Manchester City titles unlikely to be stripped despite expected sanctions, report says

Manchester City are unlikely to be stripped of the trophies won during the period covered by the Premier League’s case against the club, according to The Athletic.

The report, written by Oliver Kay, says only “a very small number of people within Premier League circles expect titles to be stripped and redistributed”.

The findings will disappoint supporters and players of Stoke City, Sunderland and Watford, who have questioned whether their clubs could be awarded honours retrospectively after losing major finals to Manchester City.

Stoke City were beaten by City in the 2011 FA Cup final, Sunderland lost the 2014 League Cup final and Watford were defeated in the 2019 FA Cup final.

However, Kay says the prevailing assumption since the case began has been that any punishment, should Manchester City be found guilty, would be aimed primarily at the future rather than applied retrospectively.

That would make the removal of trophies won by the club in previous seasons, followed by their reassignment to beaten finalists, an unlikely outcome at present.

The report comes only days after The Athletic revealed the result of the long-running case. It was the first outlet to report that an independent commission had found Manchester City guilty of a large number of the breaches alleged by the Premier League.

The commission’s findings have raised major questions over the integrity of the competition in recent years, particularly after the club was found guilty of more than 100 breaches.

Despite the expectation that past titles will remain intact, Kay says any punishment imposed on Manchester City must be substantial. He questioned what purpose would have been served by a process lasting several years if it ended with a penalty that did not reflect the seriousness of the case.

The Premier League has placed itself in direct confrontation with one of the division’s biggest clubs by pursuing the lengthy legal battle, according to the report.

That means the final sanction will be significant not only for Manchester City but also for the image and credibility of the Premier League. The scale of the punishment and its wider consequences will depend on the decision that is issued at the next stage.

Supporters of the clubs beaten by Manchester City in the finals covered by the case remain interested in whether the competition’s history could be rewritten. But The Athletic’s account suggests that redistributing honours is not currently regarded as the most likely course.

The case could therefore result in severe sanctions against Manchester City without necessarily leading to the club being deprived of trophies won in previous seasons. The precise nature of the punishment, and the impact it will have, remain dependent on the forthcoming ruling.