JAMIE CARRAGHER trolled Manchester City with a sarcastic put down over their alleged financial rule breaches.
Following a four-year investigation, the English champions have been charged by the Premier League on numerous counts.
City are alleged to have breached league rules requiring provision “in utmost good faith” of “accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”.
And Liverpool legend Carragher poked fun, referencing recent figure that showed City to have the highest commercial revenue in European football.
He sarcastically tweeted: “This can’t be right, Man City bring in more commercial revenue than Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Man Utd & Liverpool.”
At this stage, City have been charged but not found guilty.
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But they now face point deductions, transfer bans, spending limits, relegation and even the stripping of previous titles.
The charges relate to breaching regulations over nine seasons between 2009 and 2018, with the investigation starting way back in December 2018.
That was prompted following the publishing of leaked documents by German website Der Spiegel – with the investigation focusing on three specific areas.
The first alleged issue is “under-age players were pressured to sign contracts with City through monetary payments”.
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Secondly, that Abu Dhabi sponsors “provided only a portion of their payments to the club”, with owner Sheikh Mansour stumping up the rest, in turn overstating the sponsorship income.
Lastly, ex-boss Roberto Mancini received a “significant portion” of compensation from a “fictitious consultancy contract” when he left the club in 2013.
It is also claimed by the Premier League in their unprecedented findings that City did not comply with Uefa regulations surrounding club licensing and financial fair play in 2013-14 and between 2014-15 and 2017-18.
Another breach relates to Prem profit and sustainability rules in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.
The Premier League also accused City of failing to cooperate and assist with the investigation.
Uefa slapped City with a two-year ban and fined the club £25million in February 2020 for alleged financial fair play breaches.
That was prompted following the publishing of leaked documents by German website Der Spiegel.
However, just five months later, that was overturned and the final fine was cut to £9m by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Now the findings of the investigation and multiple alleged breaches have been referred to a commission.
Commissions are independent of the Premier League and its member clubs, with the commission’s members appointed by the independent Chair of the Premier League Judicial Panel.
The Premier League added: “The proceedings before the Commission will, in accordance with Premier League Rule W.82, be confidential and heard in private.
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“Under Premier League Rule W.82.2, the Commission’s final award will be published on the Premier League’s website.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
