THE Premier League’s case against Manchester City’s could take as many as FOUR YEARS to resolve, according to top sports lawyers.
Man City were charged with 115 breaches of financial rules earlier this week in bombshell accusations launched by the Premier League.
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The outcomes could be severe for Pep Guardiola’s side with the stripping of titles and points deductions potential punishments on the table.
Whatever happens, respected sports lawyer Nick De Marco KC said it could take quite a while to play out.
De Marco, who has represented Mike Ashley at Newcastle and been involved in Derby and Sheffield Wednesday’s financial fair play cases, believes the whole situation could drag out on until 2027.
He added to The Times: “I worked on the Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday financial fair play cases, both of which involved two charges over about two years and took about a year and a half from charges to the end.
“I would not be surprised if these proceedings took considerably longer given there are apparently 115 charges covering a period of 14 years.”
Meanwhile, Stefan Borson, chief executive and general counsel of Watchstone Group plc, told the same publication he also doubted the case would be speedily addressed.
He said: “These allegations appear to be about as serious as they get for a company and its board of directors.
“The seriousness of these allegations is likely to mean it will be a long time before the disciplinary process can be completed — I would not be at all surprised if it took in excess of two years.”
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City are under investigation for alleged breaches between 2009 and 2018, a period in which the club won the league three times.
They have repeatedly denied the charges and said they were “surprised” by the Premier League’s findings in a brief statement.
The club has hired Boris Johnson’s Partygate lawyer as they look to beef up their legal team for what will likely be an extraordinary battle in the courts.
Following a long and difficult week off the pitch, Man City host Unai Emery’s Aston Villa on Sunday.
