RELEGATE MAN CITY IF FOUND GUILTY, EPL RIVALS

The Etihad outfit were left stunned as top-flight chiefs dumped the unprecedented charges after a four-year probe into the club’s financial affairs.

City were accused of a series of financial dodges between 2009 and 2018 including:

• Hiding the true source of the club’s funding
• Declaring only part of salaries to players and former boss Roberto Mancini
• Breaching Uefa AND Premier League financial fair play regulations.
• Deliberately obstructing the Prem investigation since it was opened in December 2018, including during this season.

And while angry City insisted they would be “vindicated”, Premier League clubs are demanding blood and a swift verdict AND punishment before the end of the season.

One club chief said: “If these charges are proven there must be proper punishment - and the only fitting one is for them to be relegated.

“We’re talking about a decade of alleged abuses and want the Premier League to do the right thing.”

The decision to bring 30 charges detailing 115 alleged breaches of regulations - and signed off by the League board including chief executive Richard Masters - came out of the sky blue for City chiefs who only knew it was coming in a telephone call to chief exec Ferran Soriano from Prem bosses, timed to coincide with the public release.

Of the allegations, the biggest group accused City of failing to provide “accurate financial information” giving a “true and fair” picture of the club’s financial picture between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.

City are accused of obscuring the true source of millions of pounds in revenues.

That money, claimed to have been legitimate sponsorship earnings from Gulf-based companies including Etihad Airways and investment giants Aabar is alleged to have actually directly from the club’s owners, Abu Dhabi United Group.

City are also accused of effectively paying Mancini through two separate accounts - the official £1.45m salary through the club’s books and the remaining £1.75m via Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi club, Al Jazira.

Another set of charges allege City failed to “include full details of player remuneration” - wages - for a six-year period starting in 2010-11.

City are then accused of breaching League rules by flouting Uefa Financial Fair Play regulations - the allegations which initially brought the club a two-year Champions league ban in 2020 before that verdict was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Premier League legal beaks also laid charges that City had broken the League’s “profitability and sustainability” regulations for three seasons up to 2017-18.

And perhaps most serious were the final set of charges, claiming that the club had “failed to cooperate” from “December 2018 to date” with the Prem investigation, including by not “providing documents and information in the utmost good faith”.

Furious City hit back with a hard-hitting response in which the club said it was “surprised” by the charges, “particularly given the extensive engagement and vast amount of detailed materials the Premier League has been provided with.

City added: “The club welcomes the review of this matter by an independent commission, to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position.

“As such, we look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all.”

Privately, City believe the Premier League was bounced into the decision by the looming publication of the Government’s White paper which will set up an Independent Regulator for football.

The club feels League chiefs briefed out the announcement to put them on the back foot before the mid-morning ambush but remains adamant the process will end with City entirely in the clear.

City have until February 23 to respond to the charges, by which time leading KC Murray Rosen, head of the League’s Judicial Panel, will have confirmed the make-up of the three-member commission, which will be headed by a senior lawyer.

While the Premier League could not give a timescale last night, that could allow a hearing by as early as next month, although both parties would be entitled to ask for an appeal panel to hear the evidence again if the verdict went against them.

But rival clubs are pushing for a rapid “trial” as they want any punishment in place for this season rather than City being allowed to drag the matter out.