Manchester City chairman: the Premier League adopts a "conspiracy theory" against us

Ferran Soriano, the chief executive of Manchester City, has sent a message to the club's employees through an internal video, attempting to calm the atmosphere after the Premier League announced that the club had been found guilty on the majority of the charges related to the financial breaches levelled against it since February 2023.

Soriano refused to say anything in public after the ruling, or to speak during the general assembly of clubs held in Copenhagen today, Tuesday. Instead, he chose to address the club's employees, insisting that the accusations on which the case is based are "built on a false claim".

As reported by the newspaper " Marca ", Soriano said in his message: "The entire case with the Premier League is built on a false accusation, which is that the money of the club's owners was pumped into Manchester City through certain sponsors from Abu Dhabi. This is not true, and sufficient evidence has been presented to the Premier League commission to prove that this did not happen and will not happen".

He added: "We are talking about bank statements, financial transfers, witness testimonies, and everything needed to prove conclusively that the money did not come from the club's owner".

Every charge brought against the club rests, in his view, on that single premise. "Every false accusation against us comes from this simple and entirely false claim," he said.

He continued: "Surprisingly to us and to our lawyers, and after more than two years, the Premier League commission issued an opinion supporting the conspiracy theory adopted by the Premier League. To reach that, the evidence presented by the club was ignored, and an erroneous conclusion was reached".

City will appeal the ruling, Soriano confirmed in the video, something the club had already stated officially after the announcement of the investigation's outcome.

The case now moves to the independent commission, which will decide the appropriate punishment. According to the report, that could range from a financial fine, a points deduction, and relegation to a lower division, to exclusion from the Premier League.

Manchester City have until next Friday to submit their appeal against the ruling.