Tottenham pay massive price over Man City charges as new Premier League tables shows

The Premier League has confirmed Manchester City are guilty of financial wrongdoings and Tottenham were one of the sides most impacted by the duplicity

Manchester City have been found guilty of the unprecedented financial rule breaches for which they were charged. And Tottenham are among the teams most affected by their deception from 2009 to 2018.

On Tuesday, the Premier League confirmed what had been reported days prior. City were ruled to have created "sham" contracts, concealed finances, violated spending caps and been uncooperative with an independent panel's investigation into their conduct, which began in 2018.

The club deny these findings and are set to appeal, which they must do before October 2. But many have called for severe punishments and restitution over almost a decade, during which, according to Premier League CEO Richard Masters, they "systematically broke rules." A different independent commission will deal out City's sanctions should they lose the appeal.

Spurs will feel especially hard done by, as looking back at past Premier League tables, City theoretically denied them millions. Let's say we retroactively remove City and all results involving them from the campaigns between 2009 and 2018, during which they have now been found guilty of financial rule breaches. How do things look for Spurs?

Well, in 2009/10 Tottenham finished above them. Led by Harry Redknapp, Spurs finished fourth, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in the Premier League era. Jermain Defoe bagged 18 league goals and City finished fifth. No changes there. However, the following 2010/11 season was an agonising one for Tottenham domestically.

Yes, Gareth Bale tore apart Maicon on the European stage but they finished fifth under Redknapp, narrowly missing out on a Champions League play-off spot. Yet if City were expunged in a disqualification model, Spurs would have made the cut. City finished third on 71 points and Spurs in fifth on 62. But they'd only lose one point and hop up to fourth with the Manchester side exiled.

If they won their play-off, this would have hypothetically netted them between £20m and £25m, considering participation fees, sponsorship bonuses and gate receipts. Fans would have also rejoiced in another season of Rafael van der Vaart and Bale in UEFA's elite competition and an extra £750k would have been earned from the top flight for finishing fourth rather than fifth.

It was déjà vu the following season, as Tottenham were cruelly denied Champions League participation in 2011/12. They finished fourth in Redknapp's final year, propelled by Emmanuel Adebayor's 17 league goals. City won their first league title, but because Chelsea claimed the Champions League, Spurs were bumped down to the Europa League. This rule was changed three years later.

However, if City's results were removed from that season, Tottenham would actually have finished second on 69 points. Again, Champions League proper qualification, compared to the Europa League, would have earned Spurs between £25m and £30m more in theory. Add an extra £1.5m for finishing second instead of fourth.

As if these two seasons weren't enough, in 2012/13 Spurs finished in, you guessed it, fifth, whilst City took second. Take away the now-disgraced side's results and Andre Villas-Boas' Lilywhites would have ended up in fourth. If they were victorious in their play-off, they could have pocketed between £24m and £29m more.

Not to mention that summer Bale was sold to Real Madrid for £85.3million. Would he have stuck around if Spurs had qualified for UEFA's top competition for the fourth campaign in a row? The same question can be asked about Luka Modric, who left for the Bernabeu the summer prior for £30m.

Things then get a little less painful. In the 2013/14 campaign, they would only have been bumped up from sixth to fifth, bagging an extra £1.2m through the league's direct merit. Although sixth only secured Spurs a Europa League play-off place, they won it and qualified for the tournament proper alongside Everton after Villas-Boas was sacked and Tim Sherwood took over.

However, in 2014/15, it's back to heartbreak. In Mauricio Pochettino's debut season, Tottenham finished fifth on 64 points but would jump to fourth and once again secure a spot in the Champions League rather than the Europa League with City erased.

Depending on how far they would have progressed in the Champions League, Spurs could have earned nearly £35m more, as that season UEFA introduced a major increase in prize money for a new broadcasting cycle. Add to this an additional £1.25m from the Premier League.

Instead of playing Asteras Tripoli in the Europa League, those purchased with the 'Bale money,' such as Roberto Soldado, Vlad Chiriches, Federico Fazio, Paulinho and Benjamin Stambouli could have been lining up against Barcelona and Real Madrid.

From this campaign onwards, Spurs' retrospective misery is minimal. In 2015/16, they would still have finished third under Pochettino and Leicester City would still have been crowned Champions. In 2016/17, Spurs would keep their runner-up spot behind Chelsea.

And finally, if City's historic centurion season in 2017/18 is deemed null and void, Spurs would have been bumped up to second, earning themselves an extra £2m from domestic merit. Overall, without City, Spurs would have qualified for the Champions League, or at least the play-offs, an extra four times in 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2014/15. This would have earned them up to £126m in theory.

But perhaps more importantly, if Spurs had made the Champions League for four straight years from 2010 to 2014, then star players like Bale and Modric might not have left and the north London side could have attracted much larger signings. This would have changed the landscape at White Hart Lane entirely.

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You could also argue that the 2014/15 Europa League campaign provided Harry Kane with a hunting ground to establish himself as the club's all-time top scorer.

But looking back, it is clear that, besides those who suffered relegation, Tottenham are among the clubs most affected by City's success during a period now stained by financial wrongdoing.