The Media Show

Manchester City were found guilty of most of the 115 charges against them after one of football's biggest disciplinary rulings. A commission found serious breaches of the Premier League's financial regulations from 2009 to 2018, including sham contracts with commercial partners, overstated income, misstated accounts, and a disguised funding scheme used to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs by £830 million. It also found a number of club witnesses gave untrue and dishonest evidence, and that money from Sheikh Mansour's investment company was disguised as sponsorship fees to comply with spending rules.

City said they were disappointed and surprised, maintained their innocence, and said a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence supported their positions. They said they would pursue the appeal avenues open to them on the basis that the opinion contained clear material errors of law, principle and fact and was unsafe. The broadcast traced how the case unfolded, from the club's 2008 takeover by Sheikh Mansour, through 2014 UEFA sanctions and 2018 Der Spiegel allegations based on leaked documents, to a 2020 Champions League ban that was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2021 and the Premier League's 2023 charges.

The report noted that the sanction had yet to be decided and that City were appealing, so the saga was far from over. It also said the case had raised questions about the Premier League's ability to uphold its regulations and about potential compensation claims from other clubs.