Manchester City are waiting to see how the Premier League will punish them over FFP sanctions, with a final decision on the sanctions for breaching 114 counts of FFP potentially taking months to resolve. The club have already lodged an appeal against the verdict.
Timeline for sanctions remains unclear
TEAMtalk said it was claimed on Monday that Manchester City should soon find out the punishment due to come their way. It was also claimed on Monday that the doomsday scenario of demotion out of the EFL entirely is now ruled out.
Speaking to talkSPORT, financial expert Stefan Borson said: "I think it’s quite hard to know exactly where we are in the whole order of process because the appeal may or may not go before a sanction hearing."
He also said: "There’s a lot of talk about how this is going to go quick. It just seems to me that it’s very unlikely that that’s the case."
Order of appeal and sanction hearing
Speaking to talkSPORT, Stefan Borson said: "It seems to me it would be sensible for the parties to agree that the appeal to the liability part, i.e. how many of the 115 (charges) City have breached, that appeal would take place before we have a sanction hearing."
Borson said his information is that things are not all rosy and agreed between the parties about rule books, processes and staging. He said there is going to have to be hearings that decide the order of events and the timing allocated to each part of the process.
Borson said it would not surprise him if, instead of five days of appeal for the liability part, four weeks minimum are needed.
Scope for further appeals
TEAMtalk said Manchester City could take their appeal all the way to the High Court. Borson said City will inevitably, if found to have breached any of the 115, appeal the commission's sanction hearing.
TEAMtalk said the Daily Mail claimed on Monday that the Premier League want to impose a points sanction that would guarantee relegation, together with further sanctions that will effectively block their promotion next season.
Implementation could wait until appeals end
Asked if that could result in the Premier League being forced to effectively halt handing out a punishment verdict now, he added: "I think so. If it was something that is irreversible i.e. relegating them and then being corrected later, City would argue that was irreparable damage."
He also said: "Therefore, I think it’s unlikely any sanction is implemented before the expiry of the appeal process on sanction."