Richard Masters sends confident message over Man City charges after 'most likely' verdict issued

Premier League CEO Richard Masters claims the division will “survive” the ongoing legal battle with Manchester City.

The reigning Premier League champions are currently awaiting the verdict of an independent investigation into the 130 charges put towards them. The most severe of those involves almost a decade of alleged financial misrepresentation.

A number of potential punishments have been touted for City, albeit the club have already earned a significant victory over the Premier League relating to their Associated Party Transaction rules. And despite the bitter fallout, Premier League chief Richard Masters believes the reputation of the competition will not be harmed in the long-term.

"There is no happy alternative to enforcing the rules," he told the Financial Times. "The Premier League will survive the impact of all of this and come through it. The broadcast partners, fans around the world, our new sponsors have great confidence in the Premier League."

While City await their verdict, they have already been told the dire consequences that they could face should they be proven guilty. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has revealed they would face a significant points deduction or even relegation.

Speaking to Football on Trial on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: "A points deduction would be the most likely outcome should the club be found guilty.

"As for the quantum of points deduction, if Everton were initially given a 10 points deduction for going around about £10/12 million over the limits in one particular season, I think, in order to set an example to the rest of football, it's got to act as a deterrent."

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Maguire added: "We'll probably be looking at somewhere in the region of 60 to 100 points, which would effectively guarantee relegation out of the Premier League and into the lower tiers of football in the EFL."

Pep Guardiola has recently spoken out on the charges his side face. After being asked about a rant by chief of Spanish football Javier Tebas, the City boss simply said “next”.

That came after his claim earlier this year that City were expecting to hear back from the independent probe shortly. He said: “I don't know. It happened in the past for UEFA and now in a few weeks for the Premier League [we will get] the sentence. We wait and after we talk."

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