Man City's Fate Revealed: The Severe Punishments That Could Crush the Club Over 115 Premier League Charges

Pep Guardiola's confidence in Manchester City never faltered amid the turbulent speculation surrounding the 115 Premier League charges brought against the club for alleged financial violations.

"I trust them," he stated. "I spoke with them and trust how they behave and how they did. What happened, happened." It now appears that his confidence was ill-founded.

After more than three years of proceedings and 17 years since the first alleged misconduct in 2009, it has been widely reported that City will be found guilty of nearly every charge brought against them by the Premier League.

To simplify an extraordinarily complex case that has reportedly cost England's top division over £200 million ($264.9 million) to contest before an independent tribunal, City have primarily been accused of artificially boosting their revenues to circumvent Premier League financial regulations.

The league has previously handed out severe sanctions for "minor breaches" of these rules, so the consequences now facing City appear grave.

Every Punishment Man City Could Face for 115 Premier League Charges

Reprimand

The Premier League rulebook conveniently outlines every sanction that could be imposed on a club penalized by an independent commission. There are numerous potential outcomes, including the relatively mild "reprimand," though City are expected to face a considerably more serious reckoning.

Financial Penalty

The Premier League holds the authority to impose "a fine unlimited in amount and suspend any part thereof," though this alone would not seem to be the most probable outcome. It has been well established for nearly two decades that money is no obstacle for City. As former Liverpool boss Rafael Benítez quipped when Gareth Barry joined the Etihad following the club's Abu Dhabi takeover in 2009, there is "only one reason a player chooses to go to Manchester City."

The top flight also makes clear that any and all penalties can be combined, meaning City could face both sporting and financial consequences. When UEFA banned the club from all competitions in 2020, they also imposed a $34.2 million (€30 million) fine alongside it.

Suspension

This is where the stakes begin to escalate significantly. Under the sweeping authority of the Premier League, City can be suspended from the competition's fixtures immediately and "for such period as it thinks fit."

Points Deductions

This has been the preferred tool of the Premier League when addressing previous violations of its financial rules. However, as football finance expert Kieran Maguire has explained, City are facing a far more severe penalty.

"If we look at precedent, we've had Everton and Nottingham Forest receive six and four-point deductions respectively for a single offence covering a three-year period," Maguire noted earlier this year. "The charges against Manchester City span a nine-year period, so it is far more serious.

"The exact figures are uncertain, but they are likely to be quite substantial. I think you have to add a zero to what we've seen with Forest and Everton, so somewhere between a 40 and 60-point deduction would be, on merit and consistent with previous decisions, entirely logical."

It is important to note that City cannot automatically be relegated to the lower tiers of the English football pyramid, as the Premier League is a separate entity from the Championship or Leagues One and Two. A sufficiently large points deduction, however, would almost certainly leave City with too great a deficit to overcome in a relegation battle.

Pep Guardiola guided his side to second place last season with 78 points. Even if the Premier League applied the lesser punishment of 40 points, City would still have finished 18th, one point below relegated West Ham United.

Expulsion

While the Premier League may not be able to place City directly into League Two, they do possess the authority to expel the club from the competition entirely. In that scenario, it would fall to the English Football League (EFL, the governing body overseeing the divisions below the top flight) to determine whether to admit City and at which level they would compete.

Financial Compensation

City could also be compelled to "pay compensation unlimited in amount" to any club adversely affected by their violations. During the period in question (2009–18), City claimed three Premier League titles—two at the expense of Manchester United and one ahead of Liverpool—along with three FA Cups. Those various runners-up may well be seeking some form of redress.

Carte Blanche

The Premier League also reserved one final catch-all clause for themselves. In addition to all the penalties listed above, the competition retains the right to impose "such other penalty as it shall think fit."

Can Man City Be Retroactively Punished?

That latitude to impose any punishment deemed appropriate would also permit retroactive action, specifically stripping City of the titles won during the period under scrutiny. However, it seems unlikely that the Premier League would willingly undermine its own historical record.

"I would expect that if there is a points deduction, it would be applied going forward," Onside Law's legal director James Hill, who specializes in sports regulatory matters, told The Athletic.

"Generally, panels don't like deciding titles in a court process. Doing it that way does not deliver a real tangible punishment to the club."

Those who lost out on those titles to City may well feel differently.