Easy money: why Manchester City may end up in the fifth league in England

One of the leaders of the championship of England in recent years, Manchester City is in a scandalous situation and may in the summer be in the fifth tier of local soccer.

Money is to blame. Big money, which came to the club in the late 2000s. Now few people remember that for almost twenty years before that the Citizens firstly hung out at the bottom of the Premier League, then left in the first division, and one season and even spent in the second division. Financial opportunities Manchester City were more than modest: there was no money for transfers, so that the squad could only strengthen the going from the fair with veterans and free agents, which is a modest task of the club is hardly exciting. Coach Joe Royle recalled that at that time the club did not even have access to hot water.

In 2007, the owner of the club became Thai oligarch Thaksin Chinnawat, and a year later Manchester City came into the hands of investors from the UAE Abu Dhabi United. And in 2012 began the golden era of the Citizens: in 11 seasons they were champions six times and only once did not get on the podium. But, as it turned out, these high results were achieved with the help of numerous financial irregularities.

On Feb. 6, the AFL accused Manchester City of one hundred and one alleged violations of league economic rules from 2009-2018. Specifically, it is about the fact that the club provided inaccurate information about income, including sponsors. In addition, the Citizens withheld some of the bonus information paid to players and coaches and failed to comply with licensing and financial "fair play" rules. The investigation lasted four years, and now the data collected has been turned over to an independent commission.

This is not the first time Manchester City has been accused of violating financial rules. In February 2020, UEFA decided to suspend the club from European competitions for two years and a fine of 30 million euros, but then the suspension was lifted, and the fine was reduced by three times.

The range of punishments, which now faces Manchester City, is wide: from suspended sentences to real fines, deprivation of points and titles and even exclusion from the Premier League. By the way, five Premier League clubs have already demanded exclusion: Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool. They believe that depriving City of the titles would lead to confusion, and the removal of points would not be a harsh enough punishment - after all, Juventus, punished for shenanigans, lost 15 points and only dropped to the middle of the Italian championship table.

The nuance is that if the Citizens are expelled from the AFL, the English Football League (AFL) is not obliged to accept the club because it leaves the Premier League on an unsportsmanlike basis. Consequently, Manchester City will not qualify for either the Championship, League One or League Two, which the AFL governs, and will only end up in the National League, the fifth tier of English soccer. And then, quite possibly, Manchester City will have to start all over again - as in the already forgotten beggarly times, but, of course, without Josep Guardiola and Erling Holann.