Man City could be RELEGATED ‘by Christmas’

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 26 Nov 2025 12:02 GMT
• 5 min read

News

Manchester City could finally soon learn the outcome of their trial for 115 alleged breaches of Premier League regulations

The much-publicised case has descended into something of a farce this year with the never-ending wait for a verdict.

But former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson believes that the verdict will be announced very soon and says it could arrive by Christmas.

What did Stefan Borson say?

"I think Simon (Jordan) thinks it's going to come out next year, I think it still could come out before Christmas. The decision has been imminent for quite some time, there's not a lot that they can do. It doesn't take that long," Borson told Talksport.

"Well, look, nobody knows because even the parties themselves expected to have been told by now. All the lawyers are surprised there is no decision at this stage, and that's on both sides. I'll tell you who's holding it up - the panel making the decision. They hold the pen. They are the people who everybody waits for to deliver the decision.

"Well, nobody knows. We know the long list - you can cobble it together from all of the people on the judicial panel - but we don't know who is on that list. We can make some guesses that it's probably two lawyers and maybe one accountant. But we don't know who is on the panel and what they were told to produce by when.

"We can now assume I think, given how long it has been and that everybody is so surprised that they don't have a decision, that actually there's very little guidance given to them and they weren't effectively paid for their time from the moment the case ended.

"Arguably the Premier and Manchester City together, with the panel, should have agreed a process whereby the hearing ends and then effectively they are exclusively paid to deliberate and produce, over let's say three months or at worst six months, the decision during the closed season."

An independent hearing concluded in December 2024 following a four-year investigation conducted by UEFA.

Man City have denied any wrongdoing, but the club have been accused of failing to provide accurate financial information from 2009 to 2018, and failing to co-operate from 2018 to 2023.

City have won eight Premier League titles and 24 trophies in total since the Abu Dhabi United Group purchased the club in 2008, spending over €2.5 billion on new players in the process.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire said earlier this year that he believes Man City will be relegated if they are found guilty of their alleged 115 breaches of Premier League financial rules.

"A points deduction would be the most likely outcome should the club be found guilty,” Maguire said on the Football on Trial: The Manchester City Charges podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

"As for the quantum of points deduction, if Everton were initially given a 10 points deduction for going around about £10/12 million over the limits in one particular season, I think, in order to set an example to the rest of football, it's got to act as a deterrent.

"We'll probably be looking at somewhere in the region of 60 to 100 points, which would effectively guarantee relegation out of the Premier League and into the lower tiers of football in the EFL."

READ MORE: Man City's 10 most expensive transfers of all time

David Ornstein, though, reported in the spring that Man City are confident that they won’t receive anything more than a fine when the verdicts are announced.

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