Copy linkFacebookXPinterestEmailShare this article 0Join the conversationFollow usAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleNewsletterSubscribe to our newsletterIn a landmark moment for English football, an independent commission found Manchester City guilty on 114 of 115 financial charges brought against them by the Premier League.The historic verdict follows an exhaustive investigation into the clubs financial conduct spanning a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018.The charges concern severe allegations, including failure to provide accurate financial information, disguising owner funding as commercial sponsorship income, operating off-the-books payment structures for managerial remuneration, and breaching Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules.FourFourTwo decide Manchester City's fateWhile Manchester City have maintained their innocence throughout the process and are expected to lodge an appeal, the guilty ruling leaves the club facing unprecedented potential sanctions. These range from astronomical financial fines and multi-window transfer bans to heavy points deductions or even potential expulsion from the top flight.To answer the question everybody is asking: how would the FourFourTwo team punish Manchester City? You may like Manchester City could be stripped of Premier League titles after guilty verdict on nearly all charges: report Manchester City should be heavily punished - but your team does NOT deserve free trophies Manchester City fans should boycott the club: the owners sold the club's soul Editor: James AndrewWhat should happen: They should be expelled from the Premier League, denied entry into the Football League and made to start again further down the pyramid.In addition, for every year these breaches were made - nine years in total - they should be banned from signing any external sponsorship deals.What do you think will happen?: Points deductions staggered over a number of seasons but ultimately not enough to relegate them.Get FourFourTwo NewsletterThe best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.Fined �900m with the money distributed to clubs who successfully claim loss of earnings against them.Transfer ban for five years. But leave the past in the past, strip Manchester City of their trophies, but they should not be redistributed to other clubs.Deputy Editor: Matt KetchellWhat should happen: Titles stripped, relegated to the bottom of the English Football League, current squad players to be returned to their origin club for free, Sham 69s If The Kids Are United to be played as compulsory goal music for the first nine seasons. What to read next 'We will use these powers' Independent Football Regulator reveals action plan for Manchester City owners following guilty verdict Every club to have had been deducted points in the Premier League Former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini breaks silence on 115 charges What you think will happen?: One-off points deduction, two-window transfer ban, medium-to-large fine.If these charges are proven, and appeals are heard and rejected, this is the biggest corruption in club football history and has damaged countless clubs and individuals. At the very least, the club should be expelled from the Premier League and heavily fined. My preference would be for the club to be relegated to the foot of the Football League (League Two) and fined �900m.The Premier Leagues statement has given new meaning to the word sham. That word is now permanently linked to Manchester City Football Club. English punk band Sham 69s famous single If The Kids Are United features the lyrics: 'How do you feel, They can lie to my face, But not to my heart, If we all stand together, It will just be the start.' The Premier League must stand up to these offences, and no doubt fans of rival clubs will be in agreement that punishment should be strong.Individuals responsible for these actions should be banned from football for life, as Juventus club executive Luciano Moggi was for his role in the Calciopoli scandal in 2006. Manchester Citys current owners would fail the owners and directors test in light of the charges being upheld; therefore, a compulsory sale of the club should be enforced. Titles should be stripped, but not reallocated.My gut feeling is that harsh sanctions will land, appeals will be rejected but then the two parties will gather round a table and negotiate something more sensible than playing If The Kids Are United as compulsory goal music for the first nine seasons.Online Editor: Mark WhiteWhat should happen: The Enhanced Games is a version of the Olympics in which athletes are allowed to take performance-enhancing substances without being subject to drug tests; I propose a similar thing in football for financially doping clubs.Lets get Manchester City, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and whichever other owners want to spend a nations GDP on Enzo Fernandez into one 'super league' and leave them to themselves, away from The Proper Football. If players want to join that mess, so be it.What do you think will happen?: Manchester City are hit with a record fine and points deduction. They appeal: the fine is reduced, and the points deduction is lessened.A few of the players leave mainly on loan, as some kind of gap year but others are happy to play a season in the Championship to take City back to the Premier League, where they continue as if nothing happened for the start of the 2028/29 season.Senior Staff Writer: Joe DonnohueWhat should happen: Manchester City shouldn't receive a pithy points deduction - it needs to be more serious than that. Points deductions devalue the competition in which they're enforced. Sporting sanctions for book-keeping offences doesn't sit right either, especially when the list of available penalties is so vast.City should be made to repay, in instalments or otherwise, the �900 million in cost savings and 'sham' payments that artificially inflated their revenue.It should be redistributed to the rest of the division and to the wider footballing pyramid, for the betterment of the game.The club should also be subjected to restricted transfer spending of �50m per season and prohibited from participating in European competition for five seasons.These are, in my opinion, measures that level the playing field and redress the unfair advantage City have benefited from over the past 17 years, in a meaningful way without cheapening the Premier League brand.What do you think will happen?: It's been suggested that instead of one huge, relegation-inducing points deduction this season or next, that Man City will be subject to several seasons of 25-point deductions, making it in effect impossible to qualify for the Champions League, but most likely not enough to relegate them.I also think a multi-year transfer embargo, or conditions on player trading, will be enforced, as well as a substantial fine, although I doubt it will come close to that �900m figure.TOPICSPremier LeagueJoe DonnohueSocial Links NavigationSenior Digital WriterJoe joined FourFourTwo as senior digital writer in July 2025 after five years covering Leeds United in the Championship and Premier League. Joe's 'Mastermind' specialist subject is 2000s-era Newcastle United having had a season ticket at St. James' Park for 10 years before relocating to Leeds and later London. Joe takes a keen interest in youth football, covering PL2, U21 Euros, as well as U20 and U17 World Cups in the past, in addition to hosting the industry-leading football recruitment-focused SCOUTED podcast. He is also one of the lucky few to have 'hit top bins' as a contestant on Soccer AM. It wasn't a shin-roller.With contributions fromMark WhiteContent EditorJames AndrewEditorMatthew KetchellDeputy Editor
