Manchester City may avoid punishment for their 115 financial fair play charges by tying the Premier League up in a long legal battle, an expert says.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Man City face 115 FFP chargesClub may receive huge punishmentExpert predicts long legal battleWHAT HAPPENED?
City are to be charged for breaking the Premier League's financial rules but the club are expected to fight the case. According to Rob Wilson, the European champions will attempt to drag the case out for a long period of time until the charges are eventually dropped.
AdvertisementGettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE
After Everton and Nottingham Forest were hit with points deductions earlier this season, there have been calls for City to be hit with a huge punishment due to the large number of breaches they are accused of.
WHAT WILSON SAID
Football finance expert Wilson told : "I think we will get the first sight of Manchester City’s legal proceedings in the autumn, but that will be when the case starts, not when it finishes. Manchester City are richer than the Premier League and therefore will buy the best lawyers and the best accountants to try and get them out of this situation. It will probably last years and years and years if indeed it ever gets resolved.
"Manchester City will wrap the Premier League up in so much litigation that it will just become boring and laborious and I think it will fizzle out. That's the kind of travesty with it when you take Everton, Forest and potentially Leicester they are single breaches being dealt with quite quickly.
"You need to multiply that by 115. If it takes three months to do one charge, you know, just 115 multiplied by three and you start to get a sense of the scale of what's going on. The Nottingham Forest verdict report was 25,000 words so 25,000 words multiplied by 115, that's a lot of writing and a lot of paperwork to get through. I think ultimately that's why it's taken so long. It looks like we might never reach a conclusion just by the scale of it.
"It could become financially too risky for the Premier League to continue. If we boil 115 charges down there are probably 30 to 35 that are really serious relating to overspending. I wouldn't be surprised if they start to resolve some of the other charges that are on the outskirts of the main case."
GettyWHAT NEXT FOR CITY?
The case against City will likely go ahead later this year. Many have demanded the club be either relegated from the English top-flight or deducted a significant number of points if they are found guilty of breaking the rules.