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16th September 2025
12:56pm BST
Today (16 September) marks one year since the case to decide the punishment for Man City's alleged 115 breaches of Premier League financial fair play rules began, and yet we're still no closer to knowing whether City are guilty than we were on day one.
Earlier this summer, reporters from BBC Sport spoke to a number of legal experts who broke down exactly why the case is still taking so long to resolve.
In February 2023, the Premier League made a groundbreaking statement public statement in which they announced City would be investigated to a series of alleged rule breaches over a nine-year period, from 2009 to 2018.
Broken down, the charges relate to:
The case, dubbed the "Trial of the Century" finally began the next Autumn, beginning on 16th September 2024 and running until that December.
And since then there's been nothing at all, as the panel assessing the charges have taken all of nine months, and counting, to reach a final conclusion.
In the months since City were first charged, another Premier League side have already been handed a punishment for a similar albeit smaller offence.
In November 2023 Everton were handed down a 10-point deduction, which was then reduced to six on appeal, for a £19.5m overspend of Premier League PSR rules.
The reason as to why City's case has taken so much longer is, at least on the surface, relatively simple: it's much more complicated than the Everton case.
Everton were charged just the once by the Premier League, while City face 115 charges.
Everton may have disputed some of the Premier League's claims about their accounts, but there is no suggestion whatsoever that they were deliberately dishonest.
In comparison, Man City have been explicitly charged by the Premier League with failing to provide "a true and fair view of the club's financial position," and of failing to "include full details" of player and manager remuneration.
Put simply, the Man City case is unprecedented in the history of English football.
When asked about the delay earlier this year, Premier League CEO Richard Masters told BBC Sport: "There is no happy alternative to enforcing the rules, it goes to the integrity of the competition - it goes ultimately to value - and that principle shouldn't be defrayed in any way by being too difficult, too complex, or too costly."
The BBC also spoke with legal expert Simon Leaf, who is the head of sport at the law firm Mishcon de Reya.
He said: "We have never seen anything like this type of case in the history of English football and arguably in world football.
"Given the scale of the allegations, the nature of the charges and the approach to handling the matter that each side has taken, most experts are not surprised that we are still waiting for a decision."
The extent of the effort put in by Man City to defend themselves, and their denial of all charges, has also played a role in delaying the case.
This is best explained by Yasin Patel who is a barrister at Church Court Chambers.
Also speaking to BBC Sport, she said: "The team of lawyers Manchester City have assembled... call it a super team if you want.
"There's a lot riding on it for the Premier League as well as Manchester City."
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has added that the sheer volume of the case material being dealt with is higher than anything the league has ever seen before.
Maguire said: "We could be looking at half a million pieces of evidence, which have to be reflected upon by the three people in the commission."
Maguire has suggested that the earliest date a verdict could be available is this October, but even that could be optimistic.
In the meantime it's still business as usual for Man City.
The 2023 European champions take on Napoli in the Champions League on Thursday night following their emphatic win over bitter rivals Man United on Sunday afternoon.
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