Man City held secret 'settlement talks' with Premier League BEFORE guilty verdict in 115 charges case

According to a report by Bloomberg, Man City engaged in preliminary discussions with the Premier League in an attempt to reach a financial settlement. These confidential talks ultimately collapsed because City refused to compromise on their steadfast claims of innocence.

Had an agreement been reached, the club would likely have paid a substantial fine, thereby avoiding catastrophic sporting punishments such as relegation or having their historical titles stripped. Crucially, striking a deal would not have legally constituted an admission of wrongdoing.

However, the sheer volume of the charges meant any financial resolution would merely have streamlined the legal battle rather than ending it entirely. Such an outcome would also have faced fierce resistance from bitter domestic rivals, including Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United, all of whom narrowly missed out on league titles during City’s era of dominance.

The scale of the financial breaches uncovered by the independent commission is staggering. The panel concluded that City operated a sophisticated nearly £1 billion scheme over a nine-season period between 2009 and 2018. This operation was designed to systematically bypass both Premier League and UEFA financial sustainability regulations through a series of artificial arrangements.

At the heart of the ruling was a disguised funding operation orchestrated by the club's hierarchy. The commission found that companies based in Abu Dhabi paid only a fraction of their stated sponsorship values. The outstanding balances were quietly settled by the Abu Dhabi United Group, the primary holding company owned by Sheikh Mansour.

Through this mechanism, the Etihad outfit artificially inflated their commercial revenues by over £830 million. They were also found to have exaggerated image rights income by nearly £74m while simultaneously hiding almost £17m in staff contract liabilities.

The fallout from the verdict has been explosive, with Premier League chief executive Richard Masters labelling the situation "the most significant in Premier League history". Behind closed doors, the animosity is equally palpable. City chief executive Ferran Soriano told club staff that the independent commission had simply bought into a league-driven "conspiracy theory".

Despite the damning findings, the club swiftly retaliated by lodging a formal appeal on 1 October 2026. In a defiant public statement, City dismissed the ruling as "unsafe" and heavily flawed.

"The Club’s firm position is that, on multiple grounds, the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact," the official statement read. "The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions."

The independent commission that delivered the guilty verdict is now tasked with determining the club's punishment. Given the unprecedented scale of the breaches and the collapse of prior settlement talks, City face the very real threat of extreme sporting sanctions, which could include massive points deductions, expulsion from the top flight, or the stripping of previous honours.

However, City’s aggressive appeal guarantees that this bitter legal warfare will drag on for months. In the short term, the lingering uncertainty threatens to destabilise Enzo Maresca's squad, potentially impacting player retention, future transfer business, and the club's wider sporting project as they await a final, binding resolution.