Man City relying on five clubs to avoid Premier League expulsion

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Manchester City may be put in a position where they’re relying on five Premier League clubs to save them from being expelled from the English top flight after being accused of breaching multiple financial regulations. The Premier League brought an end to its four-year investigation into City, which was sparked by leaked emails from Der Spiegel back in 2018 pertaining to alleged Financial Fair Play breaches.

City fought off the allegations back then, having a two-year UEFA ban from playing in the Champions League overturned and a fine reduced to £9million for a failure to co-operate. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) indicated that the charges against City back then had expired and ‘either not established or time-barred’.

That latter point won’t be an issue for the Premier League’s investigation with no restrictions on the length of time since an alleged offence. City have responded to the allegations in a statement on their club website, speaking of their ‘surprise’ over the alleged breaches brought forward by the Premier League.

They add that there is ‘irrefutable evidence’ to exonerate them once and for all. But the unprecedented quantity of allegations against City raises questions on where that leaves the club in terms of punishments.

It’s been reported that City could face a points deduction, but the most severe of all would be an expulsion altogether. Under Premier League rules in their handbook, the commission has a number of ‘powers’ to bring forward punishments.

Under section W.51.4, the commission can ‘suspend a respondent [club] from playing in league matches or any matches in competitions which form part of the Games Programmes’. They’re also able to ‘deduct points scored or to be scored in league matches or such other matches’.

But most damning is their ability to ‘recommend that the league expels the respondent from membership’. If it is recommended by the commission that City be expelled, a general meeting will be held by all members of the league.

Under section B.6, the Premier League rule handbook states ‘the League may expel a Club from membership upon a special resolution to that effect being passed by a majority of not less than three-quarters of such members as (being entitled to do so) vote by their representatives or by proxy at a general meeting of which notice specifying the intention to propose the resolution has been duly given’.

If such a meeting was to take place, City would then need to rely on five other teams to vote in their favour to keep them in the Premier League. No team has ever been expelled from the English top flight and it would be an unprecedented move.

Clubs have been handed huge fines over the years with QPR slapped with a £40m fine from the English Football League for falling foul of Financial Fair Play legislation, although a settlement of £20m was agreed upon appeal. Portsmouth became the first and only Premier League side to be handed a points deduction back in the 2009/10 season after entering administration.

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