Keith Wyness: Man City 'certain' to lose appeal and land devastating 50-point deduction

Manchester City are almost certain to find themselves in a relegation battle by the end of the 2026-27 season after being found guilty on almost all of their financial charges.

That is according to former Everton chief executive and ex-Premier League board member Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the Citizens' chances of a successful appeal are "tenuous at best."

This comes amid the news that the Premier League are confident that a guilty verdict will be reached on almost all of the 115 financial charges against City.

Wyness believes that Enzo Maresca's side are "certain" to be deducted up to 50 points as part of their punishment, which will also include hefty fines.

It has taken three and a half years for a final verdict to be reached, but the cogs are now in motion, with the rest of the top-flight clubs already informed.

City are set to appeal against the verdict, but Wyness is not at all confident that they will be able to get the decision overturned.

Man City appeal timeline shared

Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that the outcome of City's appeal should be known publicly within the next three months.

The Scottish businessman made it clear that the club cannot appeal against the facts behind the decision, and will instead appeal against the law itself, which he feels is a much simpler process.

However, he does not hold much hope for the club, and expects that relegation could become a very distinct possibility.

"Yeah, I think there is (a chance of relegation); it seems to be that the appeal is tenuous at best for City. It looks like they’re going to be found guilty even after appeal," he exclusively told Football Insider.

"It does seem that there’s little room for mitigating circumstances to go in their favour, so the final verdict is likely to be very harsh. That would certainly include something up to 50 points, which would probably ensure relegation in some way.

"I think the appeal process will be shorter than we initially thought. It seems there’s such a level of guilt; it’s virtually all areas that they’ve been found guilty of. 

"It will be very hard to appeal on facts, so they will have to appeal on points of law, which are much easier to resolve. I expect it to be two or three months maximum in terms of the appeal process."

Man City's further punishments

While the points deduction is expected to be the headline sanction for City, Wyness is clear that it will be far from the full extent of their punishment.

"There will be fines that will come, there will also be reputational damage for a lot of those involved," he continued.

"There may even be bans in terms of those people acting within the wider footballing industry to some degree. All these sorts of things could come out of this.

"It does seem that the Premier League have scored a resounding victory. Because it also damages the reputation of the league, it's pretty bad for them to have to prove that their champions were guilty."