27 Sep 2026 14:18:29
Hi Eds
Might be miles off here, as I'm not fully up to speed with all the charges and how some will differ from previous penalties dished out to Forrest, Everton, Leicester, Chelsea etc - however in regards to similar charges I would imagine precedent has been set on those resolved cases and therefore any punishment would have to be in line or else those clubs could feasibly take legal action against them Prem?
I'm aware not all the charges are the same so there will be new penalties applicable on those than will then also set the precedent for anyone else getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar and refusing to play ball and claim deniability.
Seeing some absolute bat shizzle comments on suggested punishments but I'm guessing the independent panel are highly unlikely to come on here and read some of the outrageous suggestions and say - ooooh yeah we like the sound of that ha.
Also is this a case of breaking rules or breaking the law, as that's 2 completely different animals.
{Ed001's Note - 1. That would be the expectation, yes.
2. It is breaking rules in most cases, but there are some elements of this that would be beyond that and into law breaking as well.}
27 Sep 2026 17:48:14
They will receive a points deduction that means they get demoted however with their squad and financial clout they would likely bounce straight up so barely a punishment for their disgraceful decade of cheating and lies.
A minimum back to back demotion due to points deductions should happen.
All trophies should become void but not passed on to others as that's more complicated than it sounds due to variables.
27 Sep 2026 18:24:18
1jj, this is why I have been proposing that they get demoted to League 2 with a mandatory 3 year stint wit a transfer ban of 5 years.
These penalties will be the buffer against the type of financial clout and squad quality in City's favour and would make them almost essentially, start from scratch but this time, legitimately.
And I agree with voiding their titles and not passing it to any other runner's up just just because of the complications that this would cause, but because I personally want a damn thing to do with their tainted titles.
27 Sep 2026 18:44:37
Think you guys are missing the precedent point - they can't just make up new penalties that don't align with previous cases - City could very easily challenge any such action on the charges should they deem them disproportionate.
New charges not presently existing in the penalties already established category I concede is a different proposition though - I do however believe City legal team will be citing precedent should they deem any penalties imposed seem unwarranted and not in keeping with similar cases.
"Alleged" Fraud is a different beast altogether though as that could become a criminal matter and then stripping titles will be the least of their problems.
27 Sep 2026 19:41:24
Couldn't care less what they get. Only care about LFC. If you want to be the best you've to beat these teams.
27 Sep 2026 17:52:53
Cheers Ed - about to get very interesting, particularly if any laws have been broken.
27 Sep 2026 20:44:06
I would say what has gone before does not set a benchmark because they did not comply like all the other teams.
I would say like going to court and pleading guilty vs pleading not guilty and after the trail you get longer sentences.
City have tried every trick in the book to try and get out of it am sure even a little bit pressure politically.
This is why nations backed business should not be able to buy football clubs.
Forgetting all the trophies they won the biggest thing they have done is mass fraud and if this was normal individuals they would be facing prison sentences but that's a rabbit hole our government will not let happen because of our relationship Abu Dhabi.
27 Sep 2026 21:45:04
I think if they do get to a point where city are proven guilty and they have nowhere left to appeal, they will be hit incredibly hard for the journey they have taken everyone through and complete disregard for the rules before and after the accusations.
They might find a way out yet though. Let's see.
{Ed666's Note - if they are proven to be guilty on appeal I think they will be hit with a stiff punishment that will be seen as a deterrent to other teams but I think that punishment will be executed in such a way that teams can’t peruse litigation so as to drag this circus on for years and years. There has to come a point where we draw a line in the sand and just get on with it. Who has the stomach for ongoing litigation.
27 Sep 2026 22:31:51
I'm not a City fan. But I'm against the demotion to lower leagues. I don't side with them cheating, but somehow I think they have changed the league in so many good ways that the league is now more competitive, more clubs willing to spend lots, players are getting higher wages, attracting even higher amount of sponsorships etc etc.
they are some bad things too, but my point is, there are some good things from all this. demoting them will crush them. i don't think they will be able to bounce back that easily. i think best would be points deduction (10 or 20, maybe but not like 50 or something) and strip of titles.
{Ed666's Note - So your logic is if you’re a serial killer you should only be put on trial for assault?
27 Sep 2026 22:36:46
Guilty as charged! And everything they did affected everything that happened,
But and big but, any punishment they receive affects everything in the future.
Relegation into L2 ( if they win it ) affects who would have won it, pushing everyone down a place meaning someone not being promoted, each year until they return, and prize money altered.
There are no winners!
27 Sep 2026 22:50:11
If they did keep 2 sets of accounting books as has been alleged then that would prob move into the area of breaking actual law (as opposed to football law).
And @hazian given Everton got docked 8 points (after appeal), I somehow think City losing only 10 is laughable - particularly given Everton cooperated with the investigation.
28 Sep 2026 00:04:57
Did I say that, Ed666? I clearly stated the punishment that I have in my opinion. And i don't see the relevant to use "murder" as point of comparison.
{Ed666's Note - Its an analogy mate I know murders haven’t been committed..Ok so let put it another way. If Man City subject to appeal indeed been guilty of financial irregularities and we don’t get our two premierships do you think that would please the majority of Liverpool fans? Don’t you think we deserve some recourse/compensation? What about Man United fans? Arsenal fans? What about the teams that got relegated that are in obscurity now? A precedent needs to be set that if you break the law you will be punished. If we’d committed the same actions I’d fully expect us to be punished.
28 Sep 2026 00:50:14
There is nothing good from breaking rules.
