Man City guilty of ‘sham’ deals to save £900m as Premier League confirm FFP verdict

The Premier League has confirmed that an independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of the vast majority of Financial Fair Play (FFP) charges brought against them.

On Friday, David Ornstein revealed that City had been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought forward by the Premier League. The Premier League and its chief executive, Richard Masters, have now confirmed the bombshell findings of the hearing.

Between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 campaigns, City ‘arranged sham contracts… to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs.’

The independent commission also found that:

The statement went on to explain how City inflated their revenue and reduced their costs by over £900million.

‘The independent Commission found that Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the period, which were part of a disguised funding scheme, whereby those companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees,’ it reads.

‘The remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club. As part of the scheme, further ‘sham’ arrangements, funded by ADUG, were entered into to enable the club to record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred, as well as a ‘sham’ circular arrangement with Fordham, an entity that purchased the club’s players’ image rights, that was funded by ADUG.

‘The purpose of these schemes was found to have been to artificially inflate the club’s revenues, and reduce its costs, by more than £900 million during the affected period, to appear to comply with financial rules. The consequence of this, as the Commission found, was that the club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators. The Commission concluded that ‘by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules’.’

Masters reacted to the verdict by confirming the league will act ‘swiftly’ to put sanctions in place.

“The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade,” he said.

Premier League investigation into Man City ‘vindicated’

“It also vindicates the Premier League’s decision to pursue this case against Manchester City. While the process to date has been both long and difficult, the League has remained determined that the facts be established independently.

“It is a key responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the Rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition. It is paramount that the League remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans. We take that role extremely seriously.

“This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history. There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches. Now we have the Commission’s decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the League, our clubs and fans.”

City continue to protest their innocence, and they intend to appeal the verdict.

City CEO Ferran Soriano reportedly told a meeting of top European clubs: “It’s taken eight years to get here and it’s going to take a lot more time.”

There has been plenty of talk about which punishments City will face if their appeal is unsuccessful.

The damning nature of the Premier League’s statement suggests relegation could be on the cards.

Other potential sanctions include a transfer ban, fine or points deduction.