LONDON (ENGLAND) (ITALPRESS) – Manchester City found guilty. There are no longer any doubts: it is official. The independent commission of the Premier League has “found Manchester City FC guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of the financial regulations over a period of nine seasons, as well as the majority of charges relating to the club’s failure to cooperate with the League’s investigation.” This was stated in a Premier League statement.
“The independent Commission found that between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons:
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Manchester City entered into sham contracts (which misrepresented the actual agreement between the parties) with several commercial partners, and also used sham arrangements with others to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs.
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The club submitted falsified financial statements and concealed its true financial position from auditors and football regulatory bodies.
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Manchester City significantly breached spending limits imposed by both the Premier League and UEFA.
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During the Premier League’s investigation, Manchester City committed multiple breaches of its obligations to cooperate with the League and to act in the utmost good faith (three of the four alleged breaches were upheld).”
“The independent Commission found that Manchester City entered into sham commercial agreements with several sponsors during the period under review, as part of a disguised funding scheme under which these companies were required to pay only part of the relevant sponsorship fees,” the Premier League statement continues. “The remaining amount was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), the club’s owner.
“As part of the scheme, further sham agreements, funded by ADUG, were entered into to allow the club to record lower operating expenses than those actually incurred, as well as a sham circular agreement with Fordham, an entity that acquired the image rights of the club’s players and was funded by ADUG.
“It was found that the purpose of these schemes was to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs by more than £900 million during the period in question, in order to appear compliant with the financial regulations.
“The consequence of this, as established by the Commission, was that the club submitted falsified financial statements and concealed its true financial position from auditors and football regulatory bodies.”
“The Commission concluded that ‘through its conduct, the club clearly intended to circumvent the Premier League’s rules’. As a result, Manchester City did not properly report its revenues and expenditure for the purposes of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Regulations and UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations.
“The Commission found that, had all the relevant agreements been properly reported in the club’s financial statements, the club would have breached the spending limits imposed by both the League and UEFA by a considerable amount.
“Furthermore,” the statement continues, “during the four-year investigation conducted by the Premier League, the club committed multiple breaches of its obligations to cooperate with the League and to act in the utmost good faith. The Commission concluded that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and obstruct the Premier League’s investigation’.”
According to Premier League CEO Richard Masters, the Commission has established that “the club systematically breached the Premier League’s rules for almost a decade and therefore
justifies the Premier League’s decision to pursue this case against Manchester City.”
“It is a fundamental responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld in order to protect the integrity of the competition. It is of paramount importance that the League remains competitive and fair for all clubs and supporters. We take this role extremely seriously,” Premier League CEO Richard Masters continued.
“This disciplinary proceeding, and this decision, are the most significant in the history of the Premier League. There are still matters to be determined, including, crucially, the sanction to be imposed for these breaches. Now that we have the Commission’s decision, we are committed to moving quickly with the remainder of the process in order to provide certainty to the League, our clubs and our supporters.”
The Premier League added that “now that the charges have been proven, the issue of sanctions will be dealt with separately at a further hearing before the Independent Commission. In accordance with the Premier League’s regulations, that hearing will remain private and confidential until publication of the outcome is permitted.
“The club has the right to appeal the decision of the Independent Commission.”
– Photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