From a starting point as the world richest owners in football, they've essentially stolen from everyone else by taking resources that would otherwise have ended up elsewhere
There is no greater good when it's built on a lie. We're not talking about Robin Hood here lol
And actually I wondered this yesterday about this very point that the league has potentially beenfitted from City cheating. Perhaps an ideological debate for another day.
It's a dark stain for the league.
28 Sep 2026 00:51:30
Honest question but does the PL have the power to relegate City all the way to L2 as part of the punishment? My understanding is that it goes beyond what the PL can do since L2 is governed by a different body and would also need to agree to accept City into its league structure. Either way, it would be extremely messy and I can't think of how they'd be able to do that administratively.
Does that mean that the PL would also play with one less team this season and L2 would play with one more? And how would relegation and promotion work in this case too? I'm sure some teams who would otherwise be promoted/relegated would not be which also opens a further can of worms.
28 Sep 2026 01:30:34
I totally agree there must be punishments to them, Ed666. I was just sharing my opinion on the level of punishment. And I totally agree with Faith, talking about the benefits they brought in, that's the discussion for another day.
{Ed666's Note - I hear you mate. I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one
28 Sep 2026 06:28:57
City haven't changed the league for the better. Far from it, they've just made it an even more cynical, hyper-pressurized pit it has been since about 2003.
1. "Players are getting higher wages." - Perhaps the top clubs were forced to pay more to compete with City, and eventually it trickled down to players at smaller clubs, but players wages were being inflated in 2008 anyway.
2. "Attracting more sponsorships" - The future will prove this has nothing to do with City. Baseline title sponsorship contracts may have been influenced by City's inflated values, but in reality top clubs have had to essentially become vacuous, corporatized shells just to even try and compete with City's cheating.
3. "Clubs willing to spend more" - This has been enabled by treating the competition as a league and not a platform for 1 or 2 dominant teams (Spain) like Man City have tried to make it. The Premier League's financial dominance goes back to the late 90s, and there are so many more reasons than City's cheating as to why PL clubs are now willing to spend more, the biggest being that they have the money to.
Man City are the most disgraceful club in football. They cheated for years, denied it was happening, laughed at/gaslighted everyone else, denied priceless moments to millions of fans of clubs that didn't cheat, and tried to turn the league into a one-horse race. To say they don't deserve to be relegated because it would negatively affect them too much is just contrarian nonsense. They deserve to be sent to League 2, stripped of their titles, and given a strict transfer ban except for departures. Let's see them learn the lesson of competitive spirit they tried to take from the game.
28 Sep 2026 09:24:55
The massive fine should go to EFL to buy their League 2 place.
They should have. a 20-30 point handicap for the next 8/9 years.
28 Sep 2026 11:18:09
Exactly what are the good things that City brought to the league? Everybody else played by the rules while they tried to accelerate their way to the top, essentially City are saying that you don't need history or heritage or having to build a football club over generations, you just need billions upon billions of dollars, political clout, and you can just inject cash into the club to get to where you want to go as quickly as humanly possible.
The entire foundation of their modern success, Pep and the whole regime purposefully built around him to ensure the best possible conditions for success, was consolidated upon cheating. Remember when Arsenal were languishing in 4th at the end of Wenger's reign and City essentially bought all their best players every year? That's just one example of a club that has a legitimate grievance against that club.
28 Sep 2026 11:27:37
@CrazyHorse, you may have valid points based on precedent. However the contrary to your points re: precedent is that, there is no precedent whatsoever for the crimes City have been found guilty of committing. Not in the slightest. Hence, this is extreme territory we are on therefore, precedents don't matter because there isn't any for these crimes, end of.
So in that vain, the punishment should be a lot stiffer based on the unprecedented acts of corruption, quasi money-laundring and obstruction of justice (purposefully failing to show their books and co-operate with the investigation), some of which are white-collar crimes that should lead to jail time for the individuals who were the actual chefs cooking the books.
As I have said before, the whole library should be thrown at them.
Cheers, man.
28 Sep 2026 12:15:46
Dracred: I think that's correct. They can't immediately relegate them this season without messing up every other team. This season a hefty fine which confirms relegation.
Then they can petition the EFL to relegate them further but that's up to the EFL.
Probably equally as effective would be to bar City from rejoining the Premier League for 5ish years.
28 Sep 2026 14:01:21
Hi Ollie - looks like we agree mate.
I previously asked if on the charges that have any precedent will that apply (as I believe some do)
I then asked if the ones that are relative to breaking rules that have no existing precedent will then set any future punishments if anyone else is daft enough to do it in the future (new charges = new punishments)
Then asked the question about: Breaking rules vs Breaking the law - as that's 2 totally different ball games entirely, as you've mentioned (again though the law on fraud etc does also have precedent and in my view should be fully applied - if you or I ran a large company and had been caught fiddling the books, at the very least we'd be fired and face whatever the criminal charges are that are applicable to said crimes)
As said mate I haven't reviewed all the charges, hence my initial comment, I do know a bit about the law though so was trying to understand a bit more around what sits where in terms of what the potential outcomes could look like - I've tried to refrain from suggesting what I think should happen because the law doesn't work on the basis of opinion - I was just trying to understand more about the charges mate as it's then easier to establish potential outcomes, as opposed to sifting through a load of "this is what I think should happen" posts.
28 Sep 2026 14:24:35
Nice one, Crazy.
29 Sep 2026 10:31:26
Plenty of Ambulance chasing solicitors out there Ed666 - where there's blame, there's a claim etc.
Can see some firms dropping a few no win no fee emails about at the minute.
"where you recently relegated from the Premier League, in an accident that wasn't you're fault, you could be entitled to compensation - better call Saul".
{Ed666's Note - love it crazy horse ?…I hear there’s a lot of money to be made from being unfairly relegated