Gary Neville says removing Man City's owners is the 'only fair' punishment after 'chilling' guilty verdict

From the Newshound archive · first published 1 October 2026.

Manchester City have been convicted on every charge of serious Premier League financial rule violations by an independent commission, which determined the club used 'sham' contracts and 'disguised schemes' to inflate revenue by £830million over nine seasons from 2009-10. Gary Neville declared the verdict left the Premier League 'dragged through the mud' and called for the club's owners to be removed. City are widely expected to appeal, with Friday 2 October the deadline to lodge that challenge. Reports indicate that potential sanctions range from fines and points deductions through to title stripping and expulsion from the Premier League.

Neville said points deductions, fines and title removals would all be 'significant' but warned only expelling the owners would carry real consequences.

'I'm not celebrating — I'm chilled,' Neville said, calling the scale of wrongdoing 'industrial-level financial doping.'