Yet another miserable outing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was compounded by the news which broke on Monday morning of Manchester City’s FFP breaches.
The Citizens now have plenty to think about both on and off the field, with Arsenal threatening to steal their Premier League crown. While City have been England’s dominant force for the past decade, their financial misdoings could compromise the club’s future.
The seriousness of the Premier League’s investigation would suggest that severe punishment is heading City’s way. The possibility of a points deduction cannot be ruled out and while this issue is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, 90min thought it’d be interesting to see how the Premier League table would look if City are punished immediately.
We opted to use Juventus’ 15-point deduction for their financial misdemeanours as a parameter for City’s potential punishment.
Why have Manchester City been charged?
The Premier League has charged Manchester City with over 100 breaches of financial rules following the conclusion of a four-year investigation.
The club has been referred to an independent commission over the alleged rule breaches, which date between 2009 and 2018. The Premier League’s statement said City failed to provide “accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position” regarding club revenue.
The league says City broke rules relating to Financial Fair Play from 2013/14 to 2017/18, manager remuneration from 2009/10 to 2012/13 – when Roberto Mancini was in charge – and player remuneration between 2010/11 and 2015/16.
What happened to Juventus?
Juventus have previously been embroiled in scandal when ‘Calciopoli’ resulted in the club being relegated and stripped of two Serie A titles in 2006.
However, the 2023 charges are related to club finances and capital gains rather than bribing officials. They were docked 15 points in Serie A for ‘financial irregularities’ and ‘false accounting’ regarding transfer dealings and a number of club officials had to step down.
Andrea Agnelli has been banned from holding office in Italian football for 24 months for his role in the mismanagement, while former Czech Republic midfielder Pavel Nedved was handed an eight-month ban.
How the Premier League table would look if Man City are deducted 15 points
A 15-point deduction would see City slide down to eighth in the table with 30 points where they’d meet familiar foes Chelsea and Liverpool in mid-table. However, the Reds do have a game in hand on the Citizens so they’d have a chance to overtake Pep Guardiola’s side, but I wouldn’t count your chickens given their current incompetence.
The big winners of City’s demise are Arsenal, who would’ve seen off their main competitor for the title. Man Utd would move up to second, with their deficit to the current league leaders being eight points having played a game more.
Newcastle and Tottenham complete the top four, with City falling behind Brighton, Brentford and Fulham in the standings. These overachievers would have to fight off three huge clubs during the second half of the season to secure a European spot.
City’s primary objective in this unlikely scenario would be finishing in the top four. A 15-point deduction would leave them nine points adrift of Tottenham in fourth – a deficit they’d fancy themselves to make up.
Position | Team | Games | Goal difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Arsenal | 20 | +28 | 50 |
2 | Manchester United | 21 | +8 | 42 |
3 | Newcastle | 21 | +22 | 40 |
4 | Tottenham | 22 | +10 | 39 |
5 | Brighton | 20 | +11 | 34 |
6 | Brentford | 21 | +7 | 33 |
7 | Fulham | 22 | +2 | 32 |
8 | Manchester City | 21 | +32 | 30 |
9 | Chelsea | 21 | +1 | 30 |
10 | Liverpool | 20 | +6 | 29 |