Man City Premier League charges explained: Could they be given points deduction?

Manchester City have been charged by the Premier League with more than 100 alleged breaches of financial regulations.

The charges cover a nine-season timespan and are in relation to matters such as failing to provide accurate financial information over sponsorship revenue and not disclosing a manager's salary.

But what does all this mean, what happens next and what could the implications be for City?

What does the Premier League's statement say?

The Premier League released their statement on Monday morning detailing dozens of alleged breaches of the competition's rules by Manchester City - outlining the specific clauses in each instance.

The first section relates to the provision by clubs of 'accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club's financial position, in particular with respect to its revenue (including sponsorship revenue), its related parties and its operating costs.'

The statement then lists the specific rules, for each season covered between 2009-10 and 2017-18, that City have allegedly breached.

It's worth reminding readers here that the Abu Dhabi United Group, led by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Hahyan, took ownership of City in September 2008 and still retain control.

Section two, which covers only between 2009-10 and 2012-13, relates to the requirement for clubs to 'include full details of manager remuneration in its relevant contracts with its manager.'

City's manager during this time period was Roberto Mancini.

The third section relates to Premier League clubs 'complying with UEFA regulation including club licensing and Financial Fair Play.' These charges cover the 2013-14 season on to the 2017-18 season.

Section four is about rules on 'Profitability and Sustainability' and the charges cover three seasons from 2015-2018.

The fifth and final section, covering December 2018 to the present, relates to rules 'requiring a member club to co-operate with, and assist, the Premier League in its investigations, by providing documents and information to the Premier League in utmost good faith.'

If you count up all the individual rules that have allegedly been breached listed in the statement, it comes to over 100.

It goes on to say the charges have been passed on to a Commission that is 'independent of the Premier League and member clubs' and the members of this Commission will be appointed by the independent chair of the Premier League Judicial Panel.

You can read all the minutiae from the statement at the very bottom of this article.

Has this all come totally out of the blue?

No, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it has. It's actually the culmination of a four-year investigation by the Premier League but one that has been conducted with top secrecy.

The Mail on Sunday reported last May that the charges against City were potentially drawing closer because the Premier League had appointed 'subject matter experts' to explain the detail of the case.

But both City and the Premier League have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep this all under wraps - until now.

The Premier League statement mentions clause W.82.1 in their latest set of rules and regulations, which says the referral of the charges to the Commission will be done in public.

What are the origins of all this?

This all started when the German investigative website Der Spiegel published documents from the Football Leaks cache that originated with Portuguese computer hacker Rui Pinto.

They alleged that City had overstated sponsorship income, with money being paid by the club's Abu Dhabi owners rather than sponsors linked to the Gulf state.

These related to sponsorship deals with the Etihad airline, who still sponsor City's stadium and shirts, and telecoms company Etisalat.

It was alleged the money had actually come from Sheikh Mansour's Abu Dhabi United Group and City's sponsorship revenue was overstated.

It also said Mancini's wages had effectively been boosted via secret contact with an Abu Dhabi club.

The documents published by Der Spiegel apparently showed that Italian coach Mancini received secret payments via a shadow contract that was a consultancy arrangement with Abu Dhabi-based club Al Jazira.

While Mancini's City contract had a base salary of £1.45m net, his company in Italy was also paid £1.75m annually for the Al Jazira role. This committed him to do four days coaching at the club each year.

The emails Der Spiegel published appeared to show his company Italy International Services issued City with a quarterly invoice. They sent the money to Abu Dhabi United Group, who passed it to Al Jazira to pay him.

Mancini has previously refused to comment when asked about the arrangement.

The leaks also claimed City broke rules over approaches made to young players.

It basically came down to City's commercial figures being inflated by the Abu Dhabi United group to circumnavigate Financial Fair Play rules.

But wasn't all that dealt with by UEFA? City were banned from the Champions League and then unbanned?

Yes, indeed. City were charged by UEFA and were banned from the Champions League for two years by their Financial Control Body in February 2020 and also fined £27million.

City went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in July 2020, got the ban overturned and the fine reduced to £9m.

CAS said 'most of the alleged breaches were either not established or time-barred.' In other words, there was a five-year time frame in which to establish a case against City and that didn't happen.

At the time, this decision allayed the fears of manager Pep Guardiola, who had questioned the club's hierarchy on these financial affairs.

Speaking last year, Guardiola said: 'I said to our people 'tell me' about the suspicions. I looked at them and believed them 100 per cent from day one so I defended the club because of that.'

Manchester City have always denied any wrongdoing, saying the emails were hacked and taken out of context.

But the Premier League also launched their own investigation in December 2018 and - crucially - there is no such time limit on it, so here we are.

That investigation hasn't been smooth though, has it?

No, City challenged the Premier League's right to investigate them and their obligation to release documents.

City and the Premier League wanted all details to remain private but the Mail on Sunday argued it should be in public, with that argument going all the way to the High Court in July 2021.

Lord Justice Males, backed the newspaper, saying: 'This is an investigation which commenced in December 2018. It is surprising, and a matter of legitimate public concern, that so little progress has been made after two-and-a-half years, during which, it may be noted, the club has twice been crowned as Premier League champions.'

And the rest!

Yep, backed by their Abu Dhabi wealth, City have enjoyed the most golden period in their history.

Since the takeover they have won six Premier League titles, including four of the last five, two FA Cups, six League Cups and reached the Champions League final in 2021.

So what is the next step?

The Premier League judicial panel will now be tasked with appointing the members of the Commission to look into City's alleged rules breaches.

The Judicial Panel consists of sitting or retired judges, barristers and football administrators who adjudicate on disciplinary cases referred to it by the Premier League.

Those hoping for a quick resolution may well be disappointed. Frankly this could take years to reach a decision.

City have yet to comment but Sportsmail understands they are prepared to 'robustly' defend themselves.

Will they be punished?

That will depend on whether they're found guilty and on how many of the charges.

But there are a range of potential sanctions, including a point deduction in the Premier League or even expulsion from the league altogether.