Former Man City player reveals what fans will do if club are found guilty of FFP breaches and relegated to League One
A former Manchester City player has said what fans will do if the team is found to have broken the rules about money and is kicked out of the Premier League.
City was charged with 115 financial violations of the Premier League’s rules in February 2023. Most of the violations had to do with the value of advertising deals.
City is accused of lying about how much their marketing deal with Etihad Airways is worth, among other things.
Der Spiegel, a German newspaper, said that emails that got out showed that Abu Dhabi United Group, the owners of City, paid for a lot of Etihad’s debt to the team.
In the beginning of this year, Richard Masters, the CEO of the Premier League, said that City’s case would be heard by an independent panel. There were rumours that the date might be this fall.
If City is found guilty, the three-time winners and current Premier League champs could get fined or sent down to the second level.
Ex-player Paulo Wanchope thinks that the fans will support their team if Pep Guardiola’s team is sent to the third tier of English football or lower.
The forward was on the last City team to be dropped from the Premier League, in 2001. He told LiveScoreBet, “They will be able to get back on track no matter what.”
The fans are very, very strong. I think they are doing so well now because they have been through hard times before and made it through.
“I saw them play in Division One (now the Championship) and Division Two (now League One), but the fans were always there, and they are very special.”
“They will be okay whatever happens but hopefully there won’t be any damaging sanctions anyway.”
Everton and Nottingham Forest have both lost a lot of points this season for breaking Premier League rules about money, so it’s possible that City could be demoted if they are found guilty.
