Key facts
- A senior City Football Group official attended the Labour party conference in a personal capacity.
- Manchester City is accused of financial misconduct spanning from 2009 to 2018.
- The club allegedly misrepresented £949.94m in commercial income, with only £119.25m from actual sponsors.
- The Premier League found that 'sham contracts' were used to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs.
- Manchester City allegedly concealed its true financial state by filing misstated accounts.
- Key witnesses for Manchester City were accused of lying to the independent panel.
A senior official from City Football Group has stated that their attendance at the Labour party conference was undertaken in a personal capacity. This statement comes as Manchester City faces severe allegations of financial misconduct and rule breaches detailed by the Premier League.
The Premier League released findings on Tuesday afternoon, exposing what it described as "astonishing details" of the club's alleged decade-long "cheating." The league found Manchester City guilty of "all charges related to serious breaches" of financial rules between 2009 and 2018, a period during which the club won eight major trophies. The investigation involved over 7,000 pages of evidence.
According to the Premier League, City allegedly arranged "sham contracts" with commercial partners and relied on "sham" agreements to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs. The league stated that the club had misrepresented its commercial income, claiming £949.94 million when only £119.25 million actually came from sponsors. The remainder was allegedly funded by Abu Dhabi United Group, the club's owner, in a "disguised funding scheme."
Furthermore, the panel found "sham" arrangements that allowed City to record lower operating expenses and a "sham" circular arrangement concerning player image rights, all funded by ADUG. This resulted in the club filing "misstated accounts" and concealing its true financial position from auditors and regulators. The Premier League indicated that had the club reported accurately, it would have been in "significant breach" of spending limits.
An "eye-opening" element of the verdict was the accusation that key witnesses for Manchester City lied to the independent panel. The Premier League described the club's defense as "untrue" and an explanation "concocted well after the event in an attempt to obscure and conceal the realities of the Disguised Funding Scheme."