Why Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool are seeking compensation if Man City found guilty
Manchester City's rivals are preparing to sue for compensation over lost revenue if the Premier League champions are found guilty of breaching the division's financial rules
by Jacob Leeks · The MirrorManchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool have launched legal action to ensure they can claim compensation if Manchester City are found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules.
City have been charged with 115 breaches of Profit and Sustainability rules, with a commission underway to hear the case. A judgement is not expected until at least the end of season and appeals against it are almost certain to be lodged.
If found guilty, City would face a host of punishments, including fines and points deductions. Their alleged rule breaches include not providing accurate financial information for nine separate seasons beginning 2009, including the full pay details of former head coach Roberto Mancini and players.
City, whose legal team is being led by Lord Pannick, insist they have not breached any rules and boss Pep Guardiola has said on the record that had the club's hierarchy lied to him over their innocence he would walk away.
The length of how far the allegations date back to means that rival teams have been forced to act now to ensure they can claim compensation. According to the Daily Mail, the quartet of teams mentioned above could claim for loss of income.
That would come from the revenue streams they missed out on as a result of City's actions, such as Premier League place money and European qualification.
Lawyers have advised the clubs to register the potential claims now because of the 1980 Limitation Act’s six-year period for legal claims for breaches of contract. City ae said to have long suspected the quartet of being the ring-leaders in what they feel is a vendetta against them following their long era of success.
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The group are understood to have acted now amid concerns that had they waited until a verdict, their claims could have been found to have been out of time. The allegations of the breaches surfaced in November 2018 when German website Der Speigel published a series of hacked documents.
Limitation laws include a six-year period for breaches of contract from the date they were reported, had they been committed in secret. City have vehemently defended themselves with Guardiola insisting they are innocent.
“My first thought is we’re already being condemned. It’s the same with UEFA, we were already condemned. The club proved we were completely innocent. You know on what side I am. We are lucky we live in a country where everyone is innocent until proven guilty," he has said previously.
"It seems like we have already been sentenced. What is going to happen, I don’t know. We think we have good lawyers and I we are going to defend our position. Time will depend what happens. We will see what a judge, the Premier League decides.
"In the same way with Uefa, we are innocent. It is now down to the lawyers of both sides to defend one side and the other one. It will be longer than one month, two months and three months. We know what happened with Uefa and we will see that.”
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