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Spain are the first team in men's international football ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐บ๐ป๐ถ๐น๐ to go 40 games unbeaten ๐ฅ
And they've won the Euros and World Cup in that time ๐ช๐ธ๐
The Premier League report Manchester City relied on 'sham' contracts to inflate revenue by more than ยฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ณ๐คฏ
BREAKING: The Premier League confirm an independent Commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier Leagueโs financial rules over a nine-season period, and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the Leagueโs investigation.
The independent Commission found that between Seasons 2009/10 and 2017/18:
"Manchester City arranged โshamโ contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on โshamโ agreements with others, to artificially inflate the clubโs revenues and reduce its costs.
"The club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators.
"Manchester City was significantly in breach of both the Premier Leagueโs and UEFAโs spending limits.
"During the Premier Leagueโs investigation, Manchester City committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League (three of the four alleged breaches were upheld).
"The independent Commission found that Manchester City arranged โshamโ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the period, which were part of a disguised funding scheme, whereby those companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees. The remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club. As part of the scheme, further โshamโ arrangements, funded by ADUG, were entered into to enable the club to record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred, as well as a โshamโ circular arrangement with Fordham, an entity that purchased the clubโs playersโ image rights, that was funded by ADUG."
The EPL add: "The purpose of these schemes was found to have been to artificially inflate the clubโs revenues, and reduce its costs, by more than ยฃ900 million during the affected period, to appear to comply with financial rules. The consequence of this, as the Commission found, was that the club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators. The Commission concluded that โby its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules.
"As a result, Manchester City failed to accurately report its income and expenditure for the purposes of the Premier Leagueโs Profitability and Sustainability Rules and UEFAโs Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Rules. The Commission found that, had all of the relevant agreements been reported accurately in the clubโs accounts, it would have been in breach of both the Leagueโs and UEFAโs spending limits by a very substantial amount.
"In addition, during the course of the four-year investigation conducted by the Premier League, the club committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League. The Commission concluded that the club had โmade concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the PL investigation."
Richard Masters: โThe core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade.
โIt also vindicates the Premier Leagueโs decision to pursue this case against Manchester City.ย While the process to date has been both long and difficult, the League has remained determined that the facts be established independently.
โIt is a key responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the Rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition. It is paramount that the League remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans. We take that role extremely seriously.
โThis disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history. There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches. Now we have the Commissionโs decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the League, our clubs and fans.โ
A redacted version of the independent Commissionโs findings has been published.
Now that the charges have been proved, the issue of sanction will be addressed separately in a further hearing.
City has the right to appeal the independent Commissionโs findings and has until Friday 2 October to exercise that right.
Roy Keane does ๐๐๐ think Cole Palmer is the answer for England ๐โ
"I watched his last game against Brentford and if you think heโs going to get England to another level and win trophies, forget about it.
I like Palmer, heโs a talented boy, but heโs got far too many bad habits, for me."
Sources: Manchester City are expected to appeal after being found guilty of 114 financial charges by the Premier League. . By @DMFv2 ๐ https://t.co/vzW5ayHiOO