Manchester City face "substantial hurdles" in their appeal after being found guilty of breaching the Premier League's financial rules, according to a leading lawyer speaking to BBC Sport. The club were found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, including creating "sham contracts" to inflate sponsorship deals by £830m.
City say they are "innocent of the accusations" and have "irrefutable evidence" that the ruling "contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe". The club will argue that payments were made by the United Arab Emirates government as a shareholder of the sponsors, not topped up by the owners, and that the Commission's judgement contains inconsistencies.
James Severn, a partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper and member of the London Solicitor Litigation Association, said the appeal is "not simply an opportunity to invite a new panel". City must identify a material error of law, principle or fact, or serious procedural unfairness. He noted that Etihad Airways, a principal sponsor, had earlier stated in US court documents from a New York investigation in 2015 that the Abu Dhabi government had not paid for its sponsorship. Severn said bank statements and government records could be powerful evidence, but if they were already before the Commission, City will face an uphill struggle.
Etihad has complained it was never given the chance to be represented or provide information. Severn said this does not itself establish procedural unfairness, as Etihad was not a respondent. A key part of City's defence will be that the Commission relied too heavily on emails obtained through the Football Leaks files. Kieran Maguire, professor of football finance at the University of Liverpool, told BBC Sport the Commission found "the documents were retrofitted to fit the crime".
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing