Man City FFP: ’60 to 100-point deduction’ after ‘corporate fraud’ touted by football finance expert
Manchester City look set to be deducted “60 to 100 points” as their 115+ FFP charges amount to “corporate fraud” according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire.
An independent hearing into the Citizens’ alleged breaches of financial fair play finished in mid-December, and with a verdict expected imminently a number of sanctions have been touted, including points penalties, transfer embargoes, stripping titles and even complete expulsion from the Premier League.
City have claimed two legal wins over the Premier League, with Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules deemed ‘null and void’ in the most recent ‘significant’ victory for the club.
But they will be sweating the outcome of the FFP hearing despite insisting on their innocence throughout proceedings.
Both Everton and Nottingham Forest were docked points in 2023/2024 for breaking Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules, and City look set to be hit considerably harder if they’re found guilty.
Maguire believes the club can expect a huge points deduction if they’ve breached the rules
He told the Tear Us Apart podcast: “Looking at the commission reports for Nottingham Forest and Everton when they have both been charged by the Premier League, it is noticeable that the commission conclusion was that they were ‘minor breaches’.
“They were minor breaches and they resulted in a four-point deduction [for Forest] and a six-point deduction [for Everton, which was reduced from 10 on appeal]. What Manchester City is being accused of is effectively corporate fraud, which has to be constituted as a major breach of the rules.
“If guilty, and I really have to stress the word ‘if’, the punishment is likely to be far harsher [than what Everton and Nottingham Forest got]. It has to be a points deduction – if found guilty. We are looking at a points deduction somewhere in the region of 60 to 100 points.”
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Meanwhile, City have been told to ‘stop moaning’ after the Premier League ‘rejected their request’ to delay the start to next season to grant them more time to recover after the Club World Cup.
As things stand, there are only 33 days between the Club World Cup final and the start of the 2025/26 Premier League season on August 16 and a 26-day gap until the Community Shield.
‘Manchester City made their displeasure clear at a Premier League meeting this week after their request to start next season late because of Fifa’s new Club World Cup had been rejected.
‘City’s chief executive, Ferran Soriano, raised the issue at the shareholders’ meeting in London on Thursday but if he was hoping for some support from other clubs then he was disappointed.
‘One club executive pointed out afterwards that there is no obligation for teams to play in the Club World Cup but plenty of financial reward.’