Topics: Manchester City, Premier League, Pep Guardiola, Football
Manchester City and the Premier League are awaiting the verdict of the long-running ‘115 charges case’, but one well-respected journalist has suggested that the result may not be made public for another year in an interesting update.
City were first accused of 115 rule breaches by the Premier League in February of 2023, before a private hearing took place in front of an independent panel across 10 weeks between September 2024 and December 2024.
The 115 charges that City have been accused of – some suggest the number is closer to 130 – are alleged to have occurred between 2009 and 2018 with the 10-time Premier League champions accused of four counts of failing to provide accurate financial information, 14 counts of failure to provide accurate details for player and manager payments, five counts of failure to comply with UEFA’s rules including Financial Fair Play (FFP) 2013-14 to 2017-18, seven counts of breaching Premier League’s PSR rules 2015-16 to 2017-18 with the remaining 35 charges related to failure to co-operate with Premier League investigations between December 2018 and February 2023.
Manchester City Football Club has denied the claims and said their defence was supported by an ‘irrefutable body of evidence’.
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Almost three years on from when the accusations came to light, fans are none the wiser as to the result of the hearing despite suggestions that the verdict would be made public during the autumn international break.
In February of 2025, City head coach Pep Guardiola even said the outcome would be made public “in one month,” but the verdict was not made public in March of that year.
When the verdict will be made public remains unclear, as does the City’s potential punishment should the club be found guilty.
On New Year’s Day (January 1, 2026), Guardiola made clear that he is also still in the dark about the verdict and said: “It’s the same question I ask you, so I don’t know. I don’t know.
"Maybe you have better info than me. You don’t have?
"I would love to have it, but I don’t know. I don't know. The same answer to your question is the same you answered me one, two, three years ago. So, they must be so busy."
Despite the prospect of the verdict hanging over the club, they have still been active in the subsequent transfer windows and agreed a £20 million deal to sign Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi on Friday (January 16).
City also signed Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth earlier in the window for a £62.5 million fee.
This comes after they spent a combined £152 million on Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Marcus Bettinelli in the summer of 2025.
Since the December 2024 hearing concluded, City have spent nearly £500 million on players.
Shortly after the news of Guehi’s proposed move broke, the Independent’s Miguel Delaney issued an update on the 115 charges and claimed that the case could yet go on for another year, according to sources with knowledge of the process.
Speaking on the outlet’s YouTube channel, Delaney explained: “... The 115, it's sometimes called, even though it's related to 129, 130 charges, could yet go on for at least another year.
"That comes from sources with knowledge of the process. They're also telling us that outside a small circle, no one has pretty much any idea when the three judges on the independent panel will even come to an outcome.
"And when it comes, it will only be related to liability, not sanctions if City are found guilty.
"But if it is an outcome unfavourable to City, there's almost certain to be an appeal. I mean, this is all the more remarkable, of course, because the hearing, so I suppose you'd call it the third stage of this, at this point, nine-year investigation, this hearing concluded in December 2024.
"And it was expected to be announced in around February 2025. We're now over a year on.
"No one is any the wiser. I understand there is some frustration at the top of the Premier League about this, but there's not much they can do about it."
SPORTbible has contacted Manchester City and the Premier League for comment.
