Stefan Borson reveals Man City's chances of winning Premier League appeal after 'very serious twist'

Manchester City's potential appeal against their 114 charges from the Premier League could go on for "quite a while".

That is according to former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that a successful appeal is unlikely but "not impossible".

The 10-time Premier League champions are at risk of being seriously punished for breaking an eye-watering number of financial regulations between 2009 and 2018.

Fans up and down the country have already speculated on potential punishments, ranging from fines to a points deduction, to the stripping of titles.

Keith Wyness, a former Premier League board member, believes that a 50-point deduction is heading the way of the Citizens once the legal battle reaches a conclusion.

Not only that, but City's Premier League rivals are already discussing their own potential legal battles against the club after missing out in previous seasons.

Man City could appeal against 114 charges

All of that would come after an appeal process, though, and speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson does not see that concluding anytime soon.

"It's unlikely, but it is not impossible, that you could have an appeal on the liability stage, i.e. whether they did it or not," he said.

"So they may well take an approach where they go straight into an appeal on the main body. That would take quite a while, clearly, because just reading the thing is going to take a while.

"They're on the back foot. So if you've lost the original hearing in a very serious way, which we think they have, we will see exactly how that looks.

"I think it will go on for a long time. I don't think that the prospects on appeal are particularly strong if, as we have heard, everything's gone against City in the initial hearing.

"Unwinding that initial decision, aside from potential arguments around point of law, is very, very difficult."

What punishment are Man City likely to face?

Unsurprisingly, Borson has refused to speculate like much of the media, with potentially months of back-and-forth ahead for all parties.

He said: "I don't think at this stage we can judge what the punishment might be just because we haven't seen the decision, we haven't seen the reasons.

"And we're relying upon the briefing that City have lost on pretty much everything. In that scenario the punishment is going to be very severe."

The Citizens may not have to wait for a conclusion before feeling the impacts, though, with some big-name stars already being linked with exits.

Erling Haaland, Enzo Fernandez and Rayan Cherki could all already be speaking to agents, with multiple suitors likely eyeing up bargain deals.