Man City FFP: New timeline for punishment and appeal revealed as new rule could cause delay

According to reports, Manchester City’s appeal may last beyond January 2027, though an announcement on their sanctions should come sooner.

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Man City have been found guilty of almost all of their FFP charges after being accused of breaching the Premier League’s rules.

Despite this, Man City continue to insist on their innocence, and they will submit an appeal, though they face punishments ranging from a fine to being stripped of their Premier League titles if this fails.

The announcement of the initial verdict was a huge step in the right direction for this sorry saga to conclude, but it feels like there will be more twists and turns to come in the next few weeks and months.

Still, Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol suspects Man City’s sanctions will be announced within the “next couple of months”.

“I think it [a decision on a punishment] will be this season. We’re not 100 per cent sure yet, it’s not clear whether we’re going to have a sanctions hearing before the appeal hearing, or it could happen at the same time,” Solhekol told Sky Sports.

“What we do know is the sancton hearing will be in front of the same three-person panel who delivered the judgement on Tuesday, whereas the appeal hearing will be in front of a new three-person panel.

“We’re not sure when we find out, but I would expect it will be in the next couple of months.

“I’d be surprised if we didn’t know well before the end of this season what the punishment was going to be.”

Reason for potential appeal delay revealed

However, the verdict on an appeal may come later, with Solhekol explaining that the implementation of a new rule has caused “some confusion” regarding the process.

“There’s some confusion because these new rules about a speeded up appeals process was added to the Premier League’s handbook this season,” Solhekol continued.

“According to those rules about the appeals process, an appeal has to be heard pretty quickly and it would mean that we would have the hearing before Christmas and then we would have the judgement in January.

“But because they are new rules, Man City might argue that they shouldn’t apply in this case because this case for them has been going on for years and years.

“So they could argue ‘you can’t move the goalposts during the game, these new rules don’t apply to us. You can’t force us to take part in this speeded up process, especially because this is a huge a very complicated case’.

“Although we though the appeal could be done and dusted by Christmas and we’d have a decision in January, I’m now not so sure that is the case.”