Man City are facing a possible Premier League points deduction and could even be forced to play in League Two in the wake of their Champions League ban, Experts have warned.
The club was banned by UEFA from European club competitions for two seasons and handed a €30m (£25m) fine for “serious breaches” of football’s European governing body’s Financial Fair Play rules.
UEFA’s Adjudicatory Chamber found the club had overstated its sponsorship revenue in accounts submitted between 2012 and 2016.
As well as handing a major boost to the teams battling for fifth place such as Spurs, Chelsea and Sheffield United, the ruling could also have a knock-on effect on the side’s Premier League status. Experts say the ruling will force the Premier League to act because of their own licensing which follows on from UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations.
This is because any club has to supply true information to get a Premier League license, information which would have had to be the same as that supplied to UEFA.
Although City have said they will fight to have the ban overturned, sources claim this wouldn’t be the case with any Premier League punishment because of the specific situation.
The Football League recently changed its rules so that any club found in such a situation would be bumped down to League Two.
This would mean City swapping their battles for the top of the table for League Two crunch ties against the likes of Grimsby Town, Forest Green and Port Vale.
Instead of the Manchester derby seeing City take on United in the cauldron of Old Trafford, their nearest league rivals would likely be Salford City, owned by former United legends Phil and Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham.