Man City ‘flabbergasted’ by tone-deaf Premier League request amid 115 charges

Manchester City have reportedly been left ‘stunned’ by a bizarre request made by the Premier League amid their ongoing 115 charges legal case.

Pep Guardiola’s side were hit with the 115 charges – later upgraded to 130 – over two years ago. An independent hearing into the alleged breaches concluded at the end of last year.

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

In response, Man City battled back against the Premier League, campaigning for Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules to be removed.

The Premier League implemented these rules to prevent clubs, mainly Man City and Newcastle United, from signing sponsorship deals with associated parties at inflated prices.

MORE: Man City FFP: What are the 115 charges and when will they be punished?

City have previously had a couple of major sponsorship deals blocked and argued that the Premier League’s APT rules are unlawful.

After the Cityzens argued that APT rules were unlawful following the Premier League’s decision to block major sponsorship deals, a ‘bombshell verdict’ in February revealed a ‘significant victory’ for the club, with the original APT rules deemed ‘null and void’.

Back to the 115 charges, which relate to a period between 2009 and 2018. City won three Premier League titles in that time.

There are 35 charges of failing to comply with Premier League investigations between December 2018 and February 2023.

The remaining 80 can be broken down as follows:

• 54 charges of failing to provide accurate financial information 2009-10 to 2017-18,
• 14 charges of failing to provide accurate details for player and manager payments from 2009-10 to 2017-18,
• 5 charges of failing to comply with UEFA’s rules including Financial Fair Play (FFP) 2013-14 to 2017-18,
• 7 charges of breaching Premier League’s PSR rules 2015-16 to 2017-18.

The relationship between City and the Premier League is obviously not great, and the latter hasn’t helped itself with a rather strange request that has reportedly been ‘politely turned down’ by the club.

According to the Daily Mail, the Premier League asked City if they would collaborate with a comedian who has repeatedly mocked the club and Guardiola over the 115 charges.

The report claims that club officials were ‘left stunned’ and ‘flabbergasted’ and rejected the request.

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Impressionist Conor Moore is known for his takes on fellow Irishman Roy Keane and has, on several occasions, taken the mick out of City and their manager amid the legal battle with the English top flight.

One sketch sees Moore wearing a bald cap and grey sweatshirt, imitating Guardiola by saying: “We know in the last few days we have to reinforce and we have done that, especially on our bench… We have signed four barristers, eight lawyers and a judge.”

Premier League content creator bosses apparently thought City ‘could bring in Moore to do impressions with their players while they watched’, but ‘flabbergasted City officials’ said no.

It’s claimed that Moore’s previous work relating to the huge legal case had ‘slipped through the net’ at the Premier League end.

Moore’s other work includes Jurgen Klopp saying: “If Man City didn’t cheat we’d be champions in 2019. If Man City didn’t cheat we’d be champions in 2021, if Man City didn’t cheat we’d be champions in 2022 and if Darwin Nunez didn’t miss so many chances we could be champions in 2023…”

And his impression of ex-Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was something similar: “I could have been Premier League champion. It would have been fantastic but Man City obviously cheated and I became a laughing stock.”

We are still patiently waiting for a verdict that will either rock football or be the biggest anti-climax of all time.