Fans tired of waiting on Manchester City’s appeal have been told, by a figure outside the Premier League, that the slow pace is the point.

Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, co-founder and global chief executive of the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA), told the Press Association that supporters should resist the urge to demand a quick verdict on the biggest financial case in English football’s history.

“There cannot be room for doubt. There cannot be room for failure,” Medeiros said.

He acknowledged why the wait grates, telling the Irish News he understood the frustration and anguish of fans, especially those following City, but insisting that a hurried ruling would be worse than a slow one.

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What the commission actually found

An independent commission published its findings on September 29, 2026, concluding that City had deliberately circumvented Premier League financial rules across nine seasons, from 2009-10 to 2017-18. The panel ruled the club had inflated revenues or reduced costs by more than £900m through what it called “sham” arrangements.

The specifics cut deep. Revenues were inflated by more than £830m through a “disguised funding scheme” in which Abu Dhabi companies paid only a fraction of the sums written into sponsorship deals, with the balance settled by the club’s owners. Image rights income was overstated by nearly £74m, and liabilities on staff contracts were understated by close to £17m.

City were found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges. The club denies wrongdoing and has called the verdict “unsafe”, lodging their appeal on October 1.

A test beyond the Etihad

For Medeiros, the case has outgrown its original frame as a Premier League dispute.

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“This is also a test, not just for the Premier League and the credibility of the whole system, it is a test for the entirety of European football,” he said.

That framing matters because the appeal will not end at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. City cannot take the case to CAS under Premier League rules. Instead, a new three-person independent commission will hear the appeal, with the only external route a potential High Court challenge on procedural grounds.

Medeiros, himself a lawyer, drew on that background to defend the pace: justice, he said, is sometimes served slowly, and the constitutional rights of those being scrutinised cannot be breached in the rush to deliver a headline outcome.

Verdict due early 2027, then sanctions

The Premier League is hoping to have a verdict on the appeal early in the new year, though no fixed date has been set. The appeals commission has up to 12 weeks to hear the case, with its decision due 30 days after the hearing closes.

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Only then will a separate sanctions hearing begin, where the Premier League will propose punishments and City will mount their defence. The commission then decides the penalty, with precedent ranging from modest point deductions to expulsion from the league.

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