Manchester City have been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League. It’s the most significant verdict in the competition’s history, and it landed in the middle of an international break that was supposed to be about football, not courtrooms. The independent commission ruled City used sham contracts to disguise £900 million in secret funding from their owners over a nine-season period. The best betting sites have reacted instantly.
City have been priced as short as 5/4 for relegation this season, odds that would have been unthinkable for the champions-elect a month ago. City have lodged their appeal, though sympathy is in short supply at other clubs after the commission laid bare the scale of the charges. This is now a story live betting markets are watching as closely as punters checking betting sites for the latest line.
The decision has sent shockwaves through English football. Pundits, fans and rival clubs are debating everything from trophy stripping to ownership changes. Here’s what’s actually been decided, and what still hasn’t. The commission found City guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules across nine seasons, from 2009-10 to 2017-18. Of the 115 total charges, 80 related to financial wrongdoing and 35 to failing to cooperate with the league’s investigation.
The Premier League statement said City used “sham” contracts with a number of commercial partners as part of a scheme to disguise secret funding of more than £830m. Perhaps the biggest can of worms was former manager Roberto Mancini’s contract. The Italian, who guided the club to their first Premier League title in 2012, officially earned a salary from City.
But he also had a separate consultancy agreement with Al Jazira, another Abu Dhabi club owned by Sheikh Mansour.