Man City FFP: Citizens ‘will be found guilty’ of alleged breaches with ‘massive points deduction’ incoming
Man City “will be found guilty” and face a “massive points deduction” from the Premier League, according beIN Sports pundit Andy Gray,
An independent commission is set to rule on the 115 charges facing the Citizens at some stage during the season ahead, with The Times reporting earlier this month that the hearing could begin as early as mid-September.
Man City’s alleged breaches relate to rules requiring the reporting of accurate financial information, the submission of details of manager and player pay information within the relevant contracts, a club’s responsibility as a Premier League member to adhere to UEFA’s financial regulations and to the league’s own profitability and sustainability regulations.
The club are also alleged to have breached rules requiring them to co-operate and assist with the Premier League’s investigation into those breaches, which the league said began in December 2018.
There has been a lot of speculation predicting whether Man City will be found guilty of the alleged breaches and what their punishment could be, and former Sky Sports pundit Gray insists that the Citizens will be punished by “a massive points deduction and a massive fine”.
After BeIN Sports presenter Richard Keys insisted that a verdict could come back at the beginning of next year, Gray said: “What will happen? I imagine, and I don’t know, I imagine it’ll be along the lines of a points deduction, a massive one.”
Gray added: “They will be found guilty. There’s 115 charges and they’re not going to be innocent of all of them.
“I think we both know that. Well, without the independent tribunal, they wouldn’t be charging them if there wasn’t some evidence surrounding them there that suggested they might be guilty.
“I don’t think they’ll take titles away from them, so what can they do? They can take points away from them now, they can fine them.
“Fining them? Who cares. They can fine them as much as they want, it doesn’t matter to Manchester City, they can pay that out of their back pocket. The only thing I can see is a massive points deduction and a massive fine.”
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Keys has previously given his view on the situation surrounding Man City, congratulating them on their fourth consecutive Premier League title, but he told the champions to “stop running” from their FFP charges.
He wrote in his blog in May: “Let’s congratulate City on another title success. Four in a row really is an exceptional achievement. It wasn’t just the final day that fell flat – I thought City’s achievement did.
“They know. They all know – fans, players and management alike, that none of us can take anything they do at face value – until they‘ve answered the 115 outstanding breaches of PL regulations.
“City strenuously deny any wrongdoing. And they’re innocent until proven guilty. The problem is that everything they win comes with an asterisk, until we know one way or the other.
“And that’s not fair on the guys winning the trophies – or City’s fans. If the people that run the club are certain they’ve done nothing wrong – face the charges now. Stop running.”