Manchester City have appealed against the guilty verdict. David Kogan, chair of the Independent Football Regulator, told The Rest Is Football podcast about the body's powers over club owners and about whether it could launch its own investigation.
City appeal the verdict
An independent commission found the club guilty, but that verdict is under appeal. The commission found City had set up "sham" commercial arrangements to inflate revenues or reduce costs by more than £900million across nine seasons.
Further findings by the commission
The commission also found City had made “concerted efforts” to “stop and frustrate” the Premier League's investigation into those arrangements.
Kogan on the regulator's powers
Kogan said: "We have the power to ask an owner to step away from a club if we believe that they run a club in a way that is neither fit, fair or done with propriety."
Asked if an owner could refuse to divest, Kogan replied: "No, no, no. We’ve got absolute power to do so."
No decision yet on an investigation
Kogan said it was premature to talk about any action his organisation might take. He said: "I am not going to get pushed into making any judgement on this until we’ve seen all of those questions being answered and then we will have to decide whether we’re going to mount our own investigation and come to a conclusion on that and what we’re going to do. And pre-empting that would be a colossal mistake."
Kogan has already pledged to resign if there is any political interference in any investigation the IFR may undertake into City. City have won their opening seven Premier League games this season and are currently three points clear of defending champions Arsenal at the top of the table.