Man City FFP: Huge win for Guardiola after ‘deeply unsatisfactory’ revelation

Manchester City’s FFP case could drag on for “another couple of years” according to a legal expert, in a ‘deeply unsatisfactory’ delay that will be a huge boost for Pep Guardiola.

City were hit with the 115 charges – later upgraded to 130 – in February 2023, and an independent hearing into the alleged breaches finished at the end of last year.

A number of sanctions have been touted, including points penalties, transfer embargoes, stripping titles and even complete expulsion from the Premier League.

But a verdict which was expected in early spring has already been delayed until the summer, and now a legal expert has told The i Paper that the case may not be resolved for “another couple of years”.

“There is such a big media frenzy around it that people have almost forgotten that this is what happens quite regularly in arbitration,” Maxime van den Dijssel, a sports and litigation lawyer at Brandsmiths and an expert in arbitration, said.

“Arbitrators won’t necessarily pay attention to the frenzy around it [the case]. They’ll have a lot of material to get through, the stakes are very high and they need to cover all bases. They won’t want to leave any room for either side to argue there is procedural unfairness.

“They will take that little bit longer to render a decision. It doesn’t necessarily indicate it’s going one way or another, it’s more a matter of them doing their job as carefully as possible.

“It does lead us into a position where we might not have a decision leading into next season and then, subject to appeals, there’s going to be a lot of uncertainty about their placement in the league, how it impacts other clubs in the competition, so there is a lot we still don’t know.

“I’m not surprised it’s taking this long. It’s common for things to take this long. They have to all effectively sit in a room and decide and go through it, and when there’s that much material, it makes sense that it would take this long.”

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It means City will qualify for the Champions League next season if they secure a top five finish, as looks likely with them currently in third with three games to play against Southampton (A), Bournemouth (H) and Fulham (A).

And also allows Pep Guardiola and his recruitment team to secure the three or four big additions they’re planning this summer in a ‘business as usual’ approach, which may well have been blocked had the verdict been reached.

The report added:

‘Those inside the game believe that “only a handful of people” have any idea of when clarity will be offered on what is being dubbed football’s “trial of the century”.

‘One executive described the situation as a “waiting game” and there is a feeling among some that it is deeply unsatisfactory that yet another season will end without clarity.’