Man City 115 charges: Stefan Borson drops update after Pep Guardiola reveal
Manchester City have been embroiled in a legal battle with the Premier League for the past two years after being handed 115 charges in February 2023.
An independent commission hearing into the case started in September last year and ended in December, with the panel now considering its verdict.
Pep Guardiola has rarely commented on the charges, but he revealed in a press conference on 7 February there will be a verdict and a sentence in “one month”.
He also defended the club’s January spending amid suggestions Man City are expecting a transfer ban as punishment over the Premier League’s allegations.
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider he believes March is the earliest the panel could publish its verdict.
The English champions are accused of breaching the financial fair play (FFP) rules over a nine-year period and concealing payments through third parties by disguising them as sponsorship revenue.
Man City could have told 115 charges timeline
Borson revealed the panel could have told the parties they will receive the verdict before Easter, which falls on 20 April this year.
He told Football Insider: “It’s possible they could hear back in March.
“I think it’s probably the earliest that they could expect. We don’t know whether they got a specific date from the tribunal by which the determination of the liability part of this will come out.
“Sometimes you get in these cases at the end when all the panels are sort of summing up, the judges say we’re not giving a decision today and are reserving judgment, but we’ll try and give you our decision by, and then often they would say something like before Easter, won’t be before Easter, or won’t be before the summer.
“They tend to give quite a rough guide if they give anything at all. It’s possible that what they said was we’d hope to get you the decision before Easter, in which case you’re starting to think about the end of March or early April. But we don’t know.
“As I’ve said before, this will be a very long and detailed set of reasons, and therefore it could take a very long time. It may well not come for many months.
“But I suspect Pep wasn’t being specific and he was kind of just sharing the sort of internal perception as to the likely time when it could start to appear.
“I think what I am seeing is one or two media queries coming through about availability, so people are starting to plan for it anyway. Maybe that’s the indicator that people generally have got a sense that it’s coming.”
Man City have shown ‘massive’ confidence in 115 charges case
Etihad chiefs spent around £180million on four new signings last month and agreed a new long-term contract with star forward Erling Haaland until 2034.
Borson told Football Insider Man City have shown “massive” confidence in their 115 charges case following their business in the January transfer window.
Omar Marmoush, who joined the club from Eintracht Frankfurt for an initial £59million last month, registered a stunning first-half hat-trick in the 4-0 victory over Newcastle United on Saturday (15 February).
Guardiola’s side have now moved into fourth place despite their struggles in the Premier League this season.
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