MANCHESTER — Manchester City's punishment for breaching Premier League financial regulations should be handed down before the end of this season, senior football figures have told BBC Sport, after the Premier League said on Tuesday the club was found guilty of all charges relating to the 2009-10 to 2017-18 seasons, including artificially inflating revenue by more than £900m through "sham" sponsorship deals.
City, who won eight trophies during the period investigated, have repeatedly denied guilt and signalled an intent to lodge an appeal by the end of this week, three years after they were initially charged. Speaking on condition of anonymity, one club official said: "It benefits everyone for this to be resolved as quickly as possible." When asked if they believed it would be, they said: "Instinctively yes, but it has to be done right. We can all see what the risks are if it's not. But those risks have been there throughout the process, as they've won the league multiple times during it." Another source said the process "should" be resolved by the end of the season and hoped any appeal would be "compressed."
The final decision rests with the independent commission, with both the Premier League board and City able to suggest a suitable punishment before the panel rules. One section of Premier League regulations states an appeal should conclude no more than 12 weeks after it is filed, with a decision made within 30 days of its end, and procedures can be hurried to meet deadlines such as the end of a league season. Ferran Soriano, the club's chief executive, has suggested the case will run for a long time.
There is increasingly a desire to have the case resolved by the end of the campaign amid fears that allowing City to reach the end of the season without punishment could lead to uncertainty and farce, particularly if they were to win the title. Manchester City cannot make a further appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but could potentially claim the process was not impartial at the High Court. The Premier League's statement formally announcing the guilty verdicts on Monday said it wants the process to be "concluded as soon as possible," following Manchester City Found Guilty of Sham Contracts Breach.