Spanish outlet Marca and LaLiga president Javier Tebas has hit out at Manchester City after the Blues were charged with a series of violations of Premier League financial conduct, in a damning list released Monday morning.
Spanish outlet Marca responded with a piece critical of City’s ignorance of financial ‘fair play’, calling the Pep Guardiola managed side a “state club” with a clear advantage over “traditional teams”.
Taking aim at City’s spending, Marca’s Alvaro Roca wrote: “The financial ‘fair play’ came to make the rules of the game equal and looking at the balance sheets of the main European teams it seems that inequality is the predominant note. Does it make sense to compete with an opponent who plays by other rules? How long can the traditional teams hold out to the state clubs?”
Roca also commented on the allegation that City have been avoiding providing truthful financial information: “It seems that City’s overwhelming accounts are even more embarrassing.”
Tebas, who has waged war on City with accusations of rule breaches on numerous occasions in the past, also took to Twitter to express his thoughts.
He tweeted: “On 9-5-2017 we denounced in Soccerex Manchester the breaches of the @ManCity and @PSG_espanol of financial fair play. It is incredible that the @premierleague It took years to find out. We denounce that there are more cases, will it take so many years too?”
El 5-9-2017 denunciabamos en Soccerex Manchester los incumplimientos del @ManCity
y @PSG_espanol del fair play financiero. Es increible que la @premierleague haya tardado años en enterarse. Denunciamos que hay más casos ¿tardarán tantos años también? 🤦🤔https://t.co/eQEU2n4UOL— Javier Tebas Medrano (@Tebasjavier) February 6, 2023
The club will now wait and see whether they are sanctioned, with points deductions, fines and even relegation mentioned as potential actions. No punishment has been ruled out.
Man City have previously encountered problems with UEFA in relation to alleged financial wrongdoings, but they managed to avoid the most major punishments after the Court of Arbitration for Sport lifted a two-year Champions League ban and reduced a €30m (£26.8m) fine to just €10m (£8.9m).
The club will no doubt be hoping for a similar outcome this time around, but BBC Sport’s Simon Stone has detailed that it will be an expensive case which will drag on for a long time, with all manner of punishments possible if City lose the legal battle
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