Manchester City are unlikely to learn the outcome of an independent hearing into claims of serious financial mismanagement before the summer. The Premier League have laid 130 charges against City, who are accused of breaching financial fair play rules between 2009 and 2018.
City have also been accused of failing to cooperate with the league’s investigation. The club, though, have vehemently denied all the charges and have insisted they have a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” that proves their innocence.
City boss Pep Guardiola stated back in February that he was expecting a verdict soon, telling reporters: “In one month, I think there will be a verdict and a sentence. After that, we will see my opinion of what happened so far.”
However, the Telegraph are now reporting that there is likely to still be ‘quite a wait before a verdict arrives’. The report states that there were hopes a decision could be made by early spring, but the number of charges, amount of evidence and the complexities involved have caused a delay.
As a result, there is a chance that the 2025/26 season could get underway on August 16 without a verdict having been made on the case. However, City appear to remain confident they will be exonerated.
Star striker Erling Haaland signed a new nine-and-a-half year contract with City back in January and when asked why he decided to commit his long-term future to the club with the charges still having over them, he insisted he was not concerned.
“I have said about 300 times why I signed a nine-and-a-half year contract,” Haaland replied. “I spoke to the club, got a good feeling, and agreed to it in the end. That’s why.”
News of a delay to the verdict comes after football finance expert Kieran Maguire suggested that lawyers involved in the case could be taking their time due to their huge fees.
“When it does come out, I think the big fear is that you get the verdict as to whether they’re guilty or innocent of the charges, but you don’t get told what the punishment is – that could take longer,” Maguire said on The Overlap Fan Debate.
“If you look at some court cases, somebody will be found guilty or not guilty, and then the judge goes away and considers it. I think that would really set the cat amongst the pigeons, but in terms of the actual date, I think Pep said that it was going to be in March – well, we’ve got to the end of March and no news. So, how long it will be, we don’t know.
“You’ve got to think about the lawyers – they’re on the clock. If I’m on £3,000-£5,000 an hour, I’m not going to hurry a decision as to when the result is going to come out.
“There’s certainly a desire from the Premier League for it to come out [before the end of the season], because otherwise, we’ve got a hangover over the summer in terms of where does this leave clubs.
“If it comes out in July, for example, and Manchester City are given a 40 or 50-point deduction, then presumably one of Leicester or Ipswich will be saying, ‘well, if that had come out earlier, then we would have avoided relegation’ – so, therefore, they might be putting in a legal case.”
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