Canada manager Jesse Marsch has urged the Premier League to impose the strictest possible sanctions on Manchester City after they were found guilty of financial fraud and failing to co-operate with investigation.
The Cityzens were found guilty on all 115 charges last week, a strongly-worded statement from the Premier League revealed.
They have since filed an appeal, protesting their innocence of all of the charges levelled against them.
Manchester City were found to have inflated their income to the tune of nearly a billion pounds.
Former Leeds United manager Marsch has claimed that City's ways were not unknown to the other Premier League sides, but they all chose to just turn a blind eye.
He wants them to be relegated from the English top-flight, after which they will move to secure a return to the league at the earliest opportunity.
Jesse Marsch Makes Big Claim Over Manchester City Guilty Verdicts
Marsch spoke to The Guardian ahead of leading his Canada side in a friendly game against Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT.
The former Leeds United boss pointed out instances where City's questionable acts were clear for all to see, asking that they be relegated from the league..
“I think Man City should be punished severely. I think they should have to go down, and by the way, everyone knew about it. Everyone knew.
That summer [2022], us and Man City were the only teams that said we made money. For us, we did make money, because we sold Raphinha, we sold Kalvin Phillips [to City]. We had a lot left over from what we bought. At the time, we weren’t in a position financially to not save. Our ownership didn’t have deep pockets. Whereas when Man City says this, I was literally like, ‘Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of joke?’
He also argued that the questionable transfer fee they claimed to have paid for Erling Haaland was more proof, in his eyes.
“When they said they got Erling Haaland for £52m, it’s like: ‘Yeah, OK, sure!’ So, I knew there were inconsistencies in it, but what can you do? You just put your arms in the air and go, ‘This is football’.
Manchester City were found to have arranged over £830 million in disguised funding and sham commercial deals via owner Abu Dhabi United Group between 2009 and 2018.
They also hid roughly £70 million in understated expenses despite forking out sums above the spending limits in multiple seasons.
Manchester City Appeal Verdict, Claim Innocence
Manchester City have officially lodged an appeal protesting their innocence of all 115 charges levelled against them by the Premier League.
As part of their appeal, the club will claim that the monies came from key sponsorship deals directly from the Abu Dhabi government, and not the owners.
The appeal period will last for 12 weeks from Thursday, when it was heard, meaning that a verdict could be reached by December 24.
The verdict must then be communicated within thirty days after a clear examination of all of the indices of the case by a three-man panel of legal experts.
Possible penalties for City include a points deduction, fines, a transfer ban, or even a relegation from the Premier League.
There have been calls from some quarters for the titles won by the club between 2009 and 2018 to be taken off them.
