The United Kingdom is divided over whether the Premier League Commission will be capable of applying the same stringent penalties to Manchester City and Chelsea, following the severe penalty it imposed on Everton.
Both teams have pending financial control cases of the same nature, which resulted in Everton receiving the most severe sanction in Premier League history: a 10-point deduction.
Should Manchester City be subject to this sporting sanction for 115 cases, as opposed to Everton’s solitary instance, then what course of action should be taken?
The English public is currently debating this matter, and Stefan Borson, an attorney who has advised City on these issues, considers the decision to be precarious.
“I find Everton’s deduction of 10 points for a simple FFP violation to be excessive,” he elaborated on X.
“However, this reinforces the notion that relegation could be induced by sanctions against Chelsea (if collected and admitted in unrecorded payments) and City (if proven).”
“In light of the gravity of this sporting sanction, Chelsea’s assessment that they could violate PL P&S [Profit & Sustainability] and accept a fine as a necessary expense of doing business ought to be reconsidered immediately and without delay,”
“The window in January could be intriguing.” “They can no longer be certain that, in a perfect world, they will be successful in persuading an Independent Commission to regard their allocations for Covid and sanctions as extraordinary adjustments (to the extent that was intended).”
The Times journalist Martyn Ziegler has stated that relegation is a distinct possibility for both Chelsea and City.
“I think it will be much more serious for both Manchester City and Chelsea if their charges are proven,” he indicated to talkSPORT.
“In contrast, Everton has been charged with a mere one, while Chelsea is still the subject of an investigation, thus the exact number of charges levied against them is unknown.”
“Much more charges have been levied against Manchester City, but they are considerably more serious.”
“So Manchester City will have a real fear that they will face possible relegation from the Premier League.”
Both cases, according to Ziegler, are extraordinarily complicated and will not be resolved soon.
“A resolution to the City case is unlikely for at least two years,” he informed The Times.
From 2009 to 2018, Manchester City was the focus of a comprehensive financial investigation lasting four years, during which the club faced allegations of non-compliance.
Attorneys for the Premier League hold the opinion that City withdrew from disclosing the actual origin of its club revenue by attributing it to sponsors in relation to its Abu Dhabi owners.
“One thing is for sure, given the magnitude of this sporting sanction, Chelsea’s calculation (in my opinion) that they could breach PL P&S and simply accept a fine as a cost of doing business needs to be urgently and immediately reconsidered,” says Stefan Olson.
Olsen predicted relegation for City in February 2019, following the club’s indictment for 115 violations of Premier League financial regulations spanning nine years.
“Alarmist or not, the scale of the PL’s charges is at a level that, if proven, must lead to relegation.”
In the interim, Chelsea was penalized by UEFA with a 10 million euro fine for “failure to provide certain financial information” during Abramovich’s tenure. The Premier League, meanwhile, is continuing to investigate whether the club violated league regulations from 2012 to 2019.
This week, reports surfaced that the Blues may face additional penalties in light of leaked documents allegedly exposing the Russian billionaire’s violation of financial regulations.
In the entire history of the Premier League, point deductions have been incurred by only two other clubs.
In the 1996/97 season, Middlesbrough suffered a three-point deduction for missing a match against Blackburn. Similarly, in 2010, Portsmouth incurred a nine-point deduction subsequent to their administration.
Both clubs were condemned to relegation.