Hornet’s nest!

Premier League’s charges against Manchester City FC — one of the most prominent football clubs — has stirred up a hornet’s nest. Ever since its takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, Manchester City has crossed many milestones to emerge as one of the most successful football clubs. It has not just earned accolades and titles but also made huge leaps in revenues and profits. On one hand, it broke a four-decade long impasse to win the Premier League title on the final day of 2011-12 season; broke many records in 2018 with its emphatic Premier League victory; won all four domestic trophies in 2019; and reached the Champions League final in 2021. On the other hand, the revenues of Manchester City touched £613 million in the 2021-22 season while the profits, too, reached £42 million. The club has also been repeatedly breaking British transfer records — it signed Brazilian forward Robinho for a whopping £32.5 million in the very first year of its takeover in 2008; and let go £100 million to sign Jack Grealish in 2021. And now, the Premier League has charged Manchester City with more than 100 breaches of competition rules. These charges broadly pertain to the club’s alleged failure to provide a fair view of its financial position; failure to disclose players’ and managers’ remuneration; and failure to cooperate with the Premiere League in the investigation process. News reports suggest that Manchester City inflated the value of sponsorship deals as a means of channelling more money from their owners into the club. As a matter of fact, these charges, if found true, can be grave and even good enough to strip Manchester City of its hard-won titles, in the worst-case scenario. An independent commission, tasked with the investigation process, will be empowered under rule W.51 of the Premier League handbook to impose a range of sanctions and even suspend or order expulsion of the club. This, however, may not be as straightforward as it looks. Manchester City FC has lashed out at the Premier League citing political influences and its failure to inform the club about the charges in advance. Manchester City, at the same time, is quite confident about its position. The football club has, in fact, welcomed the review of the matter by an independent commission to “impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” that exists in its support. Manchester City believes that with the review, the issue will be “put to rest once and for all.” Possibly hinting at the futility of the Premier League’s charges, the football club has questioned the timing of the exercise as well. It has alleged that the League might be intending to furnish evidence of its good governance as a white paper on football governance is about to be published. One might prefer to be optimistic that the reality behind these allegations and counter-allegations will come out after due investigation. But this might not be so simple. In the first place, the independent commission is expected to take months to reach any conclusion, following which the parties will be given a chance to go to an appeal panel. Even after that, windows will be open for the arbitration process and High Court proceedings. All throughout this long-drawn legal process, huge amounts of money will be pumped by both sides. Experts believe that the charges levelled by the Premier League is just a beginning of a long legal conflict. This will likely hurt both parties. It may be noted that the success of Premier League and Manchester City FC have been intertwined lately. The rise of Manchester City, it is believed by many, got synchronised with the fortunes of the Premier League. It might be advisable for both the parties to settle their differences internally. This would be in the best interest of the football community at large. Nevertheless, the allegation of financial irregularities on the part of Manchester City FC is a broader problem and needs to be dealt with a significant degree of objectivity.