Former Manchester City chairman: 115 charges delayed into a laughing stock, Premier League regulation is too poor

According to The Times, former Manchester City chairman Bernstein criticized the lack of a result in the club's 115 charges case, saying the club's £440 million spending during the summer transfer window had made Premier League regulation a laughing stock.

Bernstein served as Manchester City chairman from 1998 to 2003 and as chairman of the Football Association from 2011 to 2013. He criticized the fact that the case has still not reached a verdict and questioned the Premier League's handling of it.

Since February 2023, Manchester City has faced 115 charges over alleged breaches of league financial rules. A 12-week hearing concluded in December 2024, but the independent commission has still not delivered a verdict. The case is considered extremely complex.

Manchester City has firmly denied all charges. The final outcome could either clear the club of wrongdoing or result in historic penalties.

The 83-year-old Bernstein has joined a growing number of people criticizing the delay in the case. Previously, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters acknowledged that the verdict had taken “longer than expected.”

Writing in The Times, Bernstein said: “To be spending so much money against the background of 115 charges is highly unusual. It makes the regulation of the English top flight a laughing stock, and the Premier League should be the best-run league in the world.”

He continued: “Why did the Premier League decide to pursue all 115 charges? That is a mystery to me. Common sense — something that is often in short supply these days — should have required simplifying the process, retaining only the most important and clearest cases, and treating them as examples to be dealt with.”

“Justice delayed is not complete justice. The longer this process takes, the more complicated its impact and challenges become.”