Richard Masters, the CEO of the Premier League, has confirmed that a date has been set for Manchester City’s court hearing amid the Etihad side’s 115 charges. Liverpool, will, like the rest of the division, be watching closely.
After Everton was charged for a second time over FFP/PSR breaches, this time joined by Nottingham Forest, it has been suggested in some quarters that Manchester City having not yet been given a final verdict is a bad look for the Premier League. And Masters has also explained what the differences are between the two cases.
Masters revealed that a date has been set for Manchester City’s case but would not reveal when that was. “They are very different charges, that’s all I would say,” he explained. “If any club, whether they are the current champions or otherwise, are found in breach of spending rules before the year ’23, they would be in the exact same position as Everton and Nottingham Forest.”
“But the volume and character of the charges laid before Man City, which cannot be talked about at all, are being heard in a different environment,” Masters continued (via Liverpool World) while speaking at a Department of Culture, Media and Sport select committee on football governance. “There is a date set for that proceeding, which I can’t tell you, but it is progressing.”
Manchester City’s charges apply for a period from 2009 to 2018, during which time Liverpool came second to them in the Premier League standings, under Brendan Rodgers in 2014. Of course, even if found guilty, it would be very hard to retrospectively hand out titles and put right those wrongs.
