There is so much at stake... not least the credibility of one of the world’s great clubs

MANCHESTER CITY executives claim to be “surprised” the club has been charged with breaching Premier League rules.

Considering they have been under investigation for a good four years, the only surprise is that City are surprised.

Don’t forget, UEFA also brought charges against them (eventually nullified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport), and the club’s financial arrangements have been the talk of boardrooms up and down the country, pretty much since the Abu Dhabi takeover.

Let’s face it, who doesn’t raise an eyebrow when City are declared to be a club with more commercial revenue than the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid?

Really?

While those UEFA charges eventually came to nothing, barring a £9million fine for failing to cooperate with the investigation, the Premier League alleges over 100 breaches.

And the bottom line is if City are found guilty on all counts, that would be cheating on an industrial scale. A financial penalty would be utterly insufficient and a points deduction would be very lenient.

If City have wilfully misled the Premier League with such regularity, then a relegation could not be deemed overly harsh.

In fact, it would be extremely hard to argue against it.

But, of course, it needs stressing City

DENY any wrongdoing, will robustly defend themselves against the charges and look forward to clearing their name. Fair enough. And if they do so, fine. Crack on.

But the Premier League, knowing City’s legal might won the day against UEFA, must be confident their charges will stick.

To some extent, it is hard to speculate on the ramifications of the independent commission coming up with an overwhelmingly guilty verdict, because this is unprecedented in English football.

But if City are found to be in breach of all charges, those ramifications will be many. Pep Guardiola has said he will walk if he has been lied to and imagine his fury if any of his achievements are undermined.

And then there could be legal action from those clubs who feel they have been on an uneven playing field, if it turns out City were not playing by the financial rules.

Essentially, that would be EVERY

Premier League club City competed against during the timespan of these charges.

Teams that were relegated, teams that missed out on the title, teams that just failed to qualify for Europe.

In what is certain to be – indeed, already has been – a long and tortuous process, there is so much at stake… not least of which is Manchester City’s credibility as one of THE great Premier League clubs.

If all these charges stick, that credibility will be torn to shreds. Simple as that.