Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has slammed Premier League CEO Richard Masters after his appearance at a select committee this week
Gary Neville has called on the Premier League to bring forward Manchester City’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) hearing in a bid to produce clarity on the situation – raising fears that the case won’t be heard until this season has ended.
In February 2023, the Premier League accused City of 115 breaches of their Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), charges which the club denies in full. These accusations date back to between 2009 and 2018, spanning a nine-season period where the Blues won the title on three occasions.
Since this announcement, Everton have been charged and docked ten points for their own FFP breach which is being appealed. The Toffees, along with Nottingham Forest, were notified on Monday they could be in further trouble in regards PSR but these cases have yet to be heard.
During a Culture, Media and Sport select committee meeting on Tuesday, the top flight’s CEO Richard Masters announced a date had been set for City’s hearing but he did not reveal when it would be. Speaking on The Overlap podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Neville declared it is imperative for the Premier League to bring City’s case forward as soon as possible.
He explained: “I would like to see an amendment to FFP, I never agreed with it in the first place, the way that it currently is. It stops clubs, like Newcastle United with wealthy owners, being able to get up to the top.
“It was brought in by elite clubs, to protect the elite clubs as they are the highest revenue-generating teams. I don’t like it and there needs to be a change to the rules.
“One of the diversion tactics is that they say that the Premier League are only picking on the small clubs, what about Manchester City? That’s the big elephant in the room, that City’s charges haven’t been brought forward.
“Accepting that it’s a lot more complex, I was uncomfortable that Richard Masters said there has been a date set [for a hearing], but he couldn’t reveal when it was. This told me that, and I might be wrong, we’re not going to like the date, it’s maybe going to be in the summer, beyond this season.
“It’s in the interest of Manchester City, and everybody, to bring that case forward, accelerate the process and do it quicker. It can’t go on, and it’s damaging to the Premier League.”
Neville then added: “Some of the charges against Manchester City are related to the fact that to get around the £105 million in three years that is acceptable, they’ve put costs that should have been within Manchester City, into their operating company which is the City Football Group. The ridiculous suggestion, which I don’t know whether it’s true or not, is that Roberto Mancini was being paid part of his wage in the Middle East for appearances.
“These charges need to be brought forward, even if it’s some of the simpler ones out of the 115 – there is a date set, but Richard Masters wouldn’t share it.” Agreeing with Neville, both Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher implored City to clear their names at the earliest opportunity.
Wright began: “The sad situation that we find ourselves in, and the Manchester City players find themselves in, is that as a team, arguably playing some of the greatest football we’ve ever seen in the Premier League with players achieving unbelievable things, the owners of that club owe it to the players to clear their name. All those achievements, for example, we were waxing lyrical about Kevin De Bruyne, all of that will be tainted for him if they do not sort this out – they owe it those players to clear this up.”
Carragher continued: “Manchester City can fix this straight away. If you were in their position, and you’ve got something over you, you want to clear your name. The fact that they are dragging this on, makes it worse.”
