Man City began to be " brought to light" since February 2023 when they were accused of violating up to 115 articles on financial fairness. Since last year, many teams in the Premier League have been punished for this issue such as Everton or Nottingham Forest. However, Man City has not been punished and many teams are waiting for that day.
For more than a year, the Etihad team has continuously denied and said they will "fight to the end" to protect their innocence. In the last 7 seasons in the Premier League, Man City has won 6 times, along with 1 UEFA Champions League. They cannot let a big scandal destroy that radiance.
The incident originated from Football Leaks' revelations published in the German newspaper Der Spiegel in 2019. The Premier League has since launched an investigation based on what Der Spiegel published. In its article, the German newspaper clearly stated how Man City tried to circumvent financial fair play. Some of the tricks listed are transferring sponsorship money to companies in the UAE, inflating costs for advertising projects, etc.
February 2020 was Man City's first shock when they were banned from playing in the European Cup by UEFA for 2 years and fined 30 million Euros. After that, the English team filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and had their sentence greatly reduced. They only had to pay 10 million Euros at that time and still played the Champions League normally.
February 6, 2023 was the next shock for Man City when the Premier League announced that they had sent 115 allegations of financial fraud against the Manchester team to an independent investigation committee. Richard Masters - CEO of the Premier League said in January 2024 that the investigation would begin in April this year. However, it was not until 5 months later that it really happened.
In fact, September 16, 2024 was the official start date for the investigation. Throughout the past year, the process of collecting evidence and taking statements from related people has been carried out. The case handling side wants to have all the most solid evidence before deciding to start.
"I think they have prepared for this as carefully as possible. I am not surprised that up to now, the case handling has set a date for the official start of the investigation," an unnamed lawyer told The Athletic.
As for Man City, since being "named" for being involved in 115 allegations of financial violations, they have continuously said they will appeal and use a team of "Best Lawyers in the World" to stand side by side in this scandal. The leader of the team of lawyers hired by Man City is David Pannick. He is highly regarded in the British legal community and is currently a member of Blackstone Chambers. This is a collection of law firms in central London, UK.
How the Premier League and the independent investigation committee will handle it is all kept secret. This makes many people feel uncomfortable because it "surely" is not transparent and quick like the Everton or Nottingham cases. However, if we look at it from the opposite direction, 115 accusations is a huge number, revealing a few details during the investigation can make things confusing for the authorities.
