Why Man City ‘could accept’ 60-point FFP penalty that would send them bottom of the Premier League table

With that in mind, it has been suggested that City would “accept” an initial ruling as they can immediately drag the matter back into court. An independent hearing into supposed monetary mismanagement in Manchester was completed late in 2024.

Over 12 months have passed without any further movement on that front, with the case in question relating to alleged rule breaches between 2009 and 2018. Various sanctions have been speculated on, ranging from point penalties to expulsion from the Premier League via transfer embargoes and big-money fines.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire told The Overlap recently of how the protracted saga could play out from here: “The Premier League cannot relegate Manchester City to League One or League Two because that is an EFL decision and Manchester City have not had any charges proven against them by the EFL. Therefore, it has to be a points deduction.

“If we take a look at precedence, we have had Everton and Nottingham Forest with six and four-point deductions for a single offence covering a three-year period. The accusations against Manchester City cover a nine-year period, so it is far bigger.

“The numbers involved we are not certain about but they are likely to be quite significant. I think you have to add a zero to what we’ve seen in terms of Forest and Everton, so somewhere between a 40 and 60-point deduction would be, on merit to be consistent with what we’ve seen with other decisions, would make a lot of logic.”

Keith Wyness - who has previously filled executive roles at Everton, Aston Villa and Aberdeen - has told Football Insider of why City may be stung with a penalty that could wipe every point they have earned this season off the board and drop them to the bottom of the Premier League table: “We’re all just guessing at this moment. There’s no doubt about it. Look, it is the sort of penalty I would think if they were found guilty. I think 60 points would make sense.

“And I think it could be something that City could accept if they were found guilty. But of course there’ll be an appeal anyway. So if it was 60 points, that’ll probably be reduced as well.”

Stefan Borson, a former financial adviser at City, has previously told Football Insider: “I think the better way to look at it, if we’re forced to have that conversation about what the sanction might be, is really what I said right from the very start of the process three years ago, which is if everything goes against Manchester City, they will not be in the Premier League.

“That will either be because of a point deduction that makes it impossible for them to be in the Premier League by expulsion from the Premier League under the Premier League rules or some other way.

“We know from the rules that the independent commission has a lot of latitude in terms of how it punishes a club under rule W, which is the relevant section of the rules. That’s in play here, so they have a lot of flexibility. They can make all sorts of recommendations.”

City have picked up 60 points through 29 matches this season, with that return enough to have them sat second in the Premier League - seven points adrift of leaders Arsenal with a game in hand.

They are also into the Carabao Cup final, quarter-finals of the FA Cup and last-16 of the Champions League. Despite chasing down four major trophies at home and abroad, the FFP cloud continues to provide an unwelcome distraction at the Etihad and will continue to do so until decisive action is taken by the relevant authorities.