City’s tainted £900million – and the success it brought

Today is the deadline by which Manchester City must appeal the Premier League’s devastating verdict of guilt over financial cheating allegations.

A two-year inquiry by a PL ‘independent commission’ declared the club guilty of all 115 charges of financial ‘cheating’ against it.

The charges span nine seasons between 2009 and 2018 during which the club bought world-class superstars and won multiple honours.

City have vehemently denied the allegations and rejected the PL’s verdict – and today is the club’s day to officially fight back.

As its appeal is awaited, Dennis Mutie looks at the sheer scale of the case.

Manchester City’s Etihad stadium, the scene of so much footballing drama over the years.

The case for the prosecution

The scale of Manchester City’s alleged financial ‘cheating’ involves more than £900million, according to the Premier League (PL) investigation into breaches of its financial fair play rules.

Put another way, that’s almost £7 in every £10 City spent on transfers from 2009-10 to 2017-18, when the club forked out around £1.2billion on new superstars.

The PL commission inquiry ruled that 70% of the money was falsely claimed by the club to be legitimate sponsorship from outside investors.

The Premier League says the financial case is not yet completely finished, and that the issue of sanctions will be dealt with separately by the independent commission, with that hearing remaining private and confidential until publication is permitted.

But Manchester City has strongly rejected the findings.

In a statement, the club said it was “innocent of the accusations” and would pursue all available appeal avenues, arguing that the commission’s opinion contains material errors of law, principle and fact.

Chief executive Ferran Soriano has also said the guilty verdicts against the club are based on “a single false accusation” and a “Premier League conspiracy theory”, as he maintained City’s innocence.

Superstar spending on an industrial scale

The scale of what City built with that financial power is equally striking. The players bought during the period in question include 45 big-name arrivals across the nine seasons – enough players to fill more than four starting XIs.

And it was not simply a case of bringing in large numbers of players: City were able to recruit some of the biggest names in world football.

For example, Sergio Aguero arrived from Atletico Madrid in 2011 for around £38m. He went on to become City’s record goalscorer, scoring 254 goals in 370 appearances in all competitions.

In the Premier League alone, he scored 184 goals for the club.

Some of the other major signings included:

• David Silva — £24m: 436 appearances, 77 goals and 121 assists for City.
• Yaya Toure — £24m: 316 appearances and 82 goals, including 24 goals in the 2013-14 season.
• Kevin De Bruyne — £55m: 422 appearances, 108 goals and 170 assists.
• Raheem Sterling — £49m: 339 appearances and 131 goals for City.
• John Stones — £47.5m: 54 Premier League clean sheets during his City career.
• Leroy Sane — £37m: 135 appearances, 39 goals and 45 assists.
• Bernardo Silva — £43m: more than 400 appearances, 71 goals and 72 assists.
• Kyle Walker — £45m initial fee: 212 Premier League appearances and 72 clean sheets for City.
• Ederson — £35m: 16 Premier League clean sheets in his first season, helping City reach 100 points and win the title.

The success that followed City’s millions

That spending and world-class talent translated into major domestic success.

Between 2009-10 and 2017-18, City won three Premier League titles, the 2011 FA Cup and three League Cups. They became Premier League champions in 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2017-18, while also finishing runners-up twice and finishing in third place twice during the period.

It is impossible to know exactly what City would have achieved without the additional financial support identified by the commission.