Manchester City are facing 115 separate charges from the Premier League relating to their finances and it has now been suggested that they could see their top-flight status stripped from them if found guilty
Manchester City will face relegation from the Premier League if they are found guilty of their 115 charges, one of the club’s former financial advisors has claimed.
The reigning champions are currently facing a host of accusations regarding their finances between 2009 and 2018. It is also suggested that Man City failed to co-operate with resultant investigations.
The club have moved to deny those claims, while the Premier League’s chief executive Richard Masters has confirmed that a date has been set for a hearing. Now former financial advisor to the club Stefan Borson has claimed that City could drop out of the top-flight entirely should they be found guilty.
Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “The scale is on a completely different level [to Everton and Forest]. There can be no question that this will end in at least relegation – that’s no question, if those charges are proven.
“There’s a suggestion of conspiracy over effectively a 10-year period. They [ Premier League ] are suggesting that City’s main sponsorship agreements are not for £50-60m but are actually for £8m and the whole thing was a sham.
“That a whole load of people lied and a whole load of executives from multiple companies were in on it and that the club also lied to multiple other parties. Professionals, people doing due diligence on the company, the league, UEFA, the FA.”
He added: “If proven, this is super serious. Nobody would argue with that. City themselves in their submission – I promise you, because they’ve said it to CAS [Court of Arbitration for Sport] – will say this is an allegation of the most serious nature.”
Man City have been a Premier League club since the 2002-03 season after last earning promotion from the second tier. While Borson believes that City could be hit with some severe sanctions, the likelihood of the club being guilty is not very high in his opinion. That is due to the amount of individuals being investigated in such a long-running case.
“I think they [City] will clear their name because I think a case of this nature has to have a level of cogent proof, which seems to me to be impossible to present to an independent commission,” he claimed.
“And furthermore, it seems highly unlikely that the conduct that is alleged has taken place over a 10-year period with the sorts of individuals who are involved in the club and in the companies involved.
“It seems highly unlikely and that will be the starting point of any independent commission. It will be a very big call for any quasi court or tribunal to suggest that this number of people have been dishonest and have perjured themselves.”