August 14 – Premier League chief executive Richard Masters says “it is time” for Manchester City’s 115-charge case to “resolve itself” as the long-awaited hearing looks set to begin next month.
Masters refused to be drawn on the timeline but emphasised that after a “number of years” City and the league needed the case “heard and answered”.
The most significant financial case in Premier League history is reported to be starting in September with a verdict reportedly almost certain by the end of the season
Masters was asked repeatedly about the City case after the league invited broadcasters to a season launch event.
“It’s important that the situation does resolve itself,” he told the BBC. “It’s been going on for a number of years and I think it is self-evident that the case needs to be heard and answered.”
City, winners of the last four Premier League titles, are facing 115 alleged charges but have denied any wrongdoing
The charges include 54 failures to provide accurate financial information from 2009-10 to 2017-18, 14 failures to provide accurate details for player and manager payments from 2009-10 to 2017-18, five failures to comply with Uefa’s rules including financial fair play (FFP) from 2013-14 to 2017-18, seven breaches of the Premier League’s PSR rules from 2015-16 to 2017-18 and 35 failures to co-operate with Premier League investigations from December 2018 to February 2023.
In a 2020 judgment, UEFA banned City from the Champions League for two seasons and fined them 30 million euros. However, the punishment was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
This coming season, Premier League clubs are trialing an alternative financial system that operates like a spending cap, alongside the existing Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Top-flight clubs have faced difficulties with PSR – Nottingham Forest and Everton both received points deductions last season for breaches, with Leicester also charged.
Masters said the regulatory moves aim to create a situation where “we let the football do the talking”.
He added: “We want to move to a new system that people have confidence in and can comply with and move away perhaps from normalising asterisks against league tables or long-running regulatory cases.”
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