The Premier League brought 115 charges against the club for breaches of financial rules between 2009 and 2018. Of those charges, 114 were upheld by an independent commission in September, which described City’s activities as a “sham” multiple times, adding that its witnesses used at the hearing were “dishonest.”
The Telegraph also reports that the City chair, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, met Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, in Downing Street two weeks before the Premier League announced its decision.
On Thursday, Downing Street said the guilty verdict against City was “serious”, after Andy Burnham was accused of making a “frankly extraordinary” intervention in support of the football club’s owners.
A No 10 spokesperson issued the statement after the prime minister said he would be “really concerned” to see the current owners sell up.
The Conservative shadow sport minister, Louie French, had accused the prime minister of “publicly backing the owners” amid an investigation into the club’s funding over recent years, describing his comments as “frankly extraordinary