The money that never hit rival players’ accounts during Manchester City’s rise is the next front in a case that has already shaken the Premier League. According to Sky Sports, players and agents from clubs that finished behind City in the nine seasons from 2009-10 to 2017-18 are preparing claims for performance bonuses they say they lost on titles and European places.
The legal mechanism is straightforward.
Standard Premier League playing contracts tie bonuses to collective achievements, so a title finish, a Champions League qualification or a cup final can trigger significant payments per player. If those outcomes would have been different in a counter-factual Premier League where City had not spent beyond its reported revenues, players and their agents argue they are owed the money the real standings should have paid them.
Nine seasons, three titles, more than £900m of inflated revenue
An independent commission upheld 114 of the 115 charges brought by the Premier League, ruling that Manchester City committed serious financial rule breaches across nine seasons from 2009-10 to 2017-18. The commission found the club used “sham” commercial contracts to inflate revenues and reduce costs by more than £900m, with the money routed through its Abu Dhabi-based ownership.
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In that window Manchester City won the Premier League three times, in 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2017-18. Those are the trophies, European places and prize-money finishes that any compensation claim will be measured against.
Rival clubs line up their own damages
The claims will not stop at individual players. Several rival clubs are understood to be preparing their own claims if the verdict stands, with lost prize money and Champions League income the obvious targets.
No players, agents or clubs have been named publicly, and no claim has been filed. The commission’s finding gives potential litigants their legal footing, but any action will likely wait until Manchester City’s appeal is resolved.
City lodges its appeal
Manchester City has until Friday to lodge its appeal against the guilty verdict, and chief executive Ferran Soriano has told staff that the case rests on “a single false accusation.”
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The club says it holds “bank statements, money transfers, witnesses” and a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” that the Premier League’s picture of its finances is wrong.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has been equally defiant in a message to supporters carried by Goal.
“While some people have been quick to reach their own conclusions, and there is so much noise swirling around us, nothing has changed,” he said.
City’s legal team is led by Lord Pannick KC, who Sky Sports reports charges £5,000 an hour. The appeal is heard by a separate three-person commission and can only challenge the finding of guilt itself. A separate sanction hearing has not yet been scheduled, with penalties on the table ranging from a fine to a points deduction and up to expulsion from the league.
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The timetable is itself disputed. New Premier League rules allow appeals to conclude within 12 weeks of a hearing lasting no more than five days, but City’s lawyers are arguing those rules should not apply because the original charges were filed in 2023 under the previous regime. If they succeed, the appeal could run into 2027, and the first compensation claims with it.
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