Man City 115 charges · What if?

Did Man City's points cost other clubs? Every season, re-run

Three ways to take City's points away

Graphics comparing City's points with the relegation places are doing the rounds. Whether they hold up depends entirely on how you take City's points away, so this page re-runs the official final table for every season covered by the financial charges (2009/10 to 2017/18) three ways. The same three names are used everywhere below.

In the last two, City are taken out of the table altogether, so the club that finished just outside the top four moves up into it. That is a consequence of City's absence, not of anyone gaining points.

Season by season

How many points City would have had to be docked, in each season, to fall below each line. A points deduction is the only one of the three scenarios that is a real sanction.

Ties are split by goal difference, then goals scored, as the Premier League does.

Why a deduction never changes relegation

Relegation is decided by the points of the clubs at the bottom, and a deduction takes points away from City without giving any to anybody else. In these nine seasons City were never closer than 30 points to the bottom three. The only way City's results reach the relegation zone is through the points City's opponents took off them, and those can only change if the results themselves are deleted or reversed.

On the viral assumption, handing every City win and draw to the opponent, the relegation places change in 1 of 9 seasons: in 2010/11 Blackpool would have stayed up and Wolverhampton Wanderers gone down instead. That is the whole of the case that City's results relegated anyone.

Deleting City's results moves the relegation places in 2010/11 too, but for the opposite reason: nobody gains anything, and the club that goes down instead is the one that took points off City and loses them.

Every season in detail

Open a season to see what changes under each scenario, then the full table. Highlighted clubs are the ones that move into or out of a place compared with what actually happened.

What this cannot tell you

Every scenario holds the rest of the season fixed. It cannot say how City would have performed without the spending the commission examined, or how other clubs' seasons would have gone without City in them. Treating every City win as a defeat for the opponent is the most extreme assumption available, not a neutral one. And the charges concern City's financial reporting, not any match: nothing in the decision says a result was won improperly.

Frequently asked questions

Did Man City's points relegate other clubs?

Not under any punishment that has ever been used. Manchester City won 3 titles in the seasons covered by the financial charges (2009/10 to 2017/18). A points deduction would have changed the champion in each: 2011/12 (1 point, to Manchester United), 2013/14 (3 points, to Liverpool) and 2017/18 (20 points, to Manchester United). But no deduction changes who was relegated: City would have needed to lose at least 30 points in a season to fall into the bottom three, and taking points off City gives none to anyone else. Relegation only moves if City's results are deleted or handed to their opponents, which has never been done for a past season, and even then it changes in 1 of 9 seasons (2010/11: Blackpool would stay up).

How many points would Man City have needed to lose to miss the title?

In the seasons covered by the financial charges, City won the title in 2011/12, 2013/14 and 2017/18. The smallest deduction that hands each title to the runner-up: 2011/12 (1 point, to Manchester United), 2013/14 (3 points, to Liverpool) and 2017/18 (20 points, to Manchester United).

Can titles be taken away or results changed?

The commission's sanctions under Premier League Rule W.64 include a points deduction, which can be applied to a past season, and a catch-all power to "make such other order as it thinks fit". No commission has ever used that to delete or reverse past results, and the Premier League has never stripped a title. A deduction from a past season would not add points to any other club, so it would not change who was relegated.

Was Manchester City found guilty of fraud?

No criminal finding was made. On 29 September 2026 an independent commission found City in breach of Premier League rules on providing accurate financial information, UEFA licensing, PSR and cooperation, and described some sponsorship contracts as "sham". It is a disciplinary decision under the Premier League's rules, not a criminal conviction. City lodged an appeal on 1 October 2026, and no sanction has yet been set.

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