Manchester City 115 charges latest with punishment verdict issued as Liverpool await outcome

Manchester City 115 charges latest with punishment verdict issued as Liverpool await outcome

Manchester City's 115 charges remain unresolved as speculation intensifies over potential punishments with both sides' reputations on the line

Man City face 115 charges over alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial rules (Image: PA )

Manchester City's 115 charges resolution continues to roll on following the conclusion of the three-month hearing in December. Many football fans believed that March was to be the month where a conclusion would be made after Pep Guardiola had said in a press conference in February: "In one month I think there will be a verdict and a sentence and after we will see my opinion of what happened so far."

Many options have been listed as possible punishments for Man City if they were to be found guilty. These include possible relegation, big points deductions, weighty fines and even possible stripping of major honours won during the period in question.

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If the current Premier League champions were to have their trophies stripped from the related seasons, between 2009/10 and 2022/23, then Liverpool could benefit, having finished runners-up to Man City three times within those years.

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However, everything is speculation at the moment as no one is really sure how it will all unfold with both Man City and the Premier League's reputation on the line. Nonetheless, former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness has given an inside scoop as to what he has heard regarding the case.

Pep Guardiola believed a verdict would be reached in March (Image: Getty Images )

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He told Football Insider. "Both sides of the rumour mill are going strongly that Man City are going to escape, that there’s a settlement being done behind the scenes [ranging] to the Premier League may well win.

“So, right now, you just pick your rumour and see where it goes. My own gut feeling from the sources that I have been trusting so far would tend towards City doing quite well in this case. I don’t think both parties will come out of it unscathed, so let’s wait and see.”

If the verdict is to come in March, as Guardiola said, then the majority of what is left of the month in regards to football is the international break. This is leading some key figures to believe that a conclusion could be reached during this period.

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"It would make a lot of sense, wouldn't it?" former Man City advisor Stefan Borson told talkSPORT. "If it was in court you'd say 'well that is completely irrelevant' because the judges don't care about whether it is convenient commercially for the parties, but remember this is a commercial arbitration of sorts.

"And therefore they may well be minded to fit within the two parties' preferences and you would think that the two parties' preferences would be this week, or next week the international break. That would make some sense."

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