Man City warned over ‘high risk’ Premier League appeal strategy as pre-Christmas timeframe is revealed – Exclusive

Man City have been warned over their Premier League appeal

Manchester City have been warned that their aggressive defence of the Premier League’s financial charges is a “high-risk” strategy, with one of the UK’s leading sports lawyers telling TEAMtalk he is surprised the club has shown no sign of moving into “damage limitation” mode.

City are currently working on their appeal against the Independent Commission’s findings that they breached Premier League financial rules, having formally lodged their appeal last Thursday.

TEAMtalk understands the appeal process is subject to a 12-week timeframe under Premier League rules, meaning we can reveal that the case is expected to be concluded in the week before Christmas.

Despite the Commission’s findings, City remain adamant that they will overturn the decision and have continued to publicly reject the allegations.

Chief executive Ferran Soriano last week delivered a particularly forceful defence of the club’s position, insisting the Premier League case was based on what he described as a false accusation regarding the source of sponsorship funding.

“The whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation – that the owner’s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi,” Soriano said.

“This is just not true. Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows it could not happen and that it did not happen.

“This includes bank statements, money transfers, witnesses and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate the money did not come from the owner.”

But speaking exclusively to TEAMtalk, Dan Chapman, Managing Partner and Head of Sports Law at Leathes Prior, believes City’s continued stance represents a significant gamble…

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Chapman admits he has not been surprised by the force with which City continue to protest their innocence and their refusal to shift towards a strategy aimed at limiting any potential punishment.

“It would be fair to say that in most cases one deals with as a lawyer, the culpable party in legal proceedings reaches a stage where they accept the writing is on the wall and goes into damage limitation mode,” Chapman told TEAMtalk.

“We have seen in recent cases involving Chelsea, Everton and Nottingham Forest that their acceptance of culpability and focus on damage limitation came relatively early on in the process, and as such they were successfully able to mitigate the sanction down from what it might have been.”

City, however, have taken a fundamentally different approach.

Chapman believes the club’s continued insistence that the charges are wrong does not necessarily mean that even their own lawyers believe they can win their appeal.

“Without knowing what advice City’s lawyers have given and will continue to give their client it is impossible to know whether City’s continued protestations of innocence and strident defiance against the Independent Commission’s decision, which remarkably they actually refer to as an opinion, are based on their legal advice, or on their own assessment of the position,” Chapman said.

“One suspects the latter is more likely than the former, but I am not surprised that we are not yet seeing any switch to damage limitation mode.”

The sports lawyer points to the origins of City’s legal battle, which stretches back to the publication of documents by Der Spiegel.

“We always suspected from the early days of the Der Spiegel publications that, if the documents being published were not fake, City were in serious difficulties. Yet they chose to fight from day one in this process.

“They fought almost on every issue, almost at every stage. This is partly why the matter has taken long, though of course a significant part of the delay was also due to how long the Commission needed to deliver its decision.”

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The subsequent Independent Commission process, Chapman argues, has fundamentally changed the position legally because the Commission has now made multiple findings based on evidence presented to it.

“We now know that the Independent Commission, based on the Premier League’s investigations and not simply the Der Spiegel leaked documents, have made multiple findings of fact based on actual evidence and we no longer need to speculate as to the authenticity of documents,” he said.

“And so for me the strategy deployed by City from the outset has always been high risk at best, or extremely dangerous at worst. If City cannot win this appeal, or win out via subsequent legal processes, they are making the sanction stage of these proceedings more difficult for themselves. But they have been nothing if not consistent in their approach.”

“Time will ultimately tell, but I see no imminent sign of damage limitation mode being deployed yet.”

City’s position remains clear: the club believes it has the evidence required to overturn the Commission’s findings.

The appeal now represents the next major stage in a legal battle that has hung over the club for several years, with the outcome expected before Christmas if the 12-week timetable is followed.

The contrast between City’s public confidence and the potential risks highlighted by Chapman is therefore becoming increasingly significant.

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