Auditors BDO could face regulatory probe after signing off Man City's £900m cheating scandal books

From the Newshound archive · first published 1 October 2026.

Manchester City's financial cheating scandal — the biggest in British sporting history — is now threatening to engulf auditing firm BDO, which signed off the club's accounts across the full nine years they were found to have broken Premier League rules. The Financial Reporting Council is understood to be aware of the situation and examining whether BDO's conduct falls within its remit. City inflated revenues by £830million through 'sham' contracts and 'disguised schemes' between 2009-10 and 2017-18, with the commission finding that the club kept its auditors in the dark about the true condition of its finances.

Lord Cruddas has called the findings a potential criminal matter, arguing falsified accounts could warrant a police investigation involving the Serious Fraud Office.

Gary Neville warned the verdict is 'chilling' for English football and said removing City's owners is the ONLY punishment that would truly fit the scale of 'industrial-level financial doping'.