BBC Radio 5 Live

Football finance expert Dr Tom Bason, speaking to BBC 5 Live: "What people will argue is that FFP was brought in as a response to City, because clubs were worried that a club owned by a sovereign wealth fund would be able to spend much more than any other club.

"The concern about them is not about the spending the owners put in, but what happens if an owner turns the tap off. We've seen it at Derby. When circumstances change, like Covid for example, or when owners lose interest.

"It's not about about stopping owners from putting money in, but about clubs being sustainable if the circumstances for the owners change."

Manchester City

During a media conference in February 2023, then-Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he would not be concerned even if City were relegated from the Premier League by the commission.

"We have already been in the lower divisions," he said. "We will be back there - not a problem.

"We will call Paul Dickov and Mike Summerbee and we will do again.

"But they should wait. We are going to defend ourselves, like we did in the Uefa situation."

BBC Radio 5 Live

Football finance expert Dr Tom Bason, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "The charges are grouped into two areas - the charges that they effectively weren't honest in financial reporting, and the second is that they obstructed the investigation. It's the first bucket, the first 80 charges or so, that will hurt City.

"The PSR regulations allowed clubs to lose £105m over three years. Part of the argument the people made was that City were dressing up money from their owners, inflated sponsorship deals. That the money actually came from the owners.

"The allegations are that City were able to skirt around FFP regulations by claiming that money given to them by their owners was actually revenue.

"These companies that were sponsoring City are multinational corporations. The Premier League is a pretty small company within the UK - does it have the power to compel these companies, like Etihad Airways, to give evidence. Does it have the power to get the Email chains from those people?

"It's one thing people in the pub saying 'of course City did not', it's another to prove it in a court of law.

"What we have seen from the Premier League when dealing with cases involving other clubs like Everton and Chelsea, is that they are prepared to be more lenient with clubs who don't try to obstruct the investigation and who give evidence.

"That one of the charges is that City were trying to obstruct the investigation, before the charges came out, suggests this hasn't been an easy case for the Premier League."

BBC News

Manchester City season ticket holder David Wilson speaking to BBC News about the club being found guilty of the majority of the 115 financial charges brought by the Premier League.

"You'll never take away all the memories of all those moments and trophies from City fans. Those will live on regardless what happens over the next weeks, months and wins.

"There are many fans who were there when we were in the lower divisions, and they will stick by the club.

"What we want as fans is an explanation as to why - if we have been found guilty - we have dragged it out so long. Some context behind it.

"True City fans and fans who have been there all there lives will still love the club dearly no matter what other people and fans say. There will be a lot of stuff that comes City fans' way, those moments will never be taken away."

BBC Radio 5 Live

Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "It's less about what it says about the PSR rules, it's much more about what it says around the structures of the English game. There have been a lot of stories about how the Abu Dhabi government would never allow this to proceed.

"The fact that it went to a hearing in the first place told you that political interference had not been part of this process and that actually the Premier League had held its own in terms of wanting to prosecute its own case.

"It has now done that and it has found City guilty, we believe, of all of the charges and therefore I think it is a sign that the structures and the governance of the game is working, contrary to what people might have said in those analysis about problems with it."

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

Comparisons have been drawn to the cases brought by the Premier League against Nottingham Forest and Everton respectively over breaches of PSR.

During the 2023-24 season, both clubs were docked points for making more losses than they were permitted to for the three-year period from the 2020-21 to 2022-23 seasons.

Those cases were of a single charge, were easier to decipher and involved significantly less evidence.

Everton were twice deducted points. For the first charge, they were docked six points - reduced from 10 points on appeal. The second offence led to them being handed a two-point penalty.

Forest, meanwhile, lost four points.

However, these relate purely to PSR.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson speaking to BBC 5 Live: "It's incredibly serious. A complete finding for the Premier League clearly makes it even worse. You've now got a situation where this is going to go to a sanction hearing, which will look at what the punishment should be.

It will be going with the worst possible set of circumstances to that sanction hearing, City guilty of everything. With built-in aggravating factors such as the non-cooperation, the nature of the charges that we believe are now proved or such that they will demand very severe punishment.

"And when we see the five, six, seven-hundred-page decision, you can expect it to say some really quite serious things about the people who have given evidence and the way in which Manchester City have behaved."

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

This specific case was six years in the making, so legal fees on both sides were estimated at tens of millions of pounds before the hearing even started.

Whichever side 'wins' can be expected to make a claim for costs.

For context, the Premier League wanted Everton to pay the full £4.9m legal costs of their first PSR six-point deduction case.

However, an appeal board ruled Everton should pay £1.7m and the Premier League cover the remaining £3.2m legal fees.

Any costs being paid by the Premier League at the end of the City case would have to be spread across the 20 clubs which make up the league.

Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak did his annual sit-down with in-house media back in June.

It was a two-part interview released over two days and the very final question was the following: "Is there any update on the Premier League ruling?"

Khaldoon: “Let me be as consistent as I’ve always been – until we have a ruling, I can’t say much.

"Once we have a ruling, believe me, we are going to have a wonderful sit down together and I will say everything I have wanted to say for the last three years.”

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

Chelsea have faced 74 charges of rule breaches, but these were quite different and primarily focused on transfers that happened between the 2010-11 and 2015-16 seasons, including deals for Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o and Willian.

The Premier League fined Chelsea £10m and handed out a suspended transfer ban after admitting making £47m in secret payments.

Importantly, Chelsea reached a settlement with the Premier League in relation to historical regulatory matters that were self-reported.

This has not been the case with City, who have always denied wrongdoing.

The Blues were also fined by Uefa and the Football Association.

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

Earlier this year, Everton were told they must pay Burnley £35m over the impact of a breach of the Premier League's financial rules.

The case - heard by a Premier League commission - relates to the 2021-22 season, when Everton were found to have broken PSR regulations over a three-year period.

Burnley argued the breach impacted their chances of staying in the Premier League, and sought compensation for the losses associated with being relegated.

The Clarets were awarded £26m in damages and a further £9m in interest.

Clubs who had their league positions impacted by City's offences could potentially claim a loss of chance to win potential honours.

These would need to be individually heard by an independent commission.

We don't know who is on the independent panel which is hearing and ruling on the case - and will likely only know that once a written judgment is released.

City's legal team is being led by Lord Pannick KC, reported to charge £5,000 an hour for his services. He helped City overturn a two-year European ban in 2020.

Image source, Getty Images

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

An appeal from City is expected to be a formality.

City's legal team is being led by Lord Pannick KC, who is reported to charge £5,000 an hour for his services. He helped City overturn their two-year European ban in 2020.

However, considering we are already eight years into this process - and two years beyond the start of the hearing itself - it is impossible to speculate when this could come to an end.

Until now, the case has been watertight, with no media leaks from any of the parties involved.

This is just the latest chapter.

However, while the commission's judgement can be directly appealed against, it is not possible for City to take it to Cas.

If the Premier League win, clubs who have perhaps lost titles or in cup competitions to City during the period covered by the charges may claim for loss of earnings, be it through prize money or competitions they failed to qualify for.

If City win, they could claim for damages caused as a result of the case.

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

It was never expected the verdict would come complete with the sanctions.

We now face a waiting game for even that verdict to officially be made public by the independent panel.

We don't know who was on the panel that heard and ruled on the case, and that will only come once a written judgment is released.

All options are open to the disciplinary commission:

• Points deduction (immediate or suspended).
• Financial penalties (immediate or suspended).
• Removal from the Premier League.

Being removed from the Premier League would mean City lose their membership and are demoted to a lower division from the end of the season.

That could also happen through a points penalty.

What kind of punishment can Manchester City expect to receive?

Well, football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes City's Premier League rivals will push for a points deduction, with the potential for a "long series of litigation" from clubs who believe they were disadvantaged during the period of alleged wrongdoing.

You can hear more from Maguire by watching on the clip below.

John Murray
BBC football correspondent on BBC Radio 5 Live

Having commentated on Manchester City's many and varied successes over the course of all these years now, we've always referred to the fact that in the background there were these charges of breaking Premier League rules.

It feels like we have got a resolution in one way, but I think the fact that there is expected to be an appeal means that this is still very, very open-ended.

Central to this case was a website set up in 2015 called Football Leaks, and the Portuguese man behind it– Rui Pinto.

He has been convicted in both Portugal and France since leaking confidential documents about City and other influential clubs and individuals in global football.

Some view him as a hacker who stole information, while others regard him as a whistleblower worthy of protection. Our sports news correspondent Laura Scott has more on this divisive figure.

BBC Radio Manchester

Obviously, this is a huge story for our colleagues at BBC Radio Manchester; earlier today they broadcast a special programme reacting to today's news

You can listen back under the Watch & Listen tab.