Man City must be relegated after guilty verdict, says club’s former chairman

Manchester City's former chairman, David Bernstein, has stated that the club should be expelled from the Premier League after being found guilty of financial breaches. The Premier League has found Manchester City guilty of breaching financial rules between 2009 and 2018. According to Yahoo Sports, the club was found to have arranged 'sham' contracts with sponsors to inflate revenue, with companies only required to pay a portion of sponsorship fees while the remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd.

The club has claimed innocence and expressed disappointment and surprise at the verdict, stating that they will appeal the decision. Manchester City has until Friday to appeal, and according to The National UAE, they intend to do so, citing a "comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" that will exonerate them. The Premier League's chief executive, Richard Masters, said the core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period.

Manchester City's appeal will pursue the avenues open to it, with the club claiming that the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle, and fact, and is unsafe. The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria, Punch, Yahoo Sports, IOL, The National UAE — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.