Man City appeals Premier League guilty verdict, with final ruling possibly not until February

English soccer's longest-running soap opera is entering its final stretch. Or so they say. Manchester City has formally lodged its appeal against the verdict that found the club guilty on all charges of breaching Premier League financial rules over nine seasons. Now it's back to waiting, though this time there's a deadline attached.

The independent panel's ruling (made up of judges along with financial and legal experts) was published on September 29, a full 21 months after a 12-week hearing wrapped up. For many, that verdict closed only the first chapter of an investigation that began back in 2019. City, for its part, continues to maintain its innocence, pointing to what it calls "irrefutable evidence," and hasn't ruled out taking the case all the way to Britain's High Court if the appeal fails and the club can show serious irregularities in the league's disciplinary process.

The club had 14 days after the verdict to announce whether it would appeal, and it did so on October 1. A new three-person panel will now be appointed by Sir Gary Hickinbottom, a High Court judge and former Court of Appeal judge, to serve as the Appeal Board. Under Section W of the Premier League's rules, that board must have three members, including one who holds judicial office and will chair the proceedings.

A clock with no mercy

The appeal process has to be resolved within a maximum of 12 weeks from the date it was filed. If that full window is used, the hearing would wrap up on December 25, after which the panel would have 30 days to hand down its ruling. That's where things get tricky: the holiday period brings a two-week pause in legal proceedings, so if the 30-day clock started on January 8, the board would have until February 8 to issue its decision.

Meanwhile, the original panel will meet separately to determine sanctions, a process running in parallel with the appeal so that, should City lose, punishment can be applied without delay. In other words, a final verdict should arrive by mid-February at the latest.

So what punishments are on the table? The rules allow for anything from a simple warning to outright expulsion from the Premier League, with unlimited fines and points deductions also in play. If the panel were to decide on expulsion, the league's 20 clubs would have to vote, and at least 15 votes in favor would be needed to ratify it.

Sources suggest that if guilt is confirmed, the fine could be in the region of £500 million, given how long the violations are said to have lasted. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in the league's statement that City had "systematically broken the rules for almost a decade." Neither the club nor the league has offered further comment on possible sanctions.

On the question of expulsion, sources close to both the Premier League and the EFL believe City could end up outside the top flight if guilt is upheld. The "clean" option would be a points deduction of at least 60, enough to send the club straight down to the Championship. But some believe even that wouldn't be enough for a case of this magnitude, which opens the door to something far more drastic: full expulsion.

In that extreme scenario, City would have to apply for entry into the EFL, starting in League Two. And if the EFL rejected that application, the club would have to work its way down tier by tier to Tier 9 of English soccer, the North West Counties Football League, sharing a division with clubs like Uppermill, Squires Gate and Maine Road FC, a club founded by City fans in 1955 and named after the team's old stadium.

Even so, sources say City, which played in League One as recently as the 1998-99 season, would be welcomed by a wide majority of the EFL's 72 clubs. One Championship club executive put it this way:

"The EFL's commercial directors will be thrilled at the prospect of a home game against City and the financial windfall that would bring. Every club, and the EFL as a whole, would benefit from having City in the league, so I'm sure they'd vote in favor. It would be relatively simple: relegate two Premier League clubs, drop City into League Two and adjust the promotion and relegation numbers across the EFL.Championship club executive

In fact, the EFL's 72 clubs are set to meet on October 22 for a summit that was already planned, and according to that same source, "having City in the EFL will be a huge talking point."

Another round still to come

If City loses the appeal and sanctions are handed down, the club can appeal those punishments too. It wouldn't be the first time: Everton had a 10-point deduction reduced to 6 after appealing in February 2024, while Leicester City and Nottingham Forest both failed to overturn their points deductions in similar appeals.

The club would then have another two weeks to file that second appeal, and the process would start over from scratch: a 12-week hearing followed by another 30 days for the ruling. If February 8 were the day sanctions were handed down, City would have until February 22 to appeal, and if that new process ran the full 12 weeks, it wouldn't conclude until May 17, just 13 days before the Premier League season ends on May 30. Adding the final 30-day window for a ruling, resolution could stretch all the way to June 17.

Asked whether a sanction handed down in mid-June would apply to the 2026-27 season or get pushed back to 2027-28, the Premier League would only say the process is "private and confidential." So the clock keeps ticking. This battle between the Premier League and Manchester City has already run seven years and is now entering its eighth. The finish line is coming into view, but nobody can say for certain yet whether it arrives this season or the next.