Manchester City Found Guilty of £830m Financial Scheme as Carragher Demands Titles Be Stripped

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An independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of 114 of the 115 charges related to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules, ruling the club ran a “disguised funding scheme” that inflated revenues by £830m between 2009/10 and 2017/18.
Principal sponsor Etihad Airways says it was never given a chance to respond before the findings were made public and is now seeking legal advice to protect its own interests.
Jamie Carragher has called for City’s titles from the period to be stripped and for the club’s owners to be removed from their positions, while City have confirmed they will appeal by Friday October 2.

Etihad’s Own Sponsor Is Now Threatening to Sue Over the Verdict That Was Meant to Punish City

Manchester City’s chief executive sent a video to his own players and staff calling the biggest verdict in Premier League history a “conspiracy theory.” Hours later, the club’s shirt sponsor released a statement of its own, and it wasn’t the one City wanted.

An independent commission ruled on Tuesday that Manchester City arranged “sham” contracts with a number of commercial partners between 2009/10 and 2017/18, part of what it called a “disguised funding scheme” that artificially inflated the club’s revenues by £830m. The club filed accounts that concealed its true financial position and broke “well over 100” Premier League regulations, significantly exceeding both the Premier League’s and UEFA’s spending limits along the way.

City were charged by the Premier League with more than 100 breaches in February 2023. The hearing before the independent commission ran from September to December 2024, and the commission itself called it “regrettable” that the decision had taken so long to reach. When it finally arrived, City’s response was immediate.

Chief executive Ferran Soriano recorded a video for Manchester City’s players and staff defending the club. “Irrefutable evidence” existed, he said, including “bank statements, money transfers, witnesses, and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate the money did not come from the owner.” He went further: “The whole Premier League case is based on a single false accusation, that the owner’s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi. Surprisingly for us and for our lawyers, after nearly two years, the Premier League commission has issued an opinion that supports the Premier League’s conspiracy theory.”

A club statement was equally blunt: “Manchester City FC is 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 club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums.”

A Sponsor Worth £4bn Is Fighting Back Too

The commission found that the remainder of the inflated sponsorship fees was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Ltd, the company that owns Manchester City, with the commercial partners only required to pay a portion of the fees on paper. Etihad Airways was not named directly in the redacted published findings, but the airline said the implications for its own reputation were obvious.

“Etihad categorically rejects any finding, conclusion or implication that suggests the airline has ever been involved in improper commercial arrangements,” the company said in a statement. “The Premier League’s public communication of the commission’s findings, following a period of selective leaks and reporting, has further created damaging implications for Etihad despite the airline not being named in the redacted published findings.”

Etihad said the Premier League never reached out to it while the case was being heard. “At no time did the Premier League reach out to or engage with Etihad in the process associated with the commission’s opinion. Etihad was therefore never given the opportunity by the Premier League to be represented, to provide relevant information, or to ensure the accuracy and fairness of information relied upon in reaching conclusions that may now be interpreted as reflecting adversely on the airline.” The airline, which signed its first sponsorship deal with City in 2009 worth a reported £400m over ten years and has extended it twice, said it would “seek the relevant legal counsel on the options and recourse available to protect its interests,” while adding that its “commitment to Manchester City, its supporters and our shared partnership remains strong.”

Sky Sports’ Rob Dorsett described the move as evidence of how far City and the companies tied to them are prepared to go. “This just proves that Manchester City are not going to take this lying down. They are absolutely convinced that they have done nothing wrong. They don’t believe that this has been a fair and impartial process, and we’ve got the situation now where their principal sponsor has come out and threatened the Premier League with legal action.”

Carragher Wants the Trophies Gone and the Owners Out

Jamie Carragher used his Sky Sports column to make the most direct call yet for City to be stripped of honours won in the period the verdict covers. “I do think Manchester City’s titles they’ve won in this time, or trophies, should be taken off their list,” he said.

He was less sure whether those honours should simply be handed to the runners-up, pointing instead to what has been taken from the players and fans who were there. “Whether other clubs should get them is slightly different,” Carragher said. “But what Manchester City have done is, they’ve not just hurt their own players in terms of no one looks at their trophies and medals now in the same way. I’ve been very lucky to win a few medals. I never look at the medal years later. But my mind goes back to a moment, I get a feeling in my stomach. I remember the referee blowing a final whistle of a big game. Those players will never get that feeling and it was robbed by Manchester City.”

Carragher’s sharpest criticism was reserved for the club’s ownership rather than its players. “The club are going to get punished,” he said. “You’ve got supporters, players, the club and owners. For me this is all about the owners, the people who are at the top of the club. Man City are a wonderful club and have been for a hundred years and will be for hundreds of years going forward. But in terms of what we’re finding out now, I don’t know how the owners can continue in English football. We talk about a fit and proper test for owners. What they’ve done for 10 years, and left this stain that will be there for the next 10 years, it starts because they don’t like the word no. When you see the statements, the one from Soriano last night, it’s beggars belief what you’re hearing. They have so much power and finance behind them, nobody ever tells them no. Until they move away from the club, I don’t know how this stain is removed from the club.”

He also made clear he does not blame the players who wore the shirt in those years. “I’d be furious and I actually feel for the Man City players,” Carragher said. “As a team, what they’ve done is wrong. The Premier League have called it a sham five times in their statement.”

What Happens Next

City have until Friday October 2 to lodge their appeal, with that process expected to run into the new year. The question of punishment has been separated from the question of guilt. The Premier League says sanctions will be addressed at a further hearing with the independent commission, and that it intends to conclude the remainder of the process “as quickly as possible.” Possible sanctions on the table include points deductions, fines, a transfer ban or expulsion from the Premier League altogether.

A Premier League statement called the ruling the most significant in the competition’s history. “This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history. There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches. Now we have the commission’s decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the League, our clubs and fans.”

Even the scale of a points deduction remains unclear. Under EFL rules, if City are relegated through a points penalty, or expelled from the Premier League outright, they would have to apply to the FA to rejoin the football pyramid, and any new member is required by EFL law to enter at League Two, pending a vote of the 72 clubs. Nobody involved is suggesting that is the likely outcome, but the fact it has been raised at all shows how seriously the scale of the breaches is being treated.

Between 2009/10 and 2017/18, the period covered by the verdict, City won three Premier League titles and an FA Cup, finishing ahead of Manchester United twice and Liverpool once in those title races. None of those honours have been touched by Tuesday’s ruling. What has changed is that the club now has to defend them, in public, against a commission that found the financial foundations underneath them were built on contracts it has called a sham five separate times.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.