Manchester City must be relegated after guilty verdict, says club’s former chairman
File photo- Bernstein believes City should behanded the stronggest possible punishment for the offence. | Photo Credit: AP
File photo- Bernstein believes City should behanded the stronggest possible punishment for the offence. | Photo Credit: AP
Manchester City must be expelled from the Premier League after being found guilty of breaching financial rules, the club’s former chairman David Bernstein said.
City was found to have arranged “sham” contracts with a number of commercial partners to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce costs over a nine-season period between 2009 and 2018.
The scheme concealed the true state of their finances and avoided breaches of Premier League and UEFA spending limits as a result.
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An independent commission also found the club guilty on the majority of charges in relation to their failure to co-operate with the league’s investigation.
City could be relegated, hit with a points deduction or handed a huge fine.
No sanction has yet been imposed and City said it will appeal against the decision.
But Bernstein, who served as City chairman from 1998 to 2003, believes City should be handed the strongest possible punishment.
“It is damning beyond belief. My immediate thoughts are, should the board continue? Should the people involved be suspended immediately?” Bernstein told the BBC.
“Very, very serious. I think it’s really terrible. There’s a school of thought with lawyers that is deny, deny, deny, but this is a football club that is part of a league and the whole credibility of the league is at stake here.
“The sanctions cannot just be financial, so it’s got to be way beyond that. If the appeal fails, Manchester City cannot stay in the league, they have to suffer. And I say that as a supporter and a fan.”
(With inputs from AFP)
Published on Sep 30, 2026
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