Man City legal clashes to ‘take years’ as rivals engage lawyers – expert
Man City face years of disputes over their 115 financial charges after rival clubs spoke to lawyers about potential legal challenges, says Kieran Maguire.
Man City have denied all the Premier League’s charges against them and are contesting in each case, so it remains to be seen exactly what punishment they might get if they lose and are found guilty.
The Daily Mail reported last week (13 November) that four Premier League clubs – Arsenal, Liverpool, Man United and Tottenham – have held talks about taking legal action if the Sky Blues are found guilty, although even the initial decision may still be some months away.
Providing an update on that situation, Maguire told The Price of Football podcast: “At present, our understanding is that clubs have had tentative discussions, with legal counsel in effect, as to if Manchester City had a financial advantage during the period of which they’ve been accused of the charges, which is effectively to 2009 to 2018.”
The football finance expert from the University of Liverpool went on to explain that there is “some form of precedent” with such action, referring to “out of court settlement” between West Ham and Sheffield United after the latter’s relegation from the Premier League in 2005.
That, he suggested, was worth “about £20million”, with any compensation in this instance should legal action be taken by Man City expected to be “a multiple of that”.
Maguire also noted another example that emerged when Derby County made the Championship play-offs with an unusual amortisation policy, with Middlesbrough pursuing the matter after the Rams went into administration, with the issue believes to have been settled out of court.
However, the finace expert believes the legal action that could be taken this time around would not be swift, concluding: “So there is some links historically, trying to prove, that Manchester City have had enough of an advantage to effectively have nudged another club out of winning a trophy or Championship League qualification, I think there will be an awful lot of expert witness testimony, and there will be an awful lot of gathering of evidence, so that’s why it could take years.”
Arsenal and Liverpool eye legal clash with Man City
Football Insider Opinion
If these 115 charges are upheld then it would be no surprise if any legal action taken by clubs in the wake of that is not resolved quickly.
Should it come to that there will be a huge amount of money and pride at stake for all of those involved.
As a result, parties on both sides, be it Man City or those other Premier League clubs, would surely throw close to everything they’ve got behind those legal challenges.
It could in turn lead to plenty of claims and counter-claims having to be analysed and that could not be done quickly given how much there will be to assess, so it is a situation that could drag on for some time.
Such a situation would mean considerable uncertainty for the clubs connected with it, since they will not know exactly how their financial situation looks until things are resolved.
Fans are unlikely to welcome that either, given they would surely prefer for things to be decided on the pitch.
But considering how long these charges have been hanging over Man City there are some who may at least have become used to that by now.
In other news, Man City’s stance on the departure of a player being targeted by two Premier League rivals has been revealed.
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