The Premier League has confirmed that Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges related to breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18.
An independent Commission found that during that time period, the club arranged “sham contracts” with a number of its commercial partners, as well as “relying on sham agreements to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs”.
The statement also said that City were guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate.
The Premier League published a redacted version of the commission’s report, which said the charges “concerned well over 100 alleged individual breaches of Premier League Rules across four broad charge categories”.
They also found the club guilty of all charges except one relating to non-cooperation with the Premier League investigation.
The sham commercial deals were described as being part of a “disguised funding scheme” to the scale of £830.69m.
“The relevant sponsorship agreements were found to be shams, or at minimum did not reflect their economic substance,” the commission said.
It also describes “deliberate or reckless conduct intended to circumvent the Premier League rules” and that the “sham” scheme devised by City allowed the club “to avoid recording what would otherwise have been the largest single-season loss in Premier League history in 2009-10”.
Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, said: “The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade.
Meanwhile, a City statement said the club was “both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission”.
“The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case,” the statement said.
In his reaction, former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, said that his former club Manchester United do not deserve to be awarded Premier League titles if rivals Manchester City are stripped of them for breaching financial rules.
City have been found guilty of the majority of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League.
The financial charges relate to the period from 2009-10 to 2017-18, while they were also accused of a failure to co-operate with Premier League investigations between December 2018 to February 2023.
Sanctions are yet to be announced and City plan to appeal against the decision.
One possible punishment could be the club being stripped of top-flight titles. They have won the Premier League eight times since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2009, three of which were in the period when they were accused of breaking financial rules.
Rooney was part of the United side that finished runners-up to City in 2011-2012 but does not want to be awarded the title retrospectively.
Speaking on the Stick to United podcast,, external he said: “I wouldn’t feel comfortable about accepting another Premier League medal if I’m being honest, because I don’t think we deserve it. We didn’t do enough that season to win the league.
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