Football regulator has ‘absolute power’ to force Manchester City sale if verdict upheld

Chair David Kogan insists regulator has power to actCity have appealed against Premier League’s chargesThe Independent Football Regulator (IFR) will have “absolute power” to force Manchester City’s owners to sell if they are ultimately found to have run the club improperly, the watchdog’s chair has said.Manchester City have been found guilty of circumventing Premier League rules by an independent commission, which found they set up “sham” commercial arrangements to inflate revenues or reduce costs by over £900m over a nine-season period. Continue reading…

The Independent Football Regulator’s chair, David Kogan, has said the watchdog has powers to make Manchester City’s owner sell the club The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) will have “absolute power” to force Manchester City’s owners to sell if they are ultimately found to have run the club improperly, the watchdog’s chair has said. Manchester City have been found guilty of circumventing Premier League rules by an independent commission, which found they set up “sham” commercial arrangements to inflate revenues or reduce costs by over £900m over a nine-season period.

They were also found to have made “concerted efforts” to “stop and frustrate” the Premier League’s investigation into those arrangements. City have lodged an appeal, claiming the verdict “contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.” David Kogan, the chair of the IFR, told podcast The Rest Is Football it was premature to talk about any action his organisation might take while the appeal was ongoing. Kogan did confirm, though, that the IFR had “absolute power” to force a sale