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Manchester City braced to face the biggest test of their Abu Dhabi era as FFP appeal case looms

Manchester City have fallen foul of Uefa rules: Getty
Manchester City have fallen foul of Uefa rules: Getty

The clock is ticking for Manchester City. The reigning Premier League champions have an appointment with destiny on Monday. The direction of the club will be determined over three days of hearings in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

City are appealing against the two-year ban from the Champions League for breaching Uefa’s financial fair play (FFP) regulations. If the verdict of European football’s ruling body is upheld, City’s immediate future will be thrown into chaos.

The club – who vehemently deny any wrongdoing – would face the prospect of player departures and questions over Pep Guardiola’s continued presence at the Etihad. There would also be the prospect of an unseemly battle in the Swiss courts. Unless City are exonerated by CAS there are difficult days ahead.

The English club have taken a bullish approach to their showdown with Uefa. Money is no object to the Abu Dhabi-owned club – that is the root of the problem – and City have engaged numerous lawyers of the highest quality to fight the case against them. They have taken the same approach to the law as to managers and players: pay for the best to get the best chance of success.

The most high profile member of the legal team is David Pannick, QC, whose reputation was enhanced by two successful challenges to the government’s handling of the Brexit process. FFP is almost as divisive and intractable as the UK’s quest to leave the European Union. Next week’s case may end up as a mini allegory for Brexit with City out of Europe, suffering dire financial consequences and foreigners deserting the Etihad in droves.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland (Getty)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland (Getty)

Uefa have involved legal big guns, too. They will deploy what a seasoned observer called “their A-team.” It has not always been that way in the ruling body’s dealings with CAS. More effort has seemed to go into the original, internal proceedings and appeals have sometimes seemed like an afterthought. On Monday only the sharpest minds will be on deck.

There is confidence in the organisation’s Nyon headquarters that the hearings will go their way but no one is prepared to discuss the details. In November City went to CAS contending that Uefa had wrongly assigned the case to the adjudicatory chamber, the committee that hands down the punishments. CAS dismissed the petition on procedural grounds but were sympathetic to club’s assertion that leaks to the media undermined the integrity of the disciplinary procedure.

That view, CAS said, was “not without merit.” Uefa will not make the same mistake again.

There has been a cloud over City’s spending since a website called Football Leaks revealed a cache of hacked emails that contained damaging allegedly internal communications that appeared to indicate that the club had flouted FFP rules. Uefa have insisted from the start that their evidence is not connected with the illegally-obtained Football Leaks material.

It will take CAS some time to reach their decision but City’s fate should become clear in a matter of weeks. Although the court schedule does not allow enough time for proper, forensic cross-examination of witnesses – a factor that may suit the club – the case will be treated with proper seriousness.

If City are adjudged to have broken the rules, it is possible that the ban will come at a good time. The Covid-19 crisis means that European competition may not even happen next season. A likelier scenario is a stripped down Champions League without the prestige and fiscal rewards that come with success in a conventional season. In those circumstances a two-year period of exile would not be as damaging. Every effort is being made to get domestic football back to normal but continental play with cross-border travel may prove more problematic.

A European ban would be very damaging for City (Getty)
A European ban would be very damaging for City (Getty)

There are many imponderables for football in the next few months but one thing is for certain. City’s appeal is a landmark case for the sport. Uefa’s authority is at stake and the direction of FFP in the future may well be defined in Lausanne.

City’s most crucial test since the Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008 will come in a courtroom rather than on the pitch. Stakes do not come higher.

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