Manchester City faces an absolute storm after an independent commission slapped them with guilty verdicts on every single charge of financial rule-breaking from the 2009-10 through the 2017-18 seasons. City has appealed that bombshell decision, but rival Premier League clubs are already demanding punishments that go way beyond just a simple relegation, pushing for massive “retrospective punishments” and future sanctions.
Relegation? That’s Not Enough, Say Rivals
Forget a quick trip to the Championship. There’s a serious consensus among a group of top-flight club executives that if City’s appeal doesn’t stick, the sanctions need to hit them for the period they cheated *and* throttle their power moving forward. At least four Premier League boardrooms feel a “one-hit” points deduction leading to relegation would be a total joke, nowhere near severe enough for City’s wrongdoing. They aren’t just looking for a slap on the wrist here. They want reparations for what went down and limits on what City can do next. Club executives are worried that just a single-season punishment would be a “bump in the road” for City, who’d likely bounce right back up. So, the thinking is, any points deduction has to be spread out over multiple seasons, and multi-window transfer bans could be key to really slowing them down.
Titles On The Chopping Block?
Here’s where it gets wild. One senior club source flat-out said City should be stripped of their titles. We’re talking about the eight major trophies they snagged during that guilty period. This source wasn’t pushing to give those trophies to other teams, though, but rather to leave them completely vacant. Why? Because according to them, the entire credibility of the Premier League goes out the window if City gets to keep those honors after being found guilty. Now, to be fair, BBC Sport has previously heard that other clubs aren’t exactly lining up with a huge appetite to strip titles, showing there’s still a range of opinions out there. On the financial side, there’s even talk of a “tariff-based system” where City’s past league finishes get rewritten with points deductions, and then they’d have to pay compensation to rivals based on where they *should* have finished. That’s a whole new level of payback!
What Happens Next?
Right now, there’s a lot of head-scratching going on. Some clubs are feeling totally “in the dark” about the timeline for City’s appeal and when any sanctions hearing might actually happen. They also think it would be “bizarre, almost obtuse” if City was allowed to start trading players in the upcoming January transfer window while this whole mess is still hanging over them. There’s some “empathy” for the Premier League, though, given how massive and legally complicated this whole situation is. So what’s immediate? Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca is set to talk with his players collectively once they’re back from international duty on Thursday. Then, it’s straight into a Premier League match against Liverpool this Sunday. Talk about playing with a dark cloud overhead. You gotta wonder what kind of performance they’ll put out with all this swirling around.
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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