Man City chairman confident club will prove innocence

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak says he is still confident of proving the club's innocence after they were found guilty of breaking the Premier League's financial rules.

City were accused of a wide range of rule breaches, centring around claims they inflated sponsorship revenue from connected companies and made other "off the books" payments to circumvent financial regulations.

On Friday, it was announced City had been found guilty of the vast majority of the 115 charges brought against them and Al Mubarak has responded with a letter to fans on the club's website.

"Following Friday's media reporting, many of you will have spent your evening answering questions and responding to messages from friends, family and colleagues. So have I," Al Mubarak said.

"Here's what I said to my family: The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the club's innocence is just as strong as when this began.

"There are so many things that I would like to be able to share with you to help you understand why we feel so confident in our position.

"But the strict confidentiality of the legal process and our determination to respect it means I cannot do that at the moment. Even this letter underwent several legal checks to make sure it complies."

Premier League clubs are seeking legal advice about compensation relating to the charges, while BBC Sport has been told City will appeal.

Sanctions on the club are yet to be announced, but repercussions could include a points deduction, expulsion from the Premier League or a huge fine.

Al Mubarak, who was appointed as City's chairman after their 2008 takeover, also said his club was being "undermined".

"While some people have been quick to reach their own conclusions, and there is so much noise swirling around us, nothing has changed. We have faced challenges together before and have prevailed," he added.

"There remain many who want to undermine the momentum of our club. We will not give them that opportunity."

Meanwhile, Christian Purslow, a former Liverpool managing director and Aston Villa chief executive, who also held a senior role at Chelsea, said the City case could begin a chain of events that would be "appalling for the game".

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Purslow appeared alongside football law expert Paul Gilroy KC, who described the case as a "seismic moment for world football".

Purslow said: "It's a sort of 'where does this end?' because if you look at every single season - the nine seasons which we now know Manchester City breached rules - then all of their 19 Premier League rivals in that season, to differing extents, suffered easy-to-compute loss. Whether it was a place in the Premier League - every place was worth £3m.

"Teams that came fifth who didn't make the Champions League maybe lost tens of millions of pounds - and of course teams that were relegated. Let's say the team that finished 18th would've finished 17th if Manchester City weren't there. And they, of course, suffered huge loss.

"If you add all those claims up, over nine years, and that's just in the Premier League, you can see that the potential here for this to spiral out of control is huge."

Gilroy added that, so far, four clubs have put in protective claims "reserving the right to claim compensation if City are found guilty".

The news, broken by the Athletic,, external came 1,327 days after City were charged by the Premier League in February 2023 following a four-year investigation, and 22 months after a hearing by an independent commission concluded.

No official announcement has been made by the Premier League, which has declined to comment.

Manchester City declined to comment on whether they had been found guilty, instead providing a statement which read: "Premier League process remains ongoing with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality.

"The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence."

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has urged the Premier League to come to a quick resolution.

She told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I think most football fans will be feeling that this is not a good moment for football as a whole and I think Manchester City fans will be feeling very, very anxious about what happens next.

"It's very unsettling for football fans and I hope that it can be resolved as swiftly as possible.

"I will obviously look very closely as what comes out of this but we can't apply those rules for the Premier League. They have got to do it themselves and are going to have to resolve this as swiftly as possible - not just for the sake of Manchester City but for the sake of football."

City won eight trophies in the period covered by the case, including three Premier League titles, three EFL Cups, one Community Shield and one FA Cup.

The charges cover the managerial tenures of Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini, and the first two years under Pep Guardiola, who left the club at the end of last season after 10 years in charge.

David Bernstein, who was Manchester City chairman from 1998-2003, told Times Radio he felt "absolutely awful" on hearing the news of City being found guilty - but admitted any punishment would have to be "more drastic" than a fine.

"To see all this tarnished in this way is very sad," he said.

"I feel particularly bad for the wonderful supporters of the club who've stayed with the club through thick and thin.

"This whole process has taken too long already. So the appeal process now has to be done quickly because you've got the club playing with this cloud over its head and it's just not viable.

"The appeal process cannot go on for year after year, I think that would be a disaster, not just for this particular case but for English football generally. The timing is crucial."

He continued: "I can't give a view on the punishment. If they are found, after the appeal, guilty of 115 charges, my beloved club is going to face a very severe penalty.

"All I would say is that money is not sufficient, it would have to be something, unfortunately, more drastic than that."

Meanwhile, singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher says he is "shocked" at the news and it is "quite sad" for players and fans.

"A little surprised when I heard it on the radio. Surprised because the club have assured us all along that they vehemently denied any of these charges," the Oasis star and City fan said on the Let Me Talk podcast.

"So it was a bit of a shock to find out that we've been found guilty. But really overall just quite sad really. Sad for the fans and for the players."