Manchester City have established themselves as one of the best teams in the world, having notched six of the past eight Premier League titles. However, their wins have been marred by 115 charges from the Premier League for breaching financial rules.
An insider has revealed how the Cityzens could be punished if they are found guilty.
Manchester City Could Have a Serious Points Deduction Soon
In Feb. 2023, Manchester City were alleged to have breached a host of rules related to false accounting and making payments off the books. Despite Pep Guardiola’s side denying the 115 charges multiple times, a 10-week hearing began in Sep. 2024.
However, the outcome from the three-person Independent Commission panel has yet to be revealed. And soccer finance expert Kieran Maguire has suggested that the Cityzens could soon be handed a punishment, possibly in the form of a points deduction.
“The Premier League cannot relegate Manchester City to League One or League Two because that is an EFL decision and City have not had any charges proven against them by the EFL. Therefore, it has to be a points deduction,” Maguire said on The Overlap.
Referring to previous punishments handed to Everton and Nottingham Forest, Maguire said City’s fate could be worse due to the exaggerated nature of their alleged wrongdoings.
“If we take a look at precedence, we have had Everton and Nottingham Forest with six and four-point deductions for a single offence covering a three-year period. The accusations against City cover a nine-year period, so it is far bigger. The numbers involved we are not certain about but they are likely to be quite significant,” he continued.
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Maguire concluded, “I think you have to add a zero to what we’ve seen in terms of Forest and Everton, so somewhere between a 40 and 60-point deduction would be, on merit to be consistent with what we’ve seen with other decisions, would make a lot of logic.”
If Guardiola’s team are found guilty and a maximum of 60 points are deducted, they would end up on -4 points and at the bottom of the Premier League table. They are on 56 points from 27 Premier League games now, only trailing leaders Arsenal by five points.
Maguire also claimed that “we’re probably into the final reaches of getting a decision,” with Man City waiting for a verdict on the 115 charges case for over 14 months.
