Manchester City
How Manchester City Could Face Immediate Expulsion Before Appeal Is Decided
Manchester City face pressure over expulsion rules as executives weigh action before the appeal verdict.
Manchester City’s weekend victory over Liverpool ensured there was no immediate fallout from the guilty verdict, at least on the pitch. But off it, the situation remains unresolved, with the club still appealing and maintaining that its innocence will be established.
For now, no sanction has been imposed. That leaves the Premier League in a holding pattern, even though its own rules do provide a route for the most severe outcome of all: expulsion.
Under Rule B6 of the league’s regulations, members can vote to remove a club from the competition. The rule states: “The League may expel a Club from membership upon a special Resolution to that effect being passed by a majority of not less than three-quarters of such members as (being entitled to do so) vote by their representatives or by proxy at a General Meeting of which notice specifying the intention to propose the Resolution has been duly given.”
In practical terms, that means 15 clubs could join forces to force City out immediately. The Independent has reported that discussions of that possibility have already taken place among several club executives.
One executive was quoted as saying: “This is a farce that will lead to protest, damage to the integrity and reputation of the competition, and possibly even violence,” one is quoted as saying. “The board has a duty at law to its shareholders to protect, enhance and promote the interests of the Premier League.”
The rule exists for a reason, and in theory it gives clubs the power to act if they believe expulsion serves the competition’s interests. Even so, that prospect is widely viewed as unlikely in the present climate.
Any attempt to remove City would almost certainly face a successful legal challenge, which would only deepen the uncertainty already surrounding the case.
Despite that, pressure for action is not easing. Club executives are still pushing for an immediate response, with growing concern that the season cannot continue along its current course.
Manchester City
MLS Rules Out Investigation Into NYCFC After Manchester City Verdict
MLS has ruled out an NYCFC investigation after Manchester City’s financial breach verdict.
Major League Soccer has made clear that New York City FC will not face its own investigation after Manchester City were found guilty of breaching financial regulations.
The link between the two clubs is well established. Manchester City were bought in 2008 by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, while City Football Group was created in 2013 to expand the ownership model and add more teams. NYCFC became the first club to join that structure and entered MLS as an expansion side in 2015.
That connection prompted questions about whether MLS would examine NYCFC in the wake of City’s case, especially with Andrew Widdowson having served as City’s financial director during the period in which the Premier League club broke its financial rules. Widdowson is now NYCFC chief financial officer, though the two clubs operate with separate executive boards.
For MLS commissioner Don Garber, there was no suggestion that the league would follow City’s case into NYCFC’s affairs. Speaking at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit on Wednesday, he said MLS is focused on how clubs comply with its own rules, and not on their ownership groups’ conduct in other competitions.
“We’re fortunate we have owners in our league that own multiple teams throughout every league,” Garber said at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit on Wednesday. “We have [Colorado Rapids owner] Stan Kroneke owning Arsenal, and we have owners that own teams in Spain, in Italy, throughout the rest of the world.
“MLS is looking at how owners act in accordance with our rules here in Major League Soccer. I will say that what NYCFC has done through their own ownership, the City Football Group and investing in our league, building a great team in NYCFC, building an MLS NEXT Pro stadium in New Jersey and obviously their stadium that will open up in Queens is something we’re thankful for and appreciative of.
“But we’re not in the business of looking at what our team owners do in other leagues, and frankly, I don’t think any league would view what other owners do when they have multiple investments throughout other sports.
“The concept of multiple-team ownership is something that we all live through, manage through, and we have our own governance as it relates to what their behavior is.”
Manchester City
Kogan sets out expected timeline for Manchester City appeal
Kogan says the City case should be heard by January, with a ruling expected early next year.
The head of England’s Independent Football Regulator says the Manchester City case is expected to be resolved before the end of the season, with a decision timetable already in place.
David Kogan, the IFR chief, told Times Radio: “My understanding is there is a prescribed process, which is 12 weeks, and so people are assuming this will actually be heard by the middle or the end of January.”
He added: “It’s not [the IFR’s] process, it’s that of the Premier League’s independent commission. What I don’t think we can do is take any judgment until we’re quite clear.
“Obviously, City claim that they have some form of silver bullet to put off these charges and win the appeal, and we’re not there to judge whether that’s right or wrong yet, but I think we’ll know in the early part of next year.”
If the first appeal fails, City could in theory continue to challenge the original verdict, although any further step would need legal grounds and those grounds would narrow with each stage. Given the club’s repeated denial of wrongdoing, it appears unlikely that a failed appeal leading to sanctions would be accepted without further resistance.
Separate from any punishment handed down by the independent commission, the IFR would also have the power to end Sheikh Mansour’s stewardship of Manchester City if a guilty verdict stands. As Kogan set out in an IFR statement on Sept. 30, that would happen if his ownership was no longer considered “suitable” in the interests of “protecting the sustainability, honesty and integrity” of English soccer, and where there is “clear evidence of wrongdoing by individuals.”
The wider political backdrop has also drawn attention, with the ownership’s relationship with U.K. prime minister Andy Burnham and any possible influence on the process coming under scrutiny. There are concerns about strained relations between the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, given Sheikh Mansour’s role as a senior politician and member of the royal family in the Gulf nation.
Burnham, formerly the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has been cautious in discussing the guilty verdict while remaining complimentary about the economic impact of UAE investment in east Manchester. At the end of September, he said he would be “really concerned to lose them,” and also stated: “They’ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester and obviously the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is,” and “I do actually thank the City Football Group and the wider ownership for the money that they didn’t just put into the Etihad [Stadium] and the campus around it but also into the city.”
His concern could be seen as a potential source of government pressure, but Kogan and the IFR seem confident it will not become an issue.
Manchester City
Why City’s Backing From PSG Is Hardly a Shock
Enrique’s support for City is rooted in friendship, football history, and a process still unresolved.
Paris Saint-Germain and Luis Enrique were always among the likeliest voices to defend Manchester City at this moment. That should not come as a surprise. Enrique shares a long-standing friendship with Pep Guardiola, a relationship that began when both were on Spain’s Olympic roster on home soil in 1992. They later moved through the senior national team together, then became club colleagues in 1996 after Enrique switched from Real Madrid to Barcelona in the early days of the Bosman ruling.
Their paths continued to overlap in Barcelona, where Enrique coached Barcelona B while Guardiola led the first team, before Enrique eventually took charge of the senior side in 2014. So when he was asked about the Premier League’s guilty verdict hanging over Manchester City ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League meeting, his response was measured and sympathetic.
Guardiola is expected to attend for the first time since stepping down as manager in May, and Enrique made clear that he hopes the process reaches a fair conclusion. “We just have to wait and see what the final decision will be,” he said. “I hope everything works out well for Manchester City because I think what they have done on the pitch has been incredible over the last few years and they certainly deserved to win on the pitch all the trophies they have won. Now we have to wait to see what the authorities decide.”
He expanded on that view when discussing the issue further. “The first thing that you hear, it is a surprise, but we need to respect the process and wait for the final decision,” Enrique admitted. “The authorities are responsible for making these decisions.
“But, speaking only about football, they deserved those trophies. I love their football. Beyond that, we have to wait for the decision. The trophies you win on the pitch remain on the pitch. They deserved to win that and I hope they can avoid the sanction. But we have to wait.”
Manchester City have appealed the guilty verdict reached by an independent panel after a multi-year Premier League investigation into the 2009 to 2018 period. Further appeals could follow if the club are still found guilty when the initial appeal verdict is due in late January.
For now, City must continue as normal while the disciplinary process runs its course, still uncertain over what comes next or how any sanction might eventually be applied.
