Man City Guilty: £1.2bn Transfer Spend and £830m Inflated Accounts

Man City found guilty: £1.2bn spent on transfers with £830m falsely inflated in accounts

Manchester City have been found guilty of the Premier League charges brought against them three and a half years ago. The commission found the club ran a 'disguised funding scheme', with £830m falsely pumped in by its owners and a £1.2bn transfer spend between summer 2009 and January 2018 now under scrutiny.

Verdict: Manchester City found guilty of the Premier League charges brought three and a half years ago.
Scheme: A 'disguised funding scheme' with a 'concerted campaign to falsify' financial accounts.
Inflated accounts: £830m falsely pumped into the club by its owners under the guise of sponsorship income.
Transfer spend: About £1.2bn on new players between summer 2009 and January 2018.
Trophies in the period: Seven major honours — three Premier League titles, one FA Cup and three EFL Cups.
Next step: City have until Friday to mount an appeal.

The numbers

£1.2bn — Manchester City's transfer spend between summer 2009 and January 2018.
£830m — the amount the commission determined had been falsely pumped into the club by its owners.
Seven major trophies — three Premier Leagues, one FA Cup and three EFL Cups — won in that time.
No significant honour since 1970 before that run of success.

City did not only generate revenue from sponsorship funds in that time. And income is also spent on many things other than transfers, including player wages, utilities, insurance, infrastructure, marketing, foundations and more. But the figures underline the fact that City would simply not have been able to purchase the quantity and quality of players they signed during their era of domination had they not been conducting what the commission described as a 'concerted campaign to falsify' their financial accounts.

How the inflated accounts powered City's transfer market

The graphic evidence is stark: multiple players were signed for figures in the tens of millions every summer, and the players purchased during that time included some of the world's best, in all areas of the pitch.

If City's financial power had been slashed by the extra £830m the commission says they falsely added to their books, their transfer spend would surely have been massively reduced. Chop the amount in half, say, and maybe they would only have brought in half the amount of players. Or the same amount, but heavily reduced in quality.

Which potentially means no Sergio Aguero, no David Silva, no Yaya Toure, no Kevin de Bruyne, or at least a significant reduction in the number or ability of the less glamorous players who were key cogs in the trophy-winning machine.

Outside the Etihad Stadium is a lustrous silver statue of Sergio Aguero — mouth agape in ecstasy, kit swirling over his head — depicting his goal celebration after securing the club's first Premier League title. It is the immortilisation of the most famous goal in English league football history, when City snatched the trophy away from Manchester United in the dying seconds of the 2011-12 season.

But what if the goal never happened? What if Aguero had never played for the club? What if City had opted to abide by football's financial rules instead of purposefully breaking them through a 'disguised funding scheme'? The revelation that the club has been found guilty of the charges brought against it by the Premier League three and a half years ago has left football fans around the world questioning the legitimacy of City's achievements between 2009 and 2018, when they were the most successful club in English football and cemented themselves among the global game's elite.

An 'asterisk era' that is impossible to unsee

Some fans are referring to it as the asterisk era, and there is a possibility City could be retroactively stripped of the honours they earned during the period, with some clubs seeking legal advice over potential financial compensation.

Would those successes have been achieved had the rule breaking not been going on in tandem? And what would the impact have been on all the other clubs who have played in the Premier League during that time? Nobody will ever know. The seasons cannot be replayed. And so the outcomes exist in a kind of mixed reality where the world watched them happen, but isn't sure if they're really 'real'.

The era provided the foundation for City's ongoing success, too, meaning more trophies and TV income, and the chaos of the situation has also unleashed doubt about the present and future.

Talking points

If £830m was falsely inflated, would City have won any of those three Premier League titles without it? The commission's findings suggest the transfer spend was built on sand.
Should honours be stripped retroactively? Some clubs are seeking legal advice over compensation, but no mechanism has been confirmed for rewriting the record books.
The Aguero statue outside the Etihad immortalises a goal that may now sit under a cloud. Is it fair to judge the moment, or only the accounts that funded it?
If City are docked points later this season, does that make the current title race — and the table as it stands — impossible to take seriously?

What happens next

City have until Friday to mount an appeal. If that appeal is unsuccessful, then, at some point, the club will be given some sort of punishment. Whether sanctions will retcon the past in any way is unknown. Right now football fans, both of City and other clubs across the country, do not know whether the football they are watching is 'real' or not.

Frequently asked questions

What have Manchester City been found guilty of?

Manchester City have been found guilty of the charges brought against them by the Premier League three and a half years ago. The commission found a 'disguised funding scheme' and a 'concerted campaign to falsify' their financial accounts, with £830m falsely pumped in by the club's owners under the guise of sponsorship income.

How much did Man City spend on transfers between 2009 and 2018?

Manchester City spent about £1.2bn on new players in the transfer windows between summer 2009 and January 2018. During that time, they won seven major trophies: three Premier Leagues, one FA Cup and three EFL Cups.

Will Man City be stripped of their Premier League titles?

There is a possibility City could be retroactively stripped of the honours they earned during the period, with some clubs seeking legal advice over potential financial compensation. City have until Friday to appeal; if unsuccessful, a punishment will be given at some point, but whether sanctions retcon the past is unknown.