Bombshell claim made about Man City 115 charges verdict after 'close analysis of evidence'

A major claim has been made about Manchester City's 115 charges hearing as the wait for an official verdict goes on.

The hearing, which came after City accused of 115 breaches of financial rules over a nine-year period by the Premier League in 2023, began in September and was concluded in December.

A three-person Independent Commission panel were handed the responsibility of looking over a case which would have serious implications on the future of English football.

It was previously thought, and suggested by manager Pep Guardiola, that a decision would be announced before at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.

But that has not happened and in a piece for the Daily Mail, journalist Ian Herbert has weighed in with his view on proceedings.

In an article, titled, 'The bombshell result of Manchester City's 115 charges case is now clear and here's why', Herbert wrote that "close analysis of the evidence, and the circumstances of the trial itself" lead him to believe that City will prevail.

What are the 115 charges?

• Failure to provide accurate and up-to-date financial information from 2009/10 to and including 2017/18 - 54 alleged breaches
• Failure to cooperate with Premier League investigations from December 2018 to February 2023 - 35 alleged breaches
• Failure to provide accurate financial reports for player and manager compensation from 2009/10 to and including 2017/18 - 14 alleged breaches
• Breaches of Premier League profitability and sustainability regulations from 2015/16 to and including 2017/18 - Seven alleged breaches
• Failure to comply with UEFA's regulations, including UEFA's Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play regulations - Five alleged breaches

He pointed out that UEFA found guilty in a similar case after two days but City were successful in appealing the outcome with the Court Arbitration of Sport and the verdict was overturned.

180 days have passed for the hearing of the City and Premier League case, with Herbert writing: "The expanse of time leads me to conclude City are going to win this one. No points deduction. No relegation.

"At the very least, the hiatus points to uncertainty about the evidence put before the commission, which sat for 12 weeks between last September and December."

Manchester City's 115 charges verdict has still not yet been announced. Image: Getty

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been consulted on the matter on a regular basis and has said that for City to be convicted, the commission would have to decide that those high up at City and Abu Dhabi sponsors Etihad and Etisalat were culpable of financial manipulation.

Maguire told the Daily Mail that there "would have had to be co-ordinated lying" while pointing out that BDO LLP, City's external accounts, would have analysed finances at length and would have had to have been involved in fraud or not privy at all.

Why has there been such a delay on Man City's 115 charges verdict?

In April, Maxime van den Dijssel of Brandsmiths law firm, a sports lawyer who specialises in arbitration, thinks it could last for "another couple of years” given potential appeals and that such a delay is normal given the enormity of the case.

“I’m not surprised it’s taking this long," he told the i Paper.

"It’s common for things to take this long. They have to all effectively sit in a room and decide and go through it, and when there’s that much material, it makes sense that it would take this long.”

City have strenuously denied the charges and are believed to be "totally confident" that they will be "exonerated" as they claim to have "irrefutable evidence" which proves their innocence.