'Pep to Chelsea?' - Reactions as Manchester City accused of 100 breaches of financial fair play

Manchester City have had a nightmare start to their week. Fresh off a defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, the defending champions have now been accused of more than 100 separate financial fair play breaches by the Premier League following a four-year investigation that was delayed on several occasions by legal challenges.

A statement from the league on Monday said alleged breaches were committed across nine different seasons beginning in 2009/10 campaign and will now be referred to an independent commission.

Should the commission find City guilty of the breaches they could face a potential range of sanctions including expulsion from the English top-flight.

Other possible punishments include a points deduction for the reigning champions, transfer bans, spending limits and even the stripping of previous titles.

 In a lengthy statement on Monday, February 6, 2023, the Premier League listed out the rules the reigning champions are alleged to have breached with the total in three figures - though many of those are the same regulations repeatedly broken in consecutive seasons.

And now the Premier League have published their findings on their website and it does not make good reading for the Etihad club, who said they were "surprised" in a brief and defiant statement.

The statement said: “In accordance with Premier League Rule W.82.1, the Premier League confirms that it has today referred a number of alleged breaches of the Premier League Rules by Manchester City Football Club to a Commission.”

However, at this stage, City have been charged but not found guilty.

But they would not be able to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if the ruling does go against them.

The unprecedented Premier League investigation was opened in March 2019 following leaked documents in relation to City's financial activities being published by the German outlet Der Spiegel.

UEFA banned the club from the Champions League for two seasons in February 2020 because of what the governing body claimed was evidence of City "overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts between 2012 and 2016” 

However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned their decision upon appeal with the club also seeing their €30million fine reduced to €10million.

Premier League legal chiefs also believe City hid the true source of their revenues by claiming they were from sponsors when in fact they were funded by the club’s Abu Dhabi owners. 

City are also accused of paying a significant part of former boss Roberto Mancini’s salary through an Abu Dhabi shell company and hiding that fact.

Now the findings of the Premier League investigation, namely the 32 separate charges and 113 alleged breaches, have been referred to an independent commission.

Following the news on Monday, here’s how fans have reacted on social media.