Manchester City face substantial sanctions from the Premier League after an independent panel found they had acted in bad faith and broken numerous rules over financial fair play.
The Premier League did not issue a statement but sources confirmed to the Guardian that City had been found guilty on almost all of more than 100 charges. City are surprised at the timing of the news because they say the process is ongoing. It is understood the club intend to appeal against a guilty verdict, confident of winning.
A verdict has been reached more than three and a half years after 134 charges, which cover the seasons 2009-10 to 2022-23, were brought by the Premier League and more than two years since arbitration hearings began. From season 2009-10 to 2022-23 inclusive City won seven Premier League titles, a Champions League, three FA Cups and six League Cups.
Premier League clubs were told of the outcome at Thursday's shareholders' meeting and made to sign non-disclosure agreements.
A City spokesperson said: "The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. As such Manchester City FC's position remains consistent with the club's statement of February 2023.
"The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence."
What happens next remains uncertain. Under the Premier League rulebook, the appeal process has time limits. Any party wishing to appeal against a decision by a judicial panel must do so by email within 14 days of a decision being announced. Under rule W.86 any hearing should conclude no longer than 12 weeks after the first appeal is submitted. Any decision by the appeal board must be published, alongside full written reasons, within 30 days of the conclusion of the hearing.
The Premier League lays out the list of possible sanctions that could be served against City in rule W.64 of its handbook. Alongside levying a fine, any disciplinary committee could levy a points deduction, suspend a club from competition or in the most extreme circumstances expel a club from competition.
Such is the scale of the charges brought against City that there is no direct comparison with other disciplinary cases. The recent case involving Chelsea, who were found to have breached the FA's rules on agents on 74 occasions, resulted in a cash fine of £10m but Chelsea were adjudged not to have gained significant sporting advantage from their actions and praised for self-reporting the misdemeanours, which had occurred under the ownership of Roman Abramovich. Neither of these factors would appear to apply in the City case, given the systemic claims of financial misreporting and the fact that more than 80 of the Premier League's charges related to a failure to comply with league rules.
The unprecedented catalogue of charges related to five distinct areas of alleged rule-breaking. Those more than 80 charges related to a club's obligation to act in "the utmost good faith" when relaying information to the Premier League and to give complete disclosure of any information requested. These claims pointed towards the league's belief that City had given an inaccurate picture of the club's financial situation and withheld documents that might have cast greater light on it.
The rest of the charges related to alleged breaches of profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) and the related Uefa financial fair play regulations. Finally, 20 charges related to the club's obligation to provide "full details of … remuneration", with breaches being claimed in the rules relating to the payment of players and managers.
The extent of the charge sheet reflected a process that had been a decade in the making. Uefa found City in breach of FFP in 2014, a decision which resulted in City paying a €20m fine. The Football Leaks affair, in which millions of private documents relating to football clubs and players were hacked and made public in 2015, led to reporting on City's affairs and a new investigation from Uefa. By 2020, Uefa had suspended City from the Champions League for "overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts". This suspension was overturned by City on appeal to the court of arbitration for sport.
In 2019 the Premier League began its own investigation into City. A highly secretive inquiry, which required legal action by the Mail on Sunday to prove it was taking place, it is believed to have been inspired by the Football Leaks revelations and resulted, four years later, in City being charged.