Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano has refused to publicly comment after being asked to address the club being found guilty of engaging in a scheme to inflate revenues and reduce costs by almost £1billion over a nine-season period.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters called the case, and the decision, “the most significant in Premier League history”. City have repeated denied all charges, and have confirmed they will appeal, stating the commission’s decision “contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe”.

News first leaked last week, from The Athletic, that Man City had been found guilty of the majority of the 115 charges first imposed on the club. City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak told supporters in an open letter published on Saturday that the club were “confident” of proving their innocence.

And chief executive Soriano on Monday addressed fellow members of the European Football Clubs board in Copenhagen, insisting that the club disagreed with the ruling but remained confident of winning upon appeal. Following the Premier League confirming their verdict on Tuesday, Soriano was approached by Sky News for comment.

A follow-up question asking if he is sure that City could win on appeal was ignored by Soriano, to which Harris follows up with: “The Premier League says ‘sham’ contracts? Is this a ‘sham’ club? Are you destroying football?”

Soriano responded with: “Thank you, thank you.”

Asked again if has a message for football, and if he has an obligation to comment, Soriano again says, while walking away: “Thank you, thank you.”

You can watch the full interaction below.

Soriano has commentated on the guilty verdict in a video message to club staff, in which is says the club is the victim of a “Premier League conspiracy theory”.

He said: “A document has been made public with an opinion of the Premier League commission which is negative to our interests.

“I want to explain exactly what this is, the next steps, and how we are going to continue to defend the club and finally be vindicated in this process.

“This has gone on for so long that it’s important to remind ourselves that the whole Premier League case against us 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.

“This is just not true. Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows that it could not happen and that it did not happen.

“This includes bank statements, money transfers, witnesses, and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate the money did not come from the owner.

“Every other false charge that has been thrown at us and aggressively marketed and promoted comes from that simple, central, and completely false accusation.

“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.

“To do so, the opinion had to actually ignore the extensive evidence provided by the club in order to reach a conclusion that is clearly wrong.

“Our lawyers will now file an appeal that sets out that the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle, and fact, and it is unsafe.”

“Remember, we have been here before. In 2020, we were also wrongly ruled against for many of the same issues. We appealed to an independent body, CAS, and we won.

“We will now be relentless in our work. We will focus on the independent appeal process and also all other legal avenues available to us in order to win the case.

“And we will take all necessary action to protect the club and seek compensation from any party that tries to damage it, now and in the future.

“I know this can be a bit of a distraction, but please remain focused on our business and taking care of our extended City family, as we always do.

“Very soon, we will look back at this and recognise it as another time in our history when we dealt with adversity, and overcame it together.”