Manchester City has dismissed the conclusions of an independent Premier League Commission that found the club responsible for serious breaches of financial rules, describing the opinion “unsafe” and pledging to exhaust every possible avenue of appeal.
The club made this known in a statement posted on its website on Tuesday, shortly after the Premier League revealed that the independent Commission had found City guilty on all charges concerning serious violations of the league’s financial rules across a nine-season span.
Manchester City described itself as “disappointed and surprised” by the Commission’s opinion and insisted it was innocent of the allegations.
“Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission that has been published today,” the club said.
“The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League, and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case.”
The club said it would keep contesting the findings through the appropriate regulatory and legal channels.
“The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums,” it said.
Manchester City stated that the Premier League process was not yet finished and confirmed it would exhaust the appeal avenues available to it.
“The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle, and fact and is unsafe,” the club said.
According to the Premier League, the Commission determined that City had violated financial rules between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons, including through arrangements labelled as “sham” commercial agreements.
The Premier League said the Commission concluded that the schemes artificially boosted City’s revenues and cut its costs by more than £900m over the period in question.
City, for its part, said it had honored the process throughout the proceedings and cast doubt on the independence of the Premier League’s regulatory process.
“The Club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial, and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence,” the club said.
Manchester City said it was limited in what it could reveal publicly while the remaining proceedings were still underway.
“The Club is obviously restricted in what it can say further until all future proceedings are complete,” it added.
The Premier League said on Tuesday that City was entitled to appeal the Commission’s findings and had until Friday, October 2, to exercise that right.
The League also said the matter of sanctions would be dealt with separately at a further hearing before the independent Commission.
It said the sanction hearing would stay private and confidential until publication of the outcome was permitted under its rules.
The Premier League opened its investigation into Manchester City in December 2018, and a formal complaint was subsequently filed in February 2023.
The independent commission conducted a 42-day hearing that came to a close in December 2024.
