Manchester City are facing the possibility of an even bigger fight off the pitch after David Kogan said the new Independent Football Regulator could have the power to force the club’s owners to step away if the guilty verdict is upheld. The club have appealed against the ruling, which came from an independent commission that found them guilty of circumventing Premier League rules.
Kogan's warning on ownership powers
Kogan said the regulator would not need to stop at fines or other lesser sanctions. Speaking to the Independent, he said: "We have the power to ask an owner to step away from a club if we believe that they run a club in a way that is neither fit, fair or done with propriety."
He then added: "No, no, no. We’ve got absolute power to do so."
The commission’s findings were severe. It said City had set up sham commercial arrangements to inflate revenues or reduce costs by more than £900million across nine seasons. Kogan also said he was not going to be pushed into making any judgement before the process had run its course.
City's appeal and the on-pitch contrast
The regulator has not yet made any fresh decision on Manchester City itself, and Kogan said it would be a mistake to pre-empt what happens next. That leaves the appeal as the immediate battleground, with the club still fighting the verdict while the