By Andreas Gkoumplias,
To some people, it came as a surprise. Some others saw it coming as a result of the transfers the club has done the past few years and the money they have spent. In case you have not heard the news; yes it is true; Manchester City is put under investigation for the years 2009-18 and specifically for their spending those years. This is not their first rodeo, however, and in today’s article, we are going to be taking a look over the backstory of the events and the potential consequences for Pep Guardiola’s team.
In order to understand how it all came to be this way we need to go back a little in time, to the point where this all began and that point is no other than the season 2008-2009. You see, roughly, this is where the breakpoint of Manchester City’s current history begins. The ‘’Citizens’’ were not as famous or as strong as their rival counterparts, Manchester United or any major Premier League teams, going back and forth between divisions and somehow struggling overall. That all came to an end and a new era began when in 2008-2009 Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan took over the presidency of the team, investing a lot financially both in new facilities, as well as on bringing new and famous players to the club, in an attempt to start anew. Transforming into a promising and aspiring team, the Citizens went on to conquer their first league titles after the 1960s, in 2012 and 2014. Their transformation into a colossal of modern football was realized in 2018, when they conquered 4 domestic titles, not managing to win, however, the Champions League trophy.
Throughout all these years and in order to support the huge project that was underway, it comes to no one’s surprise that funding was needed, especially for contracts with footballers that were costly and also for realizing those transfers. The dark clouds first appeared five years ago, when allegedly Man.City was revealed to have breached the rules of the financial fair play several times, gaining an edge in transfers over their opponents, which had them disqualified briefly from European competitions, but after an appeal to the CAS, they managed to continue their campaigns. The second time that the bells ‘’rung’’ for the Citizens was only recently, at the beginning of February, it was made public that the blues of Manchester are being accused of repeatedly breaking the financial fair play rules for over a decade (2009-18) and over 100 times, having won in the meantime several trophies.
What are the implications for City, however? The obvious ones are point deduction(s) from the current league campaign, pairing with heavy fines. If the allegations are proven true, the Citizens are even ultimately facing an expulsion from the Premier League current campaign which will put the club in a very steep position. Even worse, if the club is ultimately relegated to the lower leagues (League One, League Two, etc.), the danger of players leaving the club is always there, as it is normal that high class players will not enjoy competing in lower rank leagues. Technically speaking, the worse scenario for the club will be to be forced to declare bankruptcy and start all over again, but for now, that scenario seems highly unlikely. Worth to be mentioned is also the fact that Man.City have declared to be taken aback by these news and are not cooperating with the investigations, with ultimately could prove to be a detriment for them.
References
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Man City charged by Premier League for numerous alleged breaches of financial rules. skysports.com. Available here
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Manchester City investigation, explained: Premier League’s financial accusations, appeal process, next steps. cbssports.com. Available here
