

Currently second on the 2022/23 season Premier League table, Manchester City has so much to lose if found guilty of these charges. Over 10 years of rule-breaks, serious punishments are going to be put in place, and within this time period Manchester City won the league six times. The Premier League has the option to strip City of those titles, giving them to the runners up from each season. And, to a City fan’s utmost displeasure, this would mean that Manchester United and Liverpool would get three titles each. 

The players and managers that worked towards these titles were bought with money that City didn’t have, giving them a large advantage over other teams who actually stuck to the rules. So, this is a suitable punishment, as it makes sense that the awards that were cheated for get taken away.  However, what about the moments that led to these titles? Sergio Aguero’s last minute winner in 2012, David Silva’s footwork magic in 2010, Kevin De Brunye’s midfielding genius, plus so many more. Will a decade’s worth of beautiful moments in football all get ruled out the minute the titles are stolen? 

Another punishment that the Premier League could induce is a points deduction for the current season. As of February 2023 Manchester City sit second on the table, two points behind Arsenal and three points ahead of Manchester United. If they were to receive a points deduction of more than ten points, City would likely not finish in the top four and therefore not qualify for the UEFA Champions League. This is a pretty significant punishment for this season, however it definitely does not account for the years and years of rule breaks and cheating that City have committed. It only punishes them once. It also shows other teams that they can cheat and get away from it pretty much unharmed, meaning that it could escalate rule breaking in the Premier league.

There is alternatively the option of relegation, putting Manchester City in either the EFL Championship or EFL 1, and forcing the club to spend at least a season in a smaller league, and compete for a top two spot to qualify for the Premier league again. This is a much more significant rule break than just a points deduction, as it affects City for at least two seasons, where they would be blowing the whistle on Champions League qualification for at least two consecutive years, and also make less money by performing in a less prestigious league. It would also affect their transfers for many years to come as they won’t be able to scout the more talented, esteemed players if they are playing in a lower league. 

And finally, another option for the Premier League is to fine the club amounts that are incomprehensible to the average human being, so that they are financially punished for their financial scandal. This amount would have to be over £100 million, as there were at least ten years of rule breaks, and anything lower would be like just giving the club a yellow card. 

Yellow card or not, the main impact of this off-pitch drama is on the players, past and present. Players that thought they were signing for a world-class club which plays in world-class leagues. 

Players that worked tirelessly to ensure they were at the best in order to win the titles, which may all be stripped. Players that have dreamed of playing in the Premier League since they were in the little league, only now for a potential relegation to the EFL Championship. 

What about the people who made these decisions to cheat? What punishment will they get? The Premier League could take any of the listed actions, but at the end of the day the only people that will be seriously affected by them are the players, who didn’t even knowingly take part in these actions. This is why the Premier League must ensure that their punishment for Manchester City doesn’t target the players and their careers. It should target the people who decided that the Financial Fair Play rules didn’t apply to them.