Manchester United could receive £28m payment from Manchester City

Four of Manchester City’s Premier League titles have been thrown into retrospective doubt.

The Cityzens were found guilty of breaching the league’s financial rules on Friday, with 114 of 115 charges against them being proved.

While the rivals of Manchester United are set to appeal, it’s a situation that throws all of their recent success into question.

The famous Guy Mowbray commentary line, “Sir Alex Ferguson was asked in 2009 if City could ever go into a derby as favourites. He said ‘not in my lifetime’ – now it’s every time,” suddenly becomes fitting.

City won eight major trophies between 2009 and 2018 – a period they spent breaking rules to get into the prosperous position they now sit in.

Manchester United could be due repayment, if City are unsuccessful in pleading their innocence.

According to OLBG via The Sun, the Red Devils could be owed the second-highest sum of 38 teams, only behind Everton.

United could be in for a pay-out of £28,118,305, just £800k behind the Toffees. Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal would too cash in with over £20m each.

The article calculates a total £527,935,464 could end up being paid – a huge sum that would undoubtedly burden the club that has some of the deepest pockets of any football team.

According to the article, “The theoretical figures are based from the 2011/12 campaign up until last season. They are calculated by working out the extra cash each team would have got if City were taken out of the table.

“In most cases it would mean teams moving up a spot every season and therefore getting a larger share of the prize money clubs get, which increases the higher a team finishes.”

It’s an interesting case and one that could seriously lead to some damage for Manchester United’s rivals.

As if Manchester City aren’t in enough trouble already, they’d have to seriously fork out and owe what they took away from other clubs over a significant period.