Manchester CityThe club’s legal dispute with the Premier League risks “getting out of control”, a former senior club executive has warned.
Christian Purslow, a former Liverpool chief executive and Aston Villa chief executive who also held a senior role at Chelsea, said the case could trigger a chain of events that would be “dreadful for the game”.
City were found guilty of the vast majority of the 115 charges brought by the Premier League.
The club has been accused of a wide range of rule breaches, centering on allegations that it inflated sponsorship income from related companies and made other “unofficial” payments to circumvent football’s financial rules.
Premier League clubs are seeking legal advice over compensation related to the charges, while BBC Sport has been told City will appeal.
Sanctions against the club have not yet been announced, but repercussions could include a points deduction, expulsion from the Premier League or a huge fine.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Purslow appeared alongside football law expert Paul Gilroy KC, who described the case as a “seismic moment for world football”.
Purslow said: “It’s kind of ‘where does it stop?’ because if you look at every season – the nine seasons that we now know Manchester City broke the rules – then all of their 19 Premier League rivals in that season, to varying degrees, suffered an easy to calculate loss. Whether it was a place in the Premier League, each place was worth £3 million.
“The teams that came fifth that didn’t reach the Champions League may have lost tens of millions of pounds – and of course the teams that were relegated. Let’s say the team that finished 18th would have finished 17th if Manchester City weren’t there. And they, of course, suffered a huge loss.
“If you add up all these claims, over nine years, and that’s just in the Premier League, you can see the potential here for this to get out of hand is huge.
“I really hope that common sense will prevail here and that there will be a comprehensive solution between the authorities and Manchester City that looks at all these issues and tries to draw a line in the sand.
“Because a relentless cascade of legal claims and uncertainty for another four or five years would be absolutely terrible for football.”
Gilroy added that, so far, four clubs have filed protection applications “reserving the right to seek compensation if City are found guilty”.
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