Manchester City have reacted with disappointment and astonishment after the Premier League confirmed the club was found culpable of almost all charges linked to major financial regulation breaches.
The commission said City had arranged ‘fraudulent’ sponsorship deals, provided inaccurate financial statements and broke spending limits to ‘artificially enhance the club’s financial revenues and reduce its expenditures by exceeding £900 million throughout the relevant timeframe’.
The club was also found to have breached several duties to cooperate fully and remain transparent during the lengthy investigation.
A censored version of the commission’s assessment published on the Premier League website said City was found culpable of all charges except one linked to insufficient cooperation with the investigation.
City has until Friday to appeal and has already rejected the findings.
The club said: “The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums.”
It added: “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.”
City also said it had followed procedural fairness throughout the eight-year process and could not say more until the legal proceedings end.
The Premier League says there are no fixed punishments, meaning City could face points deduction, a fine or relegation.
