Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson has claimed that if the Premier League charges against the club are “proven” then they “must” be relegated.
Sporting Tribune reports that Man City have been charged with more than 100 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules and if proven they could also face points deductions, transfer bans, limits on spending, and even the stripping of previous titles.
The Premier League published their findings in a lengthy statement, following a four-year investigation, and have referred Man City to an independent commission in respect of a series of alleged breaches of rules related to club finances.
Reacting to the news, Borson tweeted: “Alarmist or not, the sheer extent of the PL charges are at a level that IF found proven, must lead to relegation.”
Daily Mail reporter Nick Harris has some background on Borson, he said: “Stefan is a former financial adviser to Man City, a Man City fan, a former banker, current lawyer, CEO & general counsel to a PLC dealing with allegations of historic accounting issues. Also well across FFP (Financial Fair Play) issues. So this is an interesting view.”
And former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has urged the Premier League to dish out “the ultimate consequences” if Man City are found guilty.
Jordan speaking on talkSPORT: “Man City have these allegations and charges to answer. I didn’t think the Premier League would have the balls to do this and having the balls to make it stick is another matter.
“I have always maintained they have significant questions to answer and this idea that people are xenophobic or have an issue because the ownership model is not one people like because of its ethnicity or persuasion is nonsense.
“It’s about the idea that there is an element of financial doping. By that I mean they have been using businesses they own to artificially inflate sponsorship deals that have given them an opportunity to fall within that confines of financial fair play. There are a lot of allegations here.
“The idea that people find quite repugnant, and I have always found repugnant, is the notion that Manchester City can assert that they will tie up every single governing body in sport for tens of years given the financial muscle they’ve got and the legal recourse they’ve got for using that financial muscle.
“I hope that the transparency of the situation comes to the fore and people that do wrong, whether Crystal Palace or Manchester City, are given consequences for it. This is quite a comprehensive scenario where you’ve been investigating for four years.”
Jordan added: “Ten seasons before Manchester City changed their direction to trade players. We’ve seen a difference in Man City over the last couple of years because now they trade players for a profit. Previously they did not. They’re not the only club to have this question to answer. But the point here is that the Premier League have surprised me.
“Whether this has the teeth that on paper it looks like, whether they’re going to take it to its natural conclusion and really push hard, whether they’re going to get rid of conspiracy theories, like Pep Guardiola saying last week that nine football clubs wanted Man City booted out of the league is a different question.
“But what it does is it puts the cat amongst the pigeons in the Premier League. I’d like to think if guilty, they get the ultimate consequences.”
