Manchester City have reportedly decided to appeal the finding of guilt by Friday, October 2, and because of that, the outcome of the entire mess might be pushed back quite a bit further, too. In other words, any resulting punishment might not be known for a while, and even then, sanctions might not be put in place for months or years.
City had two options, really. The club could have appealed the guilty verdict, which the Premier League officially announced this week, or could have let the deadline to appeal, that by October 2, go by. If that had happened, the club could have then appealed whatever punishment was handed down.
The problem with that, at least that is likely in Man City's view, is that the club would have inherently been saying it was guilty of the accusations of breaking the financial fair play rules and not cooperating with the investigation into the alleged breaking of those rules. If the club didn't appeal the guilty verdict, it would be saying, "OK, we are guilty, but we won't agree with the sanctions."
Manchester City will be appealing guilty verdict by Friday
Because City is appealing the guilty verdict, that could push everything back by quite some time, perhaps months or years. That could mean this season's club is affected, and maybe the next few seasons won't be affected.
To be clear, no one with the Premier League or UEFA is going to say how long anything will take. The charges against City, and City's longtime stance that the club is innocent, are making sure that all the attorneys involved in litigating the case are triple-checking their work. For their case to fail at this point would have horrible ramifications for the Premier League.
League clubs could lose complete trust in the process and the legitimacy of the league, and the PL could eventually cease to exist as we currently know it. That might be a worst-case scenario, but everything and everyone involved in the fiasco could be facing a worst-case scenario.
For Manchester City, the club could be kicked out of the Premier League and forced to re-apply for membership. Or the club could have so many points deducted from the current season that there is little hope of not being relegated. Even if City is allowed to stay in the English pyramid, there is no guarantee at which level the club could land.
The truth is that no one knows what the future will hold; not pundits theorizes about what Man City has done or not done wrong, what the sanctions could or could not be, or even when the punishment could be known. The only clear part is that City is maintaining its innocence and will be appealing the finding of guilt by Friday, October 2.
Add us as a preferred source on Google