Man City Found Guilty Of ALL The Charges — Here's The Wildest Stuff In The Premier League's 'Sham Contracts' Verdict

Stop scrolling, because the biggest scandal in English football history just got its official verdict. The Premier League says Manchester City are guilty on every financial-rules charge, bar one about cooperation — and the details are something else.

The Tea ☕

• An independent commission found City used "sham" sponsorship and image-rights deals to disguise owner funding across nine seasons (2009-10 to 2017-18).
• The club denies everything, calls the ruling "unsafe", and has until 2 October to appeal.
• Punishment hasn't been decided yet. That comes in a separate, private hearing.

So What Did City Actually Do?

According to BBC Sport, the commission found City arranged "sham contracts" with commercial partners as part of a scheme to disguise secret funding of more than £830m.

The way it worked, per the Guardian: sponsors paid a smaller "base sum", and the club's owners at Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) quietly covered the rest. The recorded sponsorship fee was the two combined, making it look like real commercial income.

The BBC reports that City booked £360m in sponsor fees across the three seasons they won the Premier League under review (2011-12, 2013-14 and 2017-18). Only £43m of that was legitimate. Yes, really.

Why The Numbers Don't Match

You'll see two figures floating around, and both are right. The £830m-ish number is the "disguised funding scheme" itself. The Guardian says the league puts the overall inflation of revenues and reduction of costs at more than £900m, which includes further hidden costs of around £70m and a "sham" image-rights arrangement involving players and then-manager Roberto Mancini.

The commission also said the scheme let City avoid recording what would have been the biggest single-season loss in Premier League history in 2009-10, according to the BBC.

The Bit That Made Everyone Gasp

Buried in the ruling is a hefty accusation about the hearings themselves. The commission said "a number of important club witnesses gave false evidence in key respects" and that some knowingly gave untrue and dishonest evidence, per the BBC.

Just to show the scale, the BBC notes the report's index alone ran to more than 750 pages, with the core evidence bundle running to "many tens of thousands of pages".

City's Response: We're Innocent

City say they're "disappointed and surprised" and that the club "is innocent of the accusations", claiming "a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" backs their position. They'll appeal on the basis of "clear material errors, of law, principle and fact".

CEO Ferran Soriano, in a video message to staff, called it a "Premier League conspiracy theory" and insisted City will be vindicated, according to both outlets.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, meanwhile, called it the most significant case in the league's history, per the Guardian.

What Happens Next?

Sanctions are still to come, and they're the big unknown. The Guardian says options on the table include financial penalties, points deductions and even stripping titles, and suggests a points deduction big enough to cause relegation is a possibility. For scale, Everton's 10-point penalty was for overspending by £19.5m. That's speculation for now, as there's no direct precedent.

Former City chairman David Bernstein told the BBC he thinks the punishment can't just be financial. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy called the report "incredibly stark".

Expect the appeal and sanctions process to run side by side, with the league keen to wrap things up quickly.

Your Turn

Should City be stripped of titles, docked points, or does the appeal have a real shot? Sound off in the comments.

Sources: BBC Sport | The Guardian