Man City's 114 charges timeline: The German bombshell that raised suspicions, overturning a UEFA ban and going to war with the Premier League - now, the bombshell verdict is FINALLY in

Manchester City have finally learned their fate with the Premier League finding the club guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them in early 2023.

It has been a two-and-a-half-year legal battle with Premier League chiefs, but the whole affair dates much further back after they were also investigated by UEFA.

Mail Sport’s MIKE KEEGAN gives a full timeline of how City’s case played out.

THE GERMANS DROP THE BOMB

In 2018, German publication Der Spiegel dropped a series of bombshell articles based on a tranche of emails obtained by subsequently convicted Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto, which they claimed showed Manchester City had been effectively cheating by using a variety of underhand techniques to swerve both Premier League and UEFA rules on financial fair play.

The first, explosive piece, claimed City executives suggested £59.5m of sponsorship money from Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, the club’s shirt and stadium partners, had in fact been paid by the Abu Dhabi United Group, the investment group led by City owner Sheikh Mansour, with just £8m paid by the airline.

With the pin on the grenade removed, another story followed hot on its heels.

Roberto Mancini, it was alleged, had signed a £1.45m a year deal with the club when he took over as City manager in 2009 but had also picked up £1.75m a year for four days’ work as a consultant for Abu Dhabi side Al Jazira, which is also owned by Sheikh Mansour.

Other potentially-damaging claims followed, including an allegation that City officials had been backdating sponsorship deals with Abu Dhabi-based partners.

German publication Der Spiegel claimed Man City had been effectively cheating by swerving UEFA and the Premier League’s financial rules under owner Sheikh Mansour (pictured)

Der Spiegel also claimed Roberto Mancini received a separate payment for four days’ work as a consultant on top of his Man City salary after being appointed the club’s manager in 2009

WHY WAS THIS A PROBLEM?

To UEFA, and officials at Premier League rivals, this was evidence of a flagrant breach of a system of rules which all clubs had signed up to.

The suspicion was that, following their takeover by Sheikh Mansour’s group in 2008, City had been finding ways to pay players and coaching staff more than others and that the moves had been key to their era of success.

In 2019 both UEFA and the Premier League launched investigations.

AN ‘ORGANISED AND CLEAR ATTEMPT’ TO SMEAR US

While they did not challenge the authenticity of the emails, a clearly outraged City described the claims as ‘entirely false’.

In a terse statement, they said: ‘We will not be providing any comment on out of context materials purported to have been hacked or stolen from City Football Group and Manchester City personnel and associated people. The attempt to damage the Club’s reputation is organized and clear.’

UEFA WIN THE BATTLE, CITY WIN THE WAR

UEFA went first and saw off an attempt by City at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to get their investigation thrown out. In February 2020 they banned City from the Champions League for two years and fined them 30m euros, finding them guilty of ‘serious breaches’ of their rules.

City said they were ‘disappointed but not surprised’ and immediately appealed to CAS. With Lord Pannick KC leading a team of expensive lawyers, their appeal emerged successful, with the ban overturned.

Two of three judges found most of the alleged breaches were either ‘not established or time-barred’. The ban was thrown out, and the fine reduced to 10m euros for non-compliance.

City’s lawyers defended a lack of co-operation by claiming they should not be forced to address detail contained in emails that were effectively stolen.

UEFA – fronted by president Aleksander Ceferin (pictured) – banned City from the Champions League for two years in 2020 for ‘serious breaches’ of their rules

Man City got the ban overturned upon appeal, with Lord Pannick KC (pictured) leading their team of expensive lawyers

DER SPEIGEL STRIKE AGAIN

After City had tried and failed to get the Premier League probe thrown out at CAS, Der Spiegel went again.

In April 2022 they published Mancini’s contracts, along with new claims around image rights payments to former captain Yaya Toure and a contract between ADUG and an off-shore firm owned by the player’s then-agent.

THE PREMIER LEAGUE CHARGES

In February 2023 the Premier League announced that City had been hit with 115 charges and the number stuck. However, the figure – as they subsequently corrected – was actually 130.

Of those, 54 were charges of ‘failure to provide accurate and up-to-date financial information’ while there were 14 charges of ‘failure to provide accurate financial reports for player and manager compensation’. Both sets related to alleged offences between 2009 and 2018 (2009-2018).

There were also five charges of ‘failure to comply with UEFA’s regulations, including Financial Fair Play Regulations’ and seven charges of breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) between 2015 and 2018.

There were also 35 counts of failure to co-operate with Premier League investigations between 2018 and 2023. Similar to the UEFA charges, the more serious allegations could be split into two categories.

City were basically accused of falsely inflating sponsorship deals (in an attempt to pump more money into the club and circumvent financial rules), and of making payments via third parties to players and coaches to top up their salaries (and again get around the system). Unlike UEFA, there is no time-barring period at play.

Over the period involved, post-ADUG takeover, City have become the most successful club in the country, landing eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups, six League Cups and a treble which included a first Champions League triumph in 2023.

The Premier League – fronted by chief executive Richard Masters (pictured) – hit City with 115 charges in February 2023. The number was later corrected to 130

Later that season, City won the Treble as they lifted the European Cup for the first time

Pep Guardiola has always maintained City’s innocence, and famously said ‘I am not moving from this seat’ after the club were hit with the charges in 2023

CITY GO TO WAR

In June last year, with the investigation ongoing, City went nuclear. The champions launched legal action against the Premier League over its rules on sponsorship deals with parties linked to the ownerships of clubs (strengthened following the Saudi takeover of Newcastle) after its own proposed new agreement with Etihad was blocked.

The Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules represented a ‘tyranny of the majority’ they claimed, as part of an attempt by the established elite to protect themselves. City won, with the tribunal ruling the regulations, in play from 2021 to 2024, were unlawful and void. The league and its clubs, ironically including City, face a legal bill running to tens of millions.

New, replacement rules, the introduction of which City strongly warned against, are now also subject to a legal challenge. While the two cases are not related, Pannick and Paul Harris KC – key in City’s 115 fight – were behind their victory on APTs and were hoping for a repeat.

THE HEARING AND THE LONG WAIT

The hearing into the 130 alleged breaches began last September at London’s International Dispute Resolution Centre. The Premier League also spared no expense, enlisting KCs Adam Lewis and Andrew Hunter to take its case.

With so much at stake, speculation over the outcome has been feverish. Indeed, Mail Sport revealed that Sky Sports had taken the unprecedented step of warning pundits not to jump to conclusions should the verdict drop when they are on air.

That verdict, at last, is now in.