Nothing is done — Man City release official statement after guilty verdict

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has issued a defiant open letter to supporters, maintaining the club's complete innocence following widespread reports that an independent tribunal found them guilty of 114 of 115 Premier League financial charges.

The communication, published on the club's official website on September 26, represents Manchester City's first formal response to the guilty verdict.

Al Mubarak dismissed the finality of the commission's findings, indicating the club's intent to contest the ruling through the appeals process.

"The Premier League process is far from concluded, and our confidence and determination to prove the club's innocence are just as strong as at the beginning of all this," the chairman wrote.

While projecting absolute certainty in the club's eventual exoneration, Al Mubarak cited legal constraints as the reason he could not provide fans with the substantive proof underpinning his confidence.

"There are so many things I would like to share with you to help you understand why we are so certain of our position. But because of the strict confidentiality of the legal process and our determination to respect that, I cannot do that at this moment," he stated, noting that even his open letter required multiple legal reviews before publication.

Rather than offering new justifications, Al Mubarak directed supporters back to the club's initial statements from Friday and February 2023, asserting that "every word matters and still applies".

That original February 2023 release formally welcomed the review by an independent commission, claiming the club possessed a "comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" to put the allegations of financial impropriety to rest definitively.

The guilty verdict validates the Premier League's allegations that Manchester City systematically bypassed Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR), obscured manager and player remuneration, and failed to co-operate with investigators between 2009 and 2018.

With 114 charges now proven by the independent panel, the club faces disciplinary measures outlined in the Premier League handbook's Rule W.15 regulations.

The sweeping statutes grant the commission the authority to enforce unlimited financial fines, apply severe points deductions, or permanently expel the club from the English top flight.