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City’s sham contracts inflated revenue

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Manchester City was found to have used sham contracts to inflate revenue by about £900 million in a Premier League ruling.

Reposted by Chris Hanretty

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petertl.bsky.social
In this weekend’s newsletter: while others debate whether Man City should be stripped of their trophies or relegated to League Two, I argue that what happens to the club’s directors and auditors is just as important - perhaps even more so.
Imagine a widget maker is sold to a new owner. Eager to expand, the ambitious proprietor splashes out on state-of-the-art machinery. The company’s improved widgets attract widespread praise and win many awards. However, sales do not keep up with the investment and the business suffers heavy losses. Embarrassed by the red ink, the owner asks friendly business partners for help. Perhaps they could boost his sales by buying some products? The partners want to be supportive but cannot justify paying such high prices. So the owner gives them the necessary cash. The widget maker enjoys a boost to sales and reduced losses. Over almost a decade, these sham contracts bring in £831 million in additional revenue. This, in a nutshell, is the case against Manchester City Football Club, as outlined in the eye-popping conclusions of an independent commission appointed by England’s Premier League and released this week. In this case, the widgets are Manchester City’s performances on the soccer pitch, while the sham payments were disguised as sponsorship and other commercial contracts. The question now is what punishment the club should face. Unsurprisingly, the debate has focused on possible sporting penalties for flouting English and European rules governing financial fair play. These include fines, the deduction of points, relegation to the lower divisions of English soccer, the cancellation of past trophies, and even a forced sale by Manchester City’s ultimate owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. But the same behaviour merits business sanctions, too. The directors of a humdrum widget maker that engaged in such deception could expect civil or even criminal charges, while the auditors who waved it through would also face censure. Manchester City, one of the most high-profile businesses in Britain, should be held to at least the same standard. The club says it is innocent and has a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” to support its case, which is ongoing. Apologists might argue that, as the £831 million started and ended with the same owner, the deception was cosmetic. Manchester City’s sporting rivals, who for years were outgunned in the competition for star players, disagree. The private equity firm Silver Lake, which invested $500 million in the club at a $4.8 billion valuation in 2019, may also take a different view. Besides, the unnamed commercial partners presumably engaged in some financial sleight-of-hand to facilitate the money-go-round. Self-declared realists will maintain that capital-starved Britain cannot afford to alienate deep-pocketed investors like the United Arab Emirates. It’s also true that the Premier League has long tolerated the dubious motives of wealthy owners from the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and elsewhere in its quest for a bigger worldwide audience. Yet the scale, audacity and duration of the scheme revealed this week demands a tougher response. At stake is not just the sporting fairness of the Premier League. As Liam Proud writes, the scandal is also a test of Britain’s legal, financial …
October 3, 2026 at 10:55 AM

by Paul Davies

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pauljdavies.bsky.social
It might just be the death of the premier league as well. There’s already plenty about it that’s too corporate and too detached from its roots. If cheating simply doesn’t matter either what’s the point?
October 3, 2026 at 10:28 AM

Reposted by Tom Griffin

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petergeoghegan.bsky.social
🔴 Manchester City is what happens when the rich and powerful believe money trumps any rules or regulations

I've written about club football's biggest ever scandal, and interviewed the brilliant @migueldelaney.bsky.social, for
Democracy for Sale

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/manchester...
Manchester City: club football's "biggest ever scandal"
I spoke to author Miguel Delaney about the UAE, industrial-scale cheating and football's “financial wild west.”
democracyforsale.substack.com
October 3, 2026 at 9:14 AM

by Nicola Giocoli

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by Alan Sked

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