Man City Charges Case Moves to Appeal Stage After Leak — SkimNews
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- Manchester City reportedly lost the majority of the 115 charges brought by the Premier League, per a widely reported Friday leak, though no official judgment has been released because both the club and the league must agree to publish it.
- Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Manchester City's chairman, penned an open letter to fans over the weekend responding to the charges reports, while the Premier League has declined to comment publicly — CEO Richard Masters cited the private and confidential nature of the process.
- Unlike the UEFA case where Man City appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Premier League regulations don't allow that route — after the independent tribunal, both sides go to an appeal board heard by a new three-person panel, with the High Court as a potential final option.
- The Friday leak could prove significant if Manchester City sought to argue at the High Court that the process was not fair and impartial — a strategy similar to arguments the club previously deployed against UEFA.
- Former manager Roberto Mancini addressed a 2018 Der Spiegel report alleging he held a £1.45m net contract with Man City while simultaneously earning £1.75m a year to coach four days a year at Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira; Man City says the emails were taken out of context.
- The case could still drag on for years, with the judgment reportedly running to hundreds of pages that will take time to digest before any official commentary becomes possible.
- If the charges are ultimately proven, other Premier League clubs could potentially be contacted by lawyers seeking compensation, though internal club politics may limit appetite for legal action.
Why it matters: The case now moves to an appeal board — a procedural step that could extend resolution by years, given the judgment reportedly runs hundreds of pages. Manchester City has lost the CAS option available to them in the UEFA case, making a High Court procedural challenge over the Friday leak a more strategically significant lever than it might otherwise be. For the league's 20 member clubs, a proven finding could open the door to compensation claims, though the source flags the political cost of suing a fellow member.
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