Premier League chief executive Richard Masters provides an updated timeline for the date

Richard Masters has shed light on a potential timeline for the looming trial Manchester City will undergo after being charged by the Premier League for 115 breaches of the organisation’s financial regulations. 

Mail Sport previously reported that the trial was likely to get underway in late autumn of this year, nearly a year-and-a-half after news broke that the club had been charged in February 2023. 

Manchester City will defend themselves against the allegations at a hearing overseen by an independent panel in arguably the biggest such case in the competition’s history. 

The alleged breaches cover a period of over 9 years, and are purported to span from 2009 – a year after the club was bought by Sheikh Mansour in 2008 – through until 2018, when an investigation into the club was opened by the Premier League. 

Since the charges were announced, both the Premier League and the club at the centre of the investigation have shared scant details ahead of the hearing. 

But the Premier League chief executive hinted that the hearing will be taking place sooner rather than later in remarks on Friday. 

Richard Masters shed light on the upcoming hearing over Manchester City’s alleged 115 charges of financial rule-breaking

As per the Telegraph, Masters said the hearing would be set to take place in the ‘near future’. 

‘We can’t comment on the case, the date is set,’ Masters added. ‘The case will resolve itself at some point in the near future.’ 

Despite news that the process is due to get underway before the end of next year likely coming as a relief to those following the trial, reaching a conculsion could yet prove more complex. 

Mail Sport reported that Pep Guardiola’s side may not see a resolution of the case before the end of the 2024-25 season in November of last year. 

Delays, could push the proceedings back further, as could a potential appeal against a verdict by the club. 

However, Man City are not able to take any additional appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where they successfully had their UEFA-delivered Champions League ban overturned.

The charges against the club include claims over financial reporting and a lack of co-operation with the Premier League investigation six years ago. 

City deny any wrongdoing.

Masters also used his appearance at the 48th European Leagues General Assembly press conference in London on Friday to highlight issues of player welfare regarding the number of fixtures top-flight players take part in, stressing that the calendar was at a ‘tipping point’. 

‘Something has to give,’ Masters added of the packed schedules. 

Pep Guardiola is one of many voices to share Masters’ opinion over the fixtures’ ‘tipping point’

The chief executive is just one of the latest voices to speak out about concern over the number of matches players feature in over a calendar year. 

Guardiola himself used his post-match remarks after his Man City side booked their spot in the FA Cup semi-final to decry his players’ schedule as ‘unacceptable’. 

Both Rodri and Bernardo Silva have also voiced concerns over their schedules in recent weeks, with Silva claiming after the 1-0 win against Chelsea at Wembley that he had played through mild injury. 

‘I wasn’t fine at all,’ he said, echoing Guardiola’s views on the schedule. ‘It’s too much. It wasn’t a level field because the FA didn’t give us a chance to recover. It looks like they don’t care because we’ve said it many times.’