Man City’s appeal process facing complications as new concerns emerge

Manchester City’s appeal against their Financial Fair Play ruling could become a drawn out process, a financial expert has warned. The Premier League giants have challenged an Independent Commission’s guilty verdict . It was announced last month that City had been found guilty of all charges related to alleged breaches between 2009 and 2018. Reports emerged this week that the club were facing a huge points deduction which would see them spend multiple seasons in the Championship. The rumoured punishment comes amid suggestions the sanction hearing will run simultaneously to City’s appeal process. Football finance expert Stefan Borson has warned this will slow down the outcome, with complications arising from the two hearings happening at the same time. How soon could City’s sanctions be decided? Speaking to White & Jordan on Tuesday, he explained: “I think it’s quite hard to know exactly where we are in the whole order of process because the appeal may or may not go before a sanction hearing. “It seems to me it would be sensible for the parties to agree that the appeal to the liability part i.e. how many of the 115 (charges) City have breached, that appeal would take place before we have a sanction hearing. “Now, there’s also just the practical aspect of actually getting the same people to go through two separate processes. “So, the sanction hearing will have both sides’ legal teams presenting, based on the independent commission’s findings, their position on sanction. That will be the starting point and also the mitigating and aggravating factors. “That in itself is a process that needs preparation and time for the lawyers. What I don’t think can happen is a situation where they try and run both processes simultaneously. “The preparation time required for the full appeal of the liability phase, i.e. whether they have done it or not, that to me can’t be run while they’re also being distracted on a sanction hearing. “There’s a lot of talk about how this is going to go quick. It just seems to me that it’s very unlikely that that’s the case.” Will City accept sanctions before appeal verdict? Borson’s explanation prompted Simon Jordan to question whether it would be better for the procedure to focus on liability before moving on to any sanctions. His argument pinpointed that City would not accept any sanctions as they would be an admission of guilt. In response, Borson added: “The problem everyone has got is that there’s a lot of pressure for this to be done and dusted now, which is understandable of course. “But what it misses is, the Premier League are pushing the briefing that the latest rulebook applies in that the hearing can happen in 12 weeks and there’s a decision very quickly and the hearing itself is only five days. “I think that is very unlikely to be the case. Certainly, the parties do not agree at this point, so there’s going to have to be a hearing even to decide that part.” He continued: “Generally in terms of process, it would make sense for them to deal with liability, then for it to be passed back for sanction, City will then inevitably, if found to have breached any of the 115, appeal the commission’s sanction hearing. “So there’s still a process and that’s why I think the idea that it can all be squashed into the remaining part of the season, although in a logical sense there’s loads of time left, the reality is we’re on October 20, and there are probably 1,000 pages in that decision. “And City have already said that their approach on appeal is going to be forensic and not only look at law, principle, but also on the facts of the case.” Timeframe for potential City sanctions His comments come after the Daily Mail reported City were set for a points deduction which would guarantee they were relegated from the top-flight. The Premier League is pushing for the club to receive a significant points deduction, talkSPORT understands. However, Borson admitted: “They’re saying they’re going to get on with things as much as possible, but what I’m saying is, my information is things are not all rosy and agreed between the parties about rule books, about processes, about staging. “Therefore, there’s going to have to be hearings that decide the order of events and most importantly the timing that is going to be allocated to each bit of the process. “It would not surprise me, for example, if instead of five days of appeal for the liability part, we need four weeks minimum. “These are very, very serious matters, very, very serious findings so far from the Independent Commission, but City will say that fairness demands they are given as much time as necessary in that appeal process to go through all of their arguments.” As for whether there is anything that could stop the Premier League handing out sanctions now, he concluded: “I think so. If it was something that is irreversible i.e. relegating them and then being corrected later, City would argue that was irreparable damage. “Therefore I think it’s unlikely any sanction is implemented before the expiry of the appeal process on sanction. “So I do think that it seems to me that you have to go through the various stages, they do have to complete those appeals before the actual punishment is laid down on City. I just can’t see any other way. “City will say that until the appeal has been decided, there is risk of irreparable harm and I think that’s something they will accept.”