Premier League clubs have been told that Manchester City ‘will be relegated’ if found guilty of their 115 charges as the verdict is awaited.
With over a hundred charges of financial wrongdoing facing them, City’s future in the Premier League may be hanging gregariously in the balance, with the club’s former financial advisor Stefan Borson having issued a stark warning suggesting that relegation could be the eventual outcome if the charges are proven true.
Borson argues that City’s case is on a completely different level from that of Everton and Nottingham Forest, who have both also been charged with breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability rules. Highlighting the gravity of the City situation, he told talkSPORT: “There can be no question that this will end in at least relegation — that’s no question if those charges are proven. There’s a suggestion of conspiracy over effectively a 10-year period.”
“They [Premier League] are suggesting that City’s main sponsorship agreements are not for £50-60m but are actually for £8m and the whole thing was a sham,” Borson continued. “That a whole load of people lied and a whole load of executives from multiple companies were in on it and that the club also lied to multiple other parties. Professionals, people doing due diligence on the company, the league, UEFA, the FA.”
Yet, despite the serious nature of the charges, Borson is inclined to believe that City is unlikely to be found guilty the number of individuals involved is too numerous and underlined the fact that proving such wide-ranging claims would require an unprecedented level of cogent proof. There is also the doubt that such misconduct – involving high-ranking individuals within the club and associated companies – could have gone undetected for an entire decade.
This is not the first time City has faced accusations of financial misdeeds by UEFA but had previously successfully appealed their two-year European ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020. Citing the difficulty in substantiating the Premier League’s claims, Borson is quietly optimistic that City will once again prove their innocence as the burden of proof lies with the independent panel, and it indeed a huge question mark whether they can establish the alleged wrongdoing beyond any reasonable doubts.
“I think they [City] will clear their name because I think a case of this nature has to have a level of cogent proof, which seems to me to be impossible to present to an independent commission,” Borson said. “It seems highly unlikely that the conduct that is alleged has taken place over a 10-year period with the sorts of individuals who are involved in the club and in the companies involved.
“It seems highly unlikely and that will be the starting point of any independent commission. It will be a very big call for any quasi court or tribunal to suggest that this number of people have been dishonest and have perjured themselves.”
Premier League boss Richard Masters has issued the confirmation that a date has been set for the independent panel hearing regarding City’s charges. The Telegraph has reported that the proceedings could commence in the coming week.