MANCHESTER City fans are pointing to Chelsea’s lenient punishment after they admitted 74 breaches of football regulations as a sign that the Etihad club will not be thrown to the wolves after the damning findings of the Premier League’s independent commission.
, accusing the commission and League chiefs of serious failings, supporters recognise a major sanction is coming their way unless their appeal is successful.
fine and a rap across the knuckles, it seems unlikely that City will be so lucky.
Sun Sport explains why.
BASIC DIFFERENCES
stake in the club, Chelsea’s new owners BlueCo became aware of irregularities in previous financial figures.
Abramovich had sanctioned illegal, off books payments to agents, totalling millions of pounds, to grease the wheels on transfer deals, securing the likes of , and to the club.
But rather than hiding this information, Chelsea reported their findings to both Uefa, which handed out a fine, the FA and Premier League.
The allegations against City, by contrast, were triggered by the 2018 Football Leaks data dump, a cache of emails and other documents relating to the club’s financial dealings between 2008-09 and 2017-18 and published by German magazine Spiegel.
From the outset, City vehemently and vigorously denied all the allegations, condemning the “illegal hacking and out of contest publication” and maintaining their innocence would be confirmed by their “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence”.
Despite that, the club was hit by, initially 115 charges alleging breaches of financial and co-operation rules in 2023, later amended to a total of 130 allegations.
RESPONSIBILITY
The Chelsea allegations were over transfers made by the club between 2012 and 2019, under the Abramovich ownership model.
A significant aspect of Chelsea’s mitigation for the 74 offences, to which they admitted guilt, was that Abramovich was no longer involved with the club in any way.
City have been under the current Abu Dhabi ownership throughout the entire period in question, with the money routed into the club by the Abu Dhabi United Group.
Club bosses were also accused of failing to co-operate with the inquiry up until 2022.
NATURE OF THE ALLEGATIONS
Chelsea’s breaches of the rules were in regard to payments made OUT of the club but which were not entered into the official books.
However, it was found that, even had the payments been declared, Chelsea would not have been in breach of Premier League financial loss-making rules.
City were accused of systematic financial deception including hiding the true source of sponsorship income, paying managers and players through secondary off-books contracts, disguising owner funding through company vehicles and breaching both Uefa and Prem financial regulations.
The independent commission, in its brutal findings, said City recorded “sham” contracts to cover £830m of income from Abu Dhabi.
Man City GUILTY of Premier League breaches
- on verdict
- Dates revealed
- Government warns
- City
- How City could be
- sparked the cheat storm
Timeline: What happens next?
October 2 – Deadline to submit appeal
December 25 – Deadline for appeal to conclude (12 weeks after appeal is lodged)
December 14-18 – Possible date for maximum five-day appeal hearing
January 17 – Deadline for commission to produce final verdict
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HELP
After admitting to the malfeasance that they had discovered, Chelsea offered full help to the investigation, with all documentation handed across and guilty pleas.
BlueCo might not be particularly popular among the Chelsea fans, but their actions likely saved the club from far worse sanctions.
City were found guilty of the vast majority of the non-cooperation charges laid in 2023 and failing to file accurate financial details.
A number of City’s witnesses were found to have given “false”, knowingly “untrue and dishonest” evidence.
