Some Premier League clubs want a second investigation opened into Manchester City, this time covering the club’s finances from 2018 onwards, but the league’s chief executives are far from united on it.
The push comes after the Premier League confirmed in September that City had been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them. The original inquiry looked at breaches of the league’s financial rules between 2009 and 2018, plus charges of failing to cooperate with the investigation.
City have appealed the ruling and still maintain they have the evidence to clear their name. No sanction has been handed down yet.
Why do clubs want a second Man City investigation?
According to the Independent, a number of clubs are asking the league to look at City’s books from 2018 onwards to see whether any more rules were broken. The case they are making rests on what the independent commission found the first time round.
A central part of that verdict was the finding that City used “sham” sponsorship deals to hide what was really owner investment. With that in mind, several executives are asking whether the practice simply stopped in 2018. One source was reported to have put it bluntly: “What changed overnight?”
The commission also ruled that City and their Abu Dhabi-based sponsors were “related parties”. If those relationships stayed the same after 2018, many believe that could be the basis for fresh charges covering later seasons.
The Guardiola years under the spotlight
The timing is what makes this so awkward for the club. From the 2017-18 season onwards, Pep Guardiola ran one of the most dominant sides the Premier League has ever seen, and he won all six of his league titles in the eight-season spell some executives now want examined.
Why are other chiefs resisting it?
Not everyone is on board. Some officials think opening a second case covering the last eight seasons would leave the sport in an uncomfortable “dilemma”.
The first saga is still not finished, nearly three years after the Premier League went public with its allegations. There is already plenty of frustration around this season because of the uncertainty hanging over City, and there are fears the club will challenge whatever sanction comes, which could drag things out for years again. Plenty of people inside the game would rather see a line drawn under it all.
Others want to be patient and let the first case run its course. A few have floated a more tactical idea: keeping the threat of a second investigation in reserve as leverage if City keep prolonging the current one.
Would the evidence even be there?
That is a big question. The first investigation was built on leaked emails published through Football Leaks by Der Spiegel in 2018, and they covered 2009 to 2018. Some suggest evidence of that calibre may simply not exist for the years since.
The fallout from the verdict has been loud for weeks, from a former City midfielder saying the club have to be punished if the verdict stands, to Emile Heskey’s prediction of a 60-point deduction to the 2017 New York dinner photo some at City see as a smoking gun.
Verdict: a second probe is a threat, not a plan
A decision on City’s appeal and on the sanction is expected in the New Year, with possible punishments ranging from a points deduction to a big fine, or even expulsion from the Premier League.
My read is that a second investigation is more pressure than policy for now. The league’s clubs can’t agree on it, the evidence trail behind the first case may not be there for the later years, and nobody wants another three-year fight. But as long as the “related parties” finding stands, the question of what happened after 2018 won’t go away, and that hangs over the Manchester City fanbase as much as the appeal itself.
