Man City's alleged Premier League financial rules breach 'could take up to FOUR years' before verdict is delivered

Manchester City’s alleged breach of the Premier League financial rules could take up to FOUR years before a verdict is reached on the case, according to a leading lawyer.

The defending Premier League champions on Monday were accused of breaking more than 100 financial rules from 2009 to 2018.

An independent commission will review the case and City could face a wide range of punishments, including fines, points deduction or Premier League expulsion.

City have firmly denied the allegations in a statement, despite welcoming the review from the independent commission into the matter.

Nick De Marco KC, a leading sports lawyer in Britain, has suggested that the six-time Premier League champions face quite the wait before a verdict is reached.

Speaking to The Times, he said: “Having worked on the Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday financial fair play cases, both of which involved two charges over about two years and took about a year and a half from charges to the end, I would not be surprised if these proceedings took considerably longer given there are apparently 115 charges covering a period of 14 years.”

Ex-City financial advisor Stefan Borson, who is chief executive officer for Watchstone Group, also added that it could take a “long time” before the process is completed.

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“I think it is unlikely that the club will be able to appeal to the English courts due to the Premier League’s rules requiring its disputes to be dealt with by Commission and arbitration,” he explained.

“The seriousness of these allegations is likely to mean it will be a long time before the disciplinary process can be completed -- I would not be at all surprised if it took in excess of two years.

“Ultimately, I believe it will be very difficult for the Premier League to prove this scale of wrongdoing, but if it does, the consequences for the club and its directors, and, of course, the fans, will be devastating.”

Topics: Manchester City, Premier League, England, Football

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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