Five key extracts from Premier League's guilty verdict for Man City

The damning findings of an independent commission against Manchester City have been laid bare. City have confirmed they intend to appeal the decision and this is still a saga with a long way to run.

The findings against City, though, are extraordinary. Unprecedented verdict In a statement unprecedented in its findings and language used, the Premier League confirmed: "An independent Commission has found Manchester City FC guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-season period.

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That relates to the nine-year period from 2009 to 2018, during which City won their first three Premier League titles and set the foundations to become the dominant team in English football. Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, described the verdict as "the most significant in Premier League history".

He said it "vindicates" the decision to pursue a long, difficult case, in order to find that City "systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade". Sham contracts City were found to have relied on "sham" deals to overstate its financial position by more than £900million.

"The purpose of these schemes was found to have been to artificially inflate the club's revenues, and reduce its costs, by more than £900m during the affected period, to appear to comply with financial rules," the statement said. City entered into commercial contracts with a number of sponsors which were found to effectively be a "disguised funding scheme".

The partner would only pay a portion of the sponsorship fee, with the remainder funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club. "As part of the scheme, further 'sham' arrangements, funded by ADUG, were entered into to enable the club to record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred, as well as a 'sham' circular arrangement with Fordham, an entity that purchased the club's players' image rights, that was funded by ADUG.

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It described Fordham as "in reality little more than a front" for ADUG. City therefore "concealed the true state of its finances".

The commission concluded that "the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules". Dishonest witnesses The commission also accused some witnesses of giving false evidence and being dishonest.

It held a 42-day hearing, which concluded in December 2024 and heard evidence from both sides. In a particularly strong section of the 40-page report, it was suggested that certain witnesses brought forward by City did not act honestly.