Man City FFP: Five more possible consequences after sanction ruling include players ripping up contracts

It has been a sorry week for those associated with Manchester City, with supporters and ex-players entering the denial stage of the grieving process by blindly backing the ownership and directors after years of being deceived.

And it feels like it is only going to get worse for Man City after it was confirmed this week that they were found guilty on almost all their FFP charges.

In response, Man City have brazenly continued to insist on their innocence while holding supposed ‘irrefutable evidence’ that failed to clear their name in the first place. The apparent proof of their innocence has now been disclosed, but this has only shown that they are clutching at the thinnest of straws to secure a get-out-of-jail-free card, with a lost appeal now looking inevitable.

And the possible consequences of a potential lost appeal are bleak for Man City, who would surely face the severest of punishments after producing several ‘sham’ deals to save around £900m and doing so with such a lack of remorse, while also seemingly using every dirty trick in the book to delay the case for as long as possible.

It has been widely reported that the Premier League and its clubs are ready for the book to be thrown at Man City, whose possible punishments include a fine, transfer ban, points deduction, expulsion and/or being stripped of their Premier League titles.

The ruling on a punishment is expected to be issued within the “next couple of months”; this may only be the tip of the iceberg, with wider consequences of their actions potentially to follow. Here are five possible knock-on effects…

Being sued by rival Premier League clubs and/or individuals
Man City’s hierarchy will already be aware that at least four rival Premier League clubs are preparing to sue Enzo Maresca’s side for a potential combined sum of £200m after the guilty FFP verdict.

The clubs in question are said to be some of Man City’s Big Six rivals, but other sides would also be within their rights to seek damages after the Cityzens’ conduct could be deemed to have led to teams failing to secure trophies, European qualification and/or Premier League survival.

And this also spreads to individuals who may feel wronged by Man City, with former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal already told to sue City “into oblivion” after they potentially got him sacked in 2016.

Now, some claims will be more tenuous than others, and it is hard to see cases such as Van Gaal’s going against Man City, but they still face penning a fair few big-money cheques to rivals in the coming months/years.

READ: ‘Nothing short of destroying’ Manchester City ‘is acceptable for what they’ve done’

Bans for current and/or former board of directors
At the moment, most of the conversation regarding potential punishments relates to how Man City as a club will be impacted, which is understandable.

But if/when Man City’s guilty verdict is upheld, there will also be several high-profile directors and other club officials found to be implicated in the case, and the book would be thrown at them too.

Should this saga end as badly as it could for Man City, it is hard to see how figures such as current club CEO Ferran Soriano could continue at the Etihad or elsewhere without serving some level of ban from football.

And individuals who were at Man City at the time but have since left could also be pulled back into the mire, including current Manchester United chief executive Omar Barrada, who was previously the chief operating officer at the Etihad from 2016.

Manchester City owners forced into sale
This is perhaps the greatest possible punishment of all, and it is surely on the table following the recent introduction of the Independent Football Regulator.

Jamie Carragher is among those banging the drum that Man City owners cannot continue to run the Premier League club after the guilty verdict, and IFR chairman David Kogan has already sent a stark warning to the Abu Dhabi ownership that they do intend to “assess the suitability of owners, directors and executives” at the Etihad after the FFP case “raised serious concerns”.

Should Man City lose an appeal, the IFR could be within its rights to intervene at the club and deem their owners “unsuitable” to run an English club, thus potentially enforcing a forced sale order to put the club back on the market for a takeover.

We recently had a similar situation with Chelsea and former owner Roman Abramovich, and it is not inconceivable that a repeat could happen with Man City and their Abu Dhabi owners. As much as those close to the club would currently say otherwise, this would surely be a blessing in disguise.

READ MORE: Key questions remain unanswered about the Man City Scandal – but are there one, three or seven?

Enzo Maresca resigning
On the pitch, Man City were riding a crest of a wave heading into the international break, having won their first five games to move clear at the top of the Premier League table.

But with what’s occurred in the last few days, it is incredibly improbable that they can sustain this level of form in the coming months to fuel a title challenge, though a possible points deduction could take that out of their hands anyway.

Man City’s players and coaching staff will, at the very least, be bemused at the FFP situation, and they would be justified in feeling cheated at what’s been going on behind the scenes.

As much as Maresca and his players will surely speak in support of Man City publicly in the coming weeks, the trust is no longer there, and they would be daft not to even start to consider potential escape routes from this mess.

In Maresca’s case, it has already been reported that he has no intention of staying at Man City if they fall from the Premier League, and he would not be short of interest from top clubs across Europe if he did opt to hand in his resignation.

Players having contracts ripped up
If Man City were forced to play in the Championship or below, a mass player exodus would be an inevitable consequence, with the vast majority of their squad surely having no plans to continue their careers outside of the top flight.

Even with relegation or expulsion, Man City will feel they can make hundreds of millions of pounds by cashing in on their most valuable assets, which could soften the blow somewhat.

But Man City may not even have that, with sports lawyer Paul Gilroy saying on The Overlap that there are grounds for the players to “tear up their contracts” if the club remains guilty after an appeal because it can be argued that the ‘implied term of trust and confidence’ has been breached in their contracts.

And considering how Man City’s players have been dragged into this atrocious situation (and given that they could lose Premier League titles in the process), they could not be blamed for putting themselves first and denying the club a fee for their services.

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