Since December 2018, when the Premier League first launched their investigation into Manchester City, the question on many people's lips has been: What is the punishment going to be? Although that answer is still unknown, we're definitely getting closer to finding out what the blue side of Manchester will be dealt.
An independent commission found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period between 2009/10 and 2017/18. For years, the speculation about whether they would ever be punished was up in the air, but a report on Friday stated that they had been found guilty on "almost all charges."
Once this news initially came out, people's heads started spinning, thinking of any punishments that the Premier League would give to Manchester City, with the severity of those punishments typically depending on which team you support. Although it could take months for their punishments to be dealt out, the uncertainty of what will happen to the club and the players will haunt the club until the verdict.
For some time now, one of the ideas that people have had for punishing City would be to strip them of their league titles, and many clubs would benefit from this if it were to occur. Arsenal, Manchester United, and Liverpool would be some that would be better off if this were the case. Here are some reasons why Chelsea fans aren't as well off as they think they are from this news.
Many Chelsea fans would automatically think that if City were stripped of their titles, then they would be adding to their previous five Premier League titles, but contrary to belief, they actually wouldn't be adding any more trophies to their name after never finishing directly behind City in any of their title-winning seasons.
Regardless of whether Chelsea would get those extra titles if they came second, fans most likely wouldn't want to accept them, as a Premier League title is a reward for a culmination of 38 games, through the highs and lows of a season. The moment of being handed the trophy at the climax in May, but fans don't get that back if they are just handed to them; some could perceive it to be a pity award, which it sort of is.
The Mancunians were found to have arranged "sham contracts" to try to inflate revenues and reduce costs by more than £900m, and unlike Chelsea, who self-reported their wrongdoings, Manchester City have always pleaded their innocence and denied anything to be wrong, which some people could think would come back to haunt Chelsea as they were believed to have done something similar.
Although the appeal from Manchester City is still to come, the club has til Friday to challenge these, and only then can the Premier League start deciding what sanctions to give out. Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has preached about wanting some continuity and familiarity at his new club, already scooping up Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez, whilst they were unable to get deals done for other Chelsea players, Malo Gusto and Pedro Neto.
But with the possible transfer ban coming their way, players could want to leave if one of the serious punishments is relegation and severe points deductions, which would stop Maresca from wanting to snap up players from his previous club, as shown in the summer transfer window.
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