In a damning 40-page document, an independent commission laid bare its findings into Manchester City's breaches of the Premier League's financial rules. Here, Sky Sports takes a look at the key revelations... Manchester City were found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.
The charge that was not proven was regarding one element of the Premier League's non-cooperation case. The independent commission repeatedly concluded that a number of City's commercial agreements were "shams". City used a "disguised funding scheme" where Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) partially funded sponsorship fees.
This allowed the club to avoid breaking the record for the largest single-season loss in Premier League history. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player The club filed accounts that the commission found concealed the true nature of their finances from auditors and football regulators. City overstated their sponsorship income by £830.69m with agreements that were "far in excess" of fair market value.
The commission concluded that City's financial statements for the seasons between 2009-10 and 2017-18 "did not show a true and fair view" of the club's financial position. The commission found three separate remuneration agreements that were omitted from City's accounts and paid by ADUG. City used a third party, Fordham, as a device to overstate income by £24.5m and understate expenses by £49.414m.
The commission described 'The Fordham Arrangement' as being "little more than a front for ADUG". The Fordham Arrangement was, the commission contended, "a further device by which ADUG funds could be paid into the club in a manner that concealed their true origin" and which enabled "the club to remove operating expenses from its financial statements". The Fordham Arrangement was part of a system called 'Project Longbow' which "was a multi-strand project whose purpose was to explore how the club might boost its revenues and reduce its operating losses".
But while "many of the strands of Project Longbow were genuine, legitimate attempts to achieve those aims. That was the Fordham Arrangement". The independent commission heard factual evidence from 27 witnesses over 42 days in the last quarter of 2024, with a core bundle of key documents running to "many tens of thousands of pages".
Extract — continue reading at the source.
