Manchester City have been found guilty of serious financial breaches after an independent commission ruled that the Premier League champions used “sham” sponsorship arrangements and misleading accounts to conceal more than £920 million in funding and expenses.
The 40-page ruling found that City’s owners used a “disguised funding scheme” between 2009 and 2018, with £830.69 million of reported sponsorship income allegedly coming from owner-funded “tagged sums” rather than sponsors.
The commission also found that the club wrongly excluded millions in player and manager expenses and used the controversial Fordham Arrangement to record £24.5 million as operating income while excluding another £49.4 million in expenses.
More damagingly, the panel said some City witnesses gave evidence they knew to be untrue, while the club’s accounts did not present a “true and fair view” of its financial position.
City denied the allegations, arguing that the Premier League had misunderstood its sponsorship agreements. But the commission rejected that explanation as “untrue”, saying it was concocted to conceal the reality of the funding arrangements.
The ruling also found City guilty of frustrating the investigation and failing in its duty to cooperate with the Premier League — turning the long-running 115-charge saga into one of the biggest financial controversies in English and perhaps world football.
