Where cheats Man City could be if £900m of expertise faraway from squad – sure relegation
Analysts have taken the money pumped into the club by City’s owners, worked out which signings it funded and removed every Premier League goal scored and confirms they would have been RELEGATED
Manchester City have been found guilty of cheating(Image: Molly Darlington – WSL/WSL Football via Getty Images)
Manchester City have been found guilty on 114 of their Premier League charges, sparking huge amounts of discussions over speculation about the potential repercussions they could face. Rivals are lining up to pass judgement on what they think the cheating club should face.
The Premier League dropped their explosive findings on Tuesday September 29, affirming that City were culpable on all but one charge. The Premier League frontrunners retorted with a vehemently defensive statement of their own, a stance they have maintained.
There have been demands of transfer bans, point deductions, fines and even demoting City, with ex-Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn proposing the league should contemplate stripping City of the titles they clinched between 2009 and 2018, the era to which the charges pertain.
HMRC reportedly investigated Manchester City in 2018. (Image: (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images))
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Manchester United legend Roy Keane agreed, adding: “If I was a player, I’d be 100% sticking those medals in the bin. Of course you would, it’s cheating.”
Without doubt this is the biggest scandal the Premier League has ever faced. But what would have happened in real time if City hadn’t been allowed to cheat? The experts at Midnite have now gone in, analysing data, season by season – taking the money pumped into the club by their owners, worked out which signings it funded each season and removed every Premier League goal those players scored.
And the reading is very interesting….
2009/10
Owner-funded money: £22.5m
Signings removed: Adam Johnson – £7m Joleon Lescott – £22m
Joleon Lescott would not have been signed by City(Image: Getty Images)
Combined, these players scored two Premier League goals for Man City that season. After removing those goals:
Actual: 5th – 67 points
Revised: 5th – 65 points
Chelsea remain Premier League champions.
2010/11
Owner-funded money: £28.5m
New signings removed: Edin Džeko — £27m James Milner — £18m
Manchester United would still have won the league in 2010/11(Image: John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Alongside the previously removed players, they account for nine Man City goals this season. After removing those goals:
Actual: 3rd — 71 points
Revised: 4th — 63 points
Manchester United remain Premier League champions.
2011/12
Owner-funded money: £70.75m
New signings removed: Sergio Agüero – £36m Samir Nasri – £24m Stefan Savić – £15m Costel Pantilimon – £5m
Sergio Aguero’s iconic title-winning goal would never have happened
These players, alongside those removed in previous seasons, scored 54 Premier League goals for Man City that season. After removing those goals:
Actual: 1st – 89 points
Revised: 6th – 60 points Agüero and Džeko’s goals against QPR on the final day are both removed.
Man City – title stripped
Manchester United win the Premier League with 89 points
2012/13
Owner-funded money: £105.75m
New signings removed: Javi García – £17m Matija Nastasić – £12m Maicon – £5m Scott Sinclair – £6.2m Jack Rodwell – £12m
The owner-funded amount exceeds the cost of all of these signings. Alongside previously removed players, 37 Man City goals are removed.
Manager Sir Alex Ferguson would have won back-to-back titles(Image: Getty)
Actual: 2nd – 78 points
Revised: 8th – 47 points
Manchester United remain Premier League champions
2013/14
Owner-funded money: £111.5m
New signings removed: Martín Demichelis – £4m Stevan Jovetić – £22m Álvaro Negredo – £20m Jesús Navas – £14.9m Fernandinho – £30m
The owner-funded amount exceeds the cost of all of these signings. 64 Man City goals are removed in total.
Actual: 1st – 86 points
Revised: 8th – 51 points
Liverpool win the Premier League with 85 points.
2014/15
Owner-funded money: £107.2m
New signings removed: Wilfried Bony – £25m Eliaquim Mangala – £41.9m Bruno Zuculini – £1.5m Willy Caballero – £4.4m Fernando – £12m
Chelsea would still have won the league in 2014/15(Image: Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
The owner-funded amount exceeds the cost of all of these signings. 50 Man City goals are removed in total.
Actual: 2nd – 79 points
Revised: 12th – 47 points
Chelsea remain Premier League champions.
2015/16
Owner-funded money: £120.17m
New signings removed: Kevin De Bruyne – £55m Nicolás Otamendi – £28.4m Patrick Roberts – £12m Fabian Delph – £8m Raheem Sterling – £44m
Raheem Sterling would not have been signed by City(Image: 2026 BSR Agency)
50 Man City goals are removed in total. After removing those goals:
Actual: 4th – 66 points
Revised: 18th – 38 points
Man City are relegated
Leicester City remain Premier League champions.
2016/17
Owner-funded money: £129.59m
New signings removed: Gabriel Jesus – £27m Claudio Bravo – £15.4m John Stones – £47.5m Marlos Moreno – £4.75m Leroy Sané – £37m
John Stones would never have been a Premier League champion(Image: (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images))
49 Man City goals are removed in total. After removing those goals:
Actual: 3rd – 78 points
Revised: 13th – 44 points
Chelsea remain Premier League champions.
2017/18
Owner-funded money: £134.73m
New signings removed: Aymeric Laporte – £57m Benjamin Mendy – £49.3m Danilo -£26.5m Kyle Walker – £45m
Kyle Walker would never have been a Premier League champion(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
83 Man City goals are removed once the goals from all previously removed players are included.
Actual: 1st – 100 points
Revised: 17th – 38 points
City stripped.
Manchester United win the Premier League with 82 points.
2018/19
There are no new signings to remove from this point, but the players already removed from our model are still at Man City.
That includes Agüero, Sterling, De Bruyne, Sané, Jesus, Stones, Fernandinho and others. Their 63 Premier League goals are removed.
Kevin De Bruyne would have never been Man City champion(Image: Getty Images)
Actual: 1st – 98 points
Revised: 6th – 65 points
Liverpool win the Premier League with 100 points.
2019/20
Previously removed Man City players account for 67 Premier League goals this season. Those goals are removed from every result they affected.
Liverpool won their first modern Premier League title in 2020 (Image: PHIL NOBLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Actual: 2nd – 81 points
Revised: 11th – 53 points
Liverpool remain Premier League champions with 99 points.
2020/21
Previously removed Man City players account for 36 Premier League goals this season. After removing those goals:
Actual: 1st – 86 points
Revised: 8th – 62 points
City stripped of title
Pep would never have lifted this trophy in 2021
Manchester United win the Premier League with 74 points.
2021/22
Previously removed Man City players account for 43 Premier League goals this season.
After removing those goals:
Sheikh Mansour, Owner of Manchester City and the City Football Group, and Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of Manchester City, Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City would have had little success without cheating(Image: Getty)
Actual: 1st — 93 points
Revised: 3rd — 74 points
City stripped of title
Liverpool win the Premier League with 96 points.
2022/23
By now, most of the players removed from our model have left Man City.
The remaining players account for 9 Premier League goals this season.
Manchester City were found guilty of breaking Premier League financial rules last week(Image: Getty Images)
After removing those goals:
Actual: 1st — 89 points Revised: 1st — 85 points
Arsenal also finish on 85 points, but Man City retain the title on goal difference.
2023/24
The remaining players from our list account for just 5 Man City goals this season.
Those five goals are enough to change the title race.
Arsenal would have won the league in 2023/24(Image: Getty Images)
Actual: 1st – 91 points Revised: 2nd – 86 points
Arsenal win the Premier League with 89 points.
2024/25
Only 6 Premier League goals are removed from Man City this season.
After recalculating every affected result:
Actual: 3rd — 71 points
Revised: 4th — 66 points
Liverpool would have remained champions in 2025(Image: Getty Images/Getty Images For The Premier League)
Liverpool remain Premier League champions with 84 points
2025/26
John Stones is the final player from our original list still at Man City. He scores no Premier League goals this season, meaning there is nothing left to remove from City’s results.
Actual: 2nd – 78 points
Revised: 2nd – 78 points
Arsenal would still have won the league in 2025/26(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images For Premier League)
Arsenal remain Premier League champions with 85 points.
In total
Across 17 Premier League seasons, 627 Man City goals were removed. Seven titles changed hands with Manchester United gaining three, Liverpool gaining three and Arsenal gaining one.
