Newcastle United avoid 10-point deduction & Manchester City benefit with club record deal amid 115 charges
An update on Manchester City’s 115 charges by the Premier League sent shockwaves through football over the weekend.
Manchester City could be facing a significant punishment following the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League.
Reports emerged on Friday claiming City had been found guilty on all but one of the charges relating to Premier League financial rules.
The alleged breaches took place between 2009 and 2018, a period in which City won three Premier League titles, three League Cups, the FA Cup and the Community Shield.
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An official verdict is yet to be confirmed, while City have maintained their innocence throughout the process. But the reported verdict reached by an independent commission has already led to significant speculation over the punishment that could follow.
The Premier League has imposed points deductions on Everton and Nottingham Forest for breaches of its financial rules in recent seasons, although City's case is substantially different in both its scale and the nature of the allegations.
Newcastle United avoided a 10-point deduction
Newcastle United also faced the prospect of a points deduction in 2024 as they scrambled to comply with the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules. The sales of Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh, completed just hours before the June 30 accounting deadline, ultimately helped the club avoid a breach.
But compliance came at a high cost. Newcastle lost two of their most promising young players, one of whom, Anderson, completed a club record £116million (later surpassed by Enzo Fernandez’s £125million transfer) move to Manchester City in the summer.
There is an obvious irony for Newcastle. They sold two valuable young assets to stay within the rules, only for one of those players to eventually end up at a club now reportedly found to have broken them.
Given the unprecedented nature of City's case, a range of possible sanctions have been discussed. These have included a substantial points deduction and even relegation, while the possibility of trophies being stripped has also been raised.
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How NUFC were impacted during Manchester City's alleged rule-breaking period
Newcastle rarely got the better of Manchester City during the period covered by the alleged breaches.
In fact, the Magpies lost every Premier League game they played against City between 2009 and 2018 with just one exception - a 1-1 draw at St James' Park in April 2016.
Even that game came with controversy. Sergio Aguero headed City ahead despite being in an offside position before Vurnon Anita equalised for Newcastle.
The significance of that result is heightened by what happened just a few weeks later. Newcastle were relegated from the Premier League, finishing two points behind rivals Sunderland and safety.
Interestingly, expunging City's results from that season would not have saved Newcastle.
Newcastle's only victory over Manchester City during the period in question came in the League Cup at the Etihad Stadium in October 2014, when goals from Rolando Aarons and Moussa Sissoko secured a 2-0 win.
A year earlier, however, City had knocked Newcastle out en route to winning the trophy against Sunderland at Wembley Stadium.
Beyond being consistently beaten by City, Newcastle were not among the clubs most directly affected by the alleged breaches during that period.
Others will have much stronger grievances. City won three Premier League titles between 2009 and 2018, while their results also had implications for European qualification, domestic cup competitions and relegation battles throughout that period.
If the reported verdict is confirmed, clubs who missed out on trophies, European places or other significant sporting and financial rewards during those seasons are likely to scrutinise the findings closely.
For Newcastle, the more immediate comparison is with their own recent experience. The club found itself desperately selling two prized young players in 2024 to avoid breaching the Premier League's financial rules, sacrificing valuable assets in order to remain compliant.
Two years later, one of those players is at Manchester City and Newcastle are still attempting to close the considerable commercial and sporting gap to the clubs above them.