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Manchester City's lawyer earns 10,000 pounds an hour, can he fight the Premier League to the end?

This will be the biggest lawsuit in Premier League history – and once City's 115 breaches are found to be established, the Blue Moon will face points deduction, title stripping or even expulsion from the Premier League. What is the essence of this "lawsuit of the century"? What kind of ending will Manchester City get?

In the past week, the Premier League may have experienced its biggest scandal and milestone event since its creation. The Premier League has formally accused Manchester City of violating the Premier League's Financial Fairness Rules after a four-year investigation, with a total of 115 breaches since the Abu Dhabi royal takeover in the 2009/10 season. The Premier League has referred the allegations to a three-member independent investigative committee to launch a formal investigation into Manchester City. If the Independent Inquiry Board finds City compliant, the Blues face a point deduction, title stripping or even expulsion from the Premier League.

For Manchester City, which has completely changed the Premier League landscape and established the blue dynasty in the past 14 years, it is obviously impossible to accept such a huge blow. While the deep-pocketed Manchester City boss has hired a team of top lawyers who charge as much as De Bruyne's salary, and the entire response process can take years, City will hardly be as lucky as escaping UEFA's ban on European competition in 2020. Because the Premier League investigation of violations has no time limit to involve the case, it cannot be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to seek justice.

With 19 other Premier League clubs looking to close the case as soon as possible and punish Manchester City heavily, it may be difficult for the Blue Moon to escape the disaster. The main penalty for financial fraud will at least deduct points for Manchester City, making it difficult to win the title this season. Manchester City's previous titles are likely to be implicated, and even if they are not eventually expelled from the Premier League, the blue dynasty that the Abu Dhabi royal family has spent billions of pounds to build over the past 14 years will be hit hard. Manchester City's future in the Premier League will also be difficult to predict as a result of this crisis.

[Or because of "football decryption"]

The Premier League's four-year investigation into Manchester City's irregularities stemmed from the theft of Manchester City's confidential financial documents by hackers on the "Football Leaks" website. It is precisely because of this that although the Premier League investigation takes a long time, the 115 allegations basically have "hammer" evidence, which greatly increases the difficulty of Manchester City's clearance of guilt. The 115 allegations made by the Premier League cover 14 years since the 2009/10 season, mainly in five areas. The most common of these are the misrepresentation and concealment of financial information, including false declaration of sponsorship income, concealment of the true salary contracts of coaches and players, violations of the Premier League's compliance with clubs' UEFA Financial Fairness Act requirements and the Premier League's "profit and sustainability" rules, and violations of Premier League regulations on assisting investigations.

One of the most high-profile allegations of irregularities is the false declaration of sponsorship income, for which Manchester City were punished by UEFA as early as 2014, only to reduce the amount of the fine after appeal. First up were United Abu Dhabi's chest advertising and stadium title sponsorship contract, as well as Etisalat Telecom's sponsorship contract. The premium between the official sponsorship amount and the actual amount is more than 3 times, and the sponsorship contract has been renewed three times during this period, which has continued to this day. As a result, Manchester City's total revenue surged almost tripled from €153 million to €436 million in the first five years of the Abu Dhabi royal family, and business revenue quadrupled from €57 million to €228 million. As a result, Manchester City can continue to maintain high investment in the football market and lay a solid foundation for the establishment of the Blue Moon dynasty.

On the one hand, the sponsorship amount is increased to increase income, on the other hand, Manchester City conceals the actual salary of coaches and players, reducing the amount of expenses. The contract documents stolen by the hackers of the "Football Decryption" website prove that Manchester City shared the high salaries of star players such as coaches Roberto Mancini and De Bruyne through shadow contracts of third-party companies. Mancini, who coached Manchester City between 2009 and 2013, signed him to an after-tax contract of £1.45 million a year, while he also received an annual "consultancy fee" of £1.75 million from Abu Dhabi Peninsula Club. The Italian coach only needs to travel to the club every year to "coach for 4 days", and the relevant remuneration is also transferred through the sovereign fund controlled by the Abu Dhabi royal family and the Peninsula Club, and into Mancini's personal corporate account.

As for Manchester City's violations in underage player transfers and other aspects, compared to the financial fraud in the club's income and expenditure items, it can be almost completely ignored. What really determines Manchester City's fate is financial fraud like Juventus. Once the charges are confirmed, Manchester City will at least be demerited points, including the inevitable ban on football activities by the executives involved such as club president Hosni Mubarak, adviser Pierce and CEO Soriano.

[High price defense, Manchester City will not compromise]

After the Premier League allegations came to light, Manchester City issued only brief statements with a strong attitude, and then began to actively hire lawyers to respond to the lawsuit. Although it seems that the Premier League charges list "many crimes", in fact, it is almost exactly the same as UEFA's charge against Manchester City three years ago. The difference is that although the evidence held by the Premier League is the same as UEFA's from Manchester City's confidential business documents stolen by hackers on the "Football Leaks" website, the Premier League's allegations are not time-barred, which means that it is more difficult for Manchester City to successfully defend themselves. After all, Manchester City's previous appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport won UEFA's case by exceeding the litigation recovery period.

Still, City are confident of winning the life-or-death lawsuit for the club. Manchester City hired Pennick, Britain's top lawyer with an hourly salary of £10,000, to answer the lawsuit. Just flipping through the dossier costs £800,000, which is comparable to City's top-paid De Bruyne in terms of weekly salary.

Moreover, because of the large number of charges, the charges involve up to 14 years, and DeMarco, a well-known British sports lawyer, has pointed out that the process of Manchester City's response to the lawsuit may take up to 2-4 years, and the cost of legal fees will be very staggering. The longer the response time, the better it will be for Manchester City. Another well-known British sports lawyer, Hayes, also said that although it seems that Manchester City's charges are very serious, the final penalty is more likely to be a huge fine or disqualification from the Champions League in addition to deducting points, and it is almost impossible to expel Manchester City from the Premier League.

After just a few days of adjustment, Manchester City are well prepared. As Hayes put it, the Premier League "lawsuit of the century" is essentially a money game. Manchester City, which has deep pockets, can afford it, the Premier League may not be able to afford it, and a high-probability out-of-court settlement is more likely to solve the problem with money. The Premier League, Manchester City and other clubs take what they need, and the lawsuit will only end up with a lot of thunder and rain, minimising City's losses in the sporting arena.

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