Former Man City chairman David Bernstein expects club to LOSE Premier League status after being found guilty of vast majority of 115 charges: ‘Money won’t be enough’

Manchester City’s former chairman David Bernstein believes punishment handed to the club after being found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules must affect their top flight status.

Daily Mail Sport reported that the Premier League has succeeded in proving all of the substantive claims against Man City, with the club found guilty of the ‘vast majority’ of the 115 charges of financial rule breaking.

An appeal from Man City is considered an inevitability, with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak declaring on Saturday that they remain confident of clearing their name and ‘proving the club’s innocence’.

Bernstein, who was City chairman from 1998 until 2003 and served as Football Association chair 2011-13, has warned that financial penalties will not be enough of a punishment.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Bernstein stressed the fines would not be sufficient as he cited their vast spending in the previous transfer window.

Man City spent £440million in the summer and equalled the British transfer record signing £125million Enzo Fernandez.

Bernstein believes that while the club’s wealth would render a fine insufficient, Man City could face automatic relegation or a points deduction that effectively ensures they will drop out of the top flight.

‘I would first of all say that financial penalties will not be enough,’ Bernstein said.

‘We’re talking about a club with limitless pockets – money doesn’t mean very much as we saw in the last transfer window – and whether it’s [a fine of] £100m, £200m, that would not be sufficient.

‘Unfortunately – I say all of these things with great sorrow, I really do, as a fan – I think there has to be something that will affect their league status.

‘And if it was to be a points deduction, it depends on timing. 

‘Because if it was today, with the season just a few games in, and the points deduction had to be something that was terminal as far as their Premier League status was concerned, I worked out you’d have to have something like 80 points deducted, which would mean the club could not recover this season and would go down.

‘But if this happens at the end of the season, because of the appeals and so on, it’s a different kettle of fish, and then you may be talking about an automatic relegation – to which division I don’t know.

‘I think it does depend partly on the timing.’

Man City, who have always strongly denied wrongdoing, were charged in February 2023 by the Premier League with a hearing concluding in December 2024. 

Their statement that February insisted that they were ‘surprised’ by the charges.  

The Premier League accused Man City of multiple breaches of financial rules and of failing to co-operate with a subsequent investigation. The alleged rule breaking was claimed to have taken place over a 14-year period. 

The club were accused of failing to report accurate financial information for nine seasons stretching from 2009-10 to 2017-18, as well as failing to provide full details of former manager Roberto Mancini’s pay between 2009-10 and 2012-13.

They were also alleged to have failed to provide full details of money paid to players between 2010-11 and 2015-16 and failing to co-operate with the probe from 2018 to 2023.

Between the years mentioned, Manchester City won eight Premier League titles, a Champions League, four FA Cups and seven EFL Cups. 

Daily Mail Sport reported on Saturday that the verdict will trigger a series of legal claims for as much as £800million.

In late 2024, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United served formal notices reserving their right to take action in the event that City – who could now face expulsion from the top flight – be found guilty.

Representatives have already begun putting together a case on how much they feel they have a claim for, pointing out that they have lost potential income on the back of City’s cheating.

On Saturday, the club hit back in the shape of a strong statement from chairman Al Mubarak, who declared that they remain confident of clearing their name and ‘proving the club’s innocence’.

In a lengthy statement, Al Mubarak seemed to make the suggestion that the process had not been fair. He asked fans to study a statement made on Friday by the club closely. That statement read: ‘The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.’

In his message to fans, he wrote: ‘The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began.

‘There are so many things that I would like to be able to share with you to help you understand why we feel so confident in our position. But the strict confidentiality of the legal process and our determination to respect it means I cannot do that at the moment. Even this letter underwent several legal checks to make sure it complies.

‘While some people have been quick to reach their own conclusions, and there is so much noise swirling around us, nothing has changed. We have faced challenges together before and have prevailed. There remain many who want to undermine the momentum of our club. We will not give them that opportunity.’