Man City Chairman Breaks Silence After Club Found Guilty of Financial Breaches

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak says he remains confident the club can prove its innocence, despite being found guilty of breaking the Premier League's financial rules.

City had been accused of a wide range of breaches, largely centred on claims they inflated sponsorship income from companies linked to the club and made undisclosed payments to get around financial regulations. On Friday, it was confirmed City had been found guilty of the vast majority of the 115 charges brought against them, prompting Al Mubarak to respond directly to fans in a letter posted on the club's website.

"Following Friday's media reporting, many of you will have spent your evening answering questions and responding to messages from friends, family and colleagues. So have I," Al Mubarak wrote. "Here's what I said to my family: The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the club's innocence is just as strong as when this began. There are so many things that I would like to be able to share with you to help you understand why we feel so confident in our position. But the strict confidentiality of the legal process and our determination to respect it means I cannot do that at the moment. Even this letter underwent several legal checks to make sure it complies."

Premier League clubs are already seeking legal advice over potential compensation claims, and it has been reported that City will appeal the verdict. Sanctions have not yet been announced, but possible consequences range from a points deduction to a large fine or even expulsion from the league.

Al Mubarak, who became City's chairman following the club's 2008 takeover, also suggested the club was being unfairly targeted. "While some people have been quick to reach their own conclusions, and there is so much noise swirling around us, nothing has changed. We have faced challenges together before and have prevailed," he said. "There remain many who want to undermine the momentum of our club. We will not give them that opportunity."

Elsewhere, Christian Purslow, a former Liverpool managing director and Aston Villa chief executive who also held a senior role at Chelsea, warned the case could set off a chain reaction that would be damaging for the sport as a whole. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme alongside football law expert Paul Gilroy KC, who called the case a "seismic moment for world football," Purslow laid out the scale of what could follow.

"It's a sort of 'where does this end?' because if you look at every single season, the nine seasons which we now know Manchester City breached rules, then all of their 19 Premier League rivals in that season, to differing extents, suffered easy-to-compute loss," Purslow said. "Whether it was a place in the Premier League, every place was worth £3m. Teams that came fifth who didn't make the Champions League maybe lost tens of millions of pounds, and of course teams that were relegated. Let's say the team that finished 18th would've finished 17th if Manchester City weren't there. And they, of course, suffered huge loss. If you add all those claims up, over nine years, and that's just in the Premier League, you can see that the potential here for this to spiral out of control is huge."

Gilroy added that four clubs have already lodged protective claims, reserving the right to seek compensation should City ultimately be found guilty.

The news, first reported by The Athletic, comes 1,327 days after City were originally charged by the Premier League in February 2023 following a four year investigation, and 22 months after the independent commission's hearing concluded. No official announcement has been made by the Premier League itself, which has declined to comment. City similarly declined to confirm the verdict directly, instead issuing a statement: "Premier League process remains ongoing with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence."

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has called for the situation to be resolved quickly. "I think most football fans will be feeling that this is not a good moment for football as a whole and I think Manchester City fans will be feeling very, very anxious about what happens next," she told BBC Radio 5 Live. "It's very unsettling for football fans and I hope that it can be resolved as swiftly as possible. I will obviously look very closely as what comes out of this but we can't apply those rules for the Premier League. They have got to do it themselves and are going to have to resolve this as swiftly as possible, not just for the sake of Manchester City but for the sake of football."

City won eight trophies during the period covered by the case, including three Premier League titles, three EFL Cups, one Community Shield and one FA Cup. The charges span the tenures of Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini, as well as the first two seasons under Pep Guardiola, who left the club at the end of last season after ten years in charge.

David Bernstein, who served as City's chairman between 1998 and 2003, told Times Radio he felt "absolutely awful" on hearing the news, while acknowledging that any punishment would likely need to go beyond a simple fine.

"To see all this tarnished in this way is very sad," Bernstein said. "I feel particularly bad for the wonderful supporters of the club who've stayed with the club through thick and thin. This whole process has taken too long already. So the appeal process now has to be done quickly because you've got the club playing with this cloud over its head and it's just not viable. The appeal process cannot go on for year after year, I think that would be a disaster, not just for this particular case but for English football generally. The timing is crucial."

He added: "I can't give a view on the punishment. If they are found, after the appeal, guilty of 115 charges, my beloved club is going to face a very severe penalty. All I would say is that money is not sufficient, it would have to be something, unfortunately, more drastic than that."

Singer Noel Gallagher, a City fan, also weighed in, saying he was surprised and saddened by the news. "A little surprised when I heard it on the radio. Surprised because the club have assured us all along that they vehemently denied any of these charges," he said on the Let Me Talk podcast. "So it was a bit of a shock to find out that we've been found guilty. But really overall just quite sad really. Sad for the fans and for the players."