What those lawyers could not say was what would happen next, or rather the punishment that City would likely face. That will become clearer once the Premier League’s board and the club themselves make their submissions to the independent panel who in a sanctioning hearing – that will take place “as soon as possible” – will decide the penalty.
As with the rest of the case, that decision will be unprecedented. It is why the remaining 19 Premier League clubs have not only been hurriedly seeking an explanation as to what has just happened, but are wondering what will happen now and what it means for them and the integrity of the league. And this extends beyond the top-flight with some EFL clubs also seeking counsel.
There is anger, bewilderment and also, perhaps strangely, some sympathy. But there is also, as one executive put it, an overriding sense that the Premier League “has been surfing the sewage” for too long and now there is an inevitable reckoning. The Premier League has won its case, but it has also lost. There is reputational hurt to the self-styled biggest and best league in the world and clubs are concerned about that and the long-term ramifications.
Telegraph Sport has spoken to a number of leading figures about how they feel and what they expect next. The issues are big and varied and range from:
- A desire to see City being thrown out of the Premier League and not even admitted to the EFL
- Discussion of whether City should face up to 200 points being deducted over multiple seasons
- Concern that transfer fees and monies owed to clubs will not now be paid by City
- A fear that expelling City will lead to the resurrection of a European Super League
- Arguments that the Premier League is better with City in it and its reputation will be damaged globally without them
- Worry that their own clubs might now be investigated for similar practices to City, albeit on a far lesser scale and, it is argued, within the rules
- Clubs, managers and players having grounds for legal action being taken against City for loss of earnings. That could also involve City players. And, therefore, years of complex litigation
- Anger and disbelief at how belligerent and aggressive City have remained and how far this is still from being resolved
City continue to deny all charges and released a statement to confirm, as expected, that they had submitted an appeal on Thursday evening before the sanctioning hearing.
The deadline was Friday and, once again, clubs were taken aback by City’s approach. Doubling down on their innocence, City, tellingly, referred to a “Premier League Commission” (it is an independent three-person panel) and talked about the ruling containing “clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe”.
As one senior figure at a Premier League club said: “We are stunned at just how aggressive City are continuing to be. It is incredible they are not now trying to work a different angle and be more conciliatory.”
But battlelines are drawn, hence the phalanx of legal teams to simply try to explain events after Premier League executives were informed, the previous week, that a decision had finally been reached and it was “time to light the bonfires”. City were found guilty of all but one of the 115 charges they faced, and had fought so hard against, for breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules. And, crucially, a failure to co-operate.
It appears all 20 clubs may have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements. But this did not prevent the headline decision being leaked before an official announcement, which was brought forward to Tuesday and was stunning not only in its condemnation of City, but also in its language.
For example, clubs and lawyers were shocked by the strength of the panel’s statement given it was regarded as a high legal bar to allege that witnesses had given false information and that they had provided evidence on City’s behalf “that they knew to be untrue and so had been dishonest”. That is a remarkable statement. The 40-page summary of the ruling was, equally, remarkable and condemnatory.
