Leading sports lawyer Nick De Marco believes the legal case between Manchester City and the Premier League could take up to four years.
Although he emphasised that the timeframe was only an educated guess, De Marco says the sheer number of charges means it will be a while before any definitive judgement is reached:
It’s only my guess. I remember doing Derby & SWFC EFL FFP cases, each two charges relating to a couple of years. Each took about 1.5 years from start to finish. The PL case is 115 charges over about 10 years …
— Nick De Marco KC (@nickdemarco_) February 7, 2023
As well as taking part in legal cases representing football clubs, De Marco has written books about law in sports, as well as hosting a podcast about the subject, so he does have plenty of knowledge in this area.
City are facing 113 different charges in total, all relating to alleged financial wrongdoing between 2009 and 2018. An independent commission will be set up to deliberate on every single breach, and lawyers led by Lord Pannick will be tasked with defending the Premier League champions against these allegations. It looks like it will be a long and drawn out process.
