Man City 115 charges: Premier League clubs to suffer ‘£50m’ blow – Stefan Borson
Premier League clubs are facing a funding cut this year to finance the high legal fees in the 115 charges case against Manchester City.
That is the view of former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the governing body is spending the top-flight sides’ money when it’s prosecuting these cases.
The Telegraph reported on 25 September Premier League clubs are concerned the legal bill for all of the league’s high-profile cases, including the Man City hearing, will run into multiple millions of pounds and reduce their share of funding.
Pep Guardiola’s side were dealt 115 charges by the Premier League in February 2023 for allegedly breaching the financial fair play (FFP) rules over a nine-year period.
The hearing started on 16 September and is scheduled to last 10 weeks.
Premier League has no choice spending significantly on Man City case
Borson insisted the governing body’s anticipated £50million legal bill isn’t a significant amount of money when it’s shared between all 20 top-flight clubs.
“It definitely will impact their funding,” Borson told Football Insider.
“At the end of the day, the Premier League doesn’t have any independent sources of finance.
“There is a central pot of money, which is then distributed to the clubs, so the Premier League is spending the individual clubs’ money in prosecuting these cases.
“There is no real way around that. If it’s spending £40-50million in the last year, which is what the reports say, then that is the top slice of the clubs’ money.
“Each club will have to take a deduction of proceeds for this year from the Premier League to effectively cover these increased expenses in the way that you would do in any kind of service charge in a flat.
“Everybody has to chip in their own bit, that’s just the way it works.
“Even £50million across the clubs is not that significant. It’s not that much money and isn’t that big of a deal from a financial perspective.
“It’s not ideal, but it’s not going to change materially the system.
“The Premier League has no choice. What is it meant to do?
“It has to regulate the clubs and that costs money. Lawyers are expensive.”
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