Adam Williams, Finance & Governance Correspondent

Tue 14 February 2023 7:00, UK

It was one week ago today that the Premier League, in an uncharacteristically gutsy display, announced 115 charges of financial malpractice against Man City.

What has followed is a week of corporate he-said-she-said that has, to put it charitably, covered neither party in glory.

City’s strategy has been to play a high line against the charges – they issued an emphatic rebuttal that has fanned the flames of conspiracy and alleged that the press was briefed by the Premier League before the announcement.

A well-connected source told Football Insider, however, that City’s accusations of subterfuge are “nonsense” and a “pretty transparent attempt to land a counterpunch” against the Premier League.

True or not, the message from City’s spin doctors is clear: It’s us versus the world. That was the frequency that rumbled through Pep Guardiola’s remarkable presser ahead of last Sunday’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa too.

To an extent, City are correct. They don’t have many allies behind the scenes in the top flight.

While they have formed a voting bloc with the rest of the so-called ‘Big Six’ at Premier League shareholder meetings, it is a marriage of convenience.

Liverpool and Man United are understood to have reacted to the Premier League’s announcement with glee, while Guardiola namechecked Tottenham’s Daniel Levy when reeling off a list of City’s enemies behind the scenes.

Fellow Gulf-state-owned side Newcastle United meanwhile have privately distanced themselves from the tactics that City are alleged to have used to circumvent the league’s financial rules, sources have told Football Insider.

City also cannot rely on the Court of Arbitration for Sport as they did when they successfully defended themselves against similar charges brought against them by Uefa in 2020.

That may be just as well. Senior sources connected to CAS claim that there are growing concerns that the court operates under the veneer of impartiality but in fact reaches many decisions based on its own narrow self-interest.

In any case, international sports litigation expert and former FA-registered lawyer Dr Gregory Ioannidis told Football Insider that many of the same defences used by City in the 2020 hearing are unavailable to them this time around.

The independent commission which will decide City’s fate will not consider time-bar limits, and the fact that certain relevant documents were procured via Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto will not deem the evidence inadmissible.

The Premier League believe their case is strong, but there is no doubt they have bet the farm on its success. Failure would irreparably damage the brand at the worst possible moment.

The timing of the announcement – days before the government was due to outline its plans for an independent football regulator – was no coincidence.

The Premier League wants to prove it can self-govern, but Whitehall sources insist that the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have no plans to rewrite their policy proposal despite the show of strength at City’s expense.

The credibility of the Premier League’s allegations was hardly helped when it emerged that they had mislabeled six of the charges in their statement. It is understood that the league’s member clubs were bewildered by this oversight.

The blunder was addressed at a two-day shareholder meeting at the end of last week, which was originally due to be centred around the publication of the independent regulator white paper.

Sources have told Football Insider that the Premier League will take the virtually unprecedented step of calling a second shareholder meeting in a matter of weeks when the government eventually publishes its draft legislation.

Lord David Pannick and the other legal savants appointed by City could have up to four years to build their case, according to most legal experts.

By that time, the independent regulator will be up and running. But there can be no doubt that, as several sources have told this site, the Premier League intended for the charges against City to act as a filibuster in the short term.

In other news, pundit issues “unbelievable” Erling Haaland claim amid Man City injury latest