Manchester City is still denying wrongdoing and appealing their charges, but as it stands, they’re guilty of inflating sponsorship income by a staggering £830 million, plus another £90 million in expenses. This wasn’t some minor slip-up, it was described by the Premier League’s independent commission as a “disguised funding scheme” that allowed them to build a team capable of winning big. If City was winning with these “sham contracts”, then you know other teams were losing out, and the financial hit for the rest of the league is absolutely wild.
How City Pulled Away From the Pack
Think about this: before Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City in 2008, they were nowhere near the powerhouse you see now. Their highest finish since the Premier League formed in 1992 was eighth back in 2004-05, and fifth in 1991-92. But once that Abu Dhabi money started flowing in, supposedly through this “disguised funding scheme,” everything changed. Their sponsorship revenues went from being on par with Stoke City in 2008-09 to actually *overtaking* Manchester United’s. Talk about a rapid climb!
This cash injection clearly made a difference on the pitch. Between 2009 and 2018, the club bagged three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, and three EFL Cups. And get this: since the 2009-10 season, they haven’t finished outside the top four in the Premier League even once. That kind of consistent success doesn’t just happen by accident, especially when the club was reportedly pumping in hundreds of millions in inflated sponsorship deals.
The Staggering Cost to Everyone Else
So, what did all this rule-breaking actually cost the other clubs? BBC Sport crunched the numbers, and the full impact on the top flight is a mind-blowing £844 million. We’re talking about 35 other teams who played in the English top flight during that 2009-2018 period, and every single one of them could claim they were left financially out of pocket.
Here’s a breakdown of how that £844 million figure adds up:
- £188.2 million in Premier League placing money, with each team below City potentially missing out on payment for one league spot.
- £349.7 million in relegation costs, which is the minimum value of being in the Premier League for the next season, minus any parachute payments received. Imagine getting relegated because of this.
- £217.8 million in missed Champions League prize money, calculated by taking City’s earnings from those seasons and subtracting what impacted teams might have made in the Europa League.
- £88.3 million tied to domestic cup competitions and the Europa League.
And while other teams were potentially losing out on all that cash, City themselves raked in a massive £1.17 billion in prize money across all competitions during that time, with £812.3 million coming directly from the Premier League. It really makes you think about the “chance” and “possibility” of a very different league landscape if that money hadn’t been pumped in. City’s appeal is ongoing, but the numbers show the enormous stakes for the whole league.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by BBC Sport.
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