Man City FFP: Legal ‘torpedo’ could delay sanction for ‘five seasons’; players could ‘rip up contracts’
Manchester City players may be able to rip up their contracts and leave the club for nothing, even though a legal ‘torpedo’ could delay any sanction for ‘five seasons’.
The Premier League has confirmed that an independent panel has found City guilty on all charges related to breaches of their financial regulations over a nine-year period.
It was found that City had arranged “sham” contracts with commercial partners to inflate revenues and reduce costs to the tune of over £900m.
City maintain their innocence and are expected to appeal the ruling but the so-called ‘irrefutable evidence’ that the club bosses insist will prove their innocence is, well, refutable.
We wait to learn the Premier League punishment and just how much City will have to pay their rivals in damages. It could all be over by January.
Etihad Airways have piled further pressure on the Premier League, threatening legal action over the ‘damaging implications’ of the commission’s findings, while making a telling blunder in their 307-word statement.
Expulsion is one of several punishments available to the independent commission, but 15 of the 20 Premier League clubs would have to vote in favour of such a punishment for it to be carried out, meaning City could get off scot-free.
There’s now ‘a cloud hanging over’ the City Football Academy and palpable nerves among the players, who may have legal recourse to ‘rip up their contracts’ according to leading barrister Paul Gilroy KC.
He told the Stick to Football podcast: “A player could say, ‘You’ve breached the implied term of trust and confidence’.
“And they could say, ‘You are my employer, you have acted in breach of that term – and that entitles me to say I’m ripping up my contract and I’m walking out’.
“That is a possibility. I have seen commentators saying that is unlikely – but it depends on so many things.
“What’s the club going to say to the players? How do they sort it out financially?”
Gilroy has also warned that anyone hoping for a swift resolution may have to manage their expectations, as this could all drag on for five years yet.
He said: “There must be a legal argument at the heart of it that they can use as a torpedo.
“I think we got a flavour of it – when the chief exec spoke of the one matter, the sponsorship.”
He also warned this appeal might not be the end game, adding: “This is a party which has shown it’s willingness to go external – to the regulator, to the high court.
“Good luck with getting it finished by the end of the season – maybe in the next five seasons, it will not end.
“The regulator might say we have to have the interest of the league – so we need to get round a table and sort it out, so they agree a settlement.”
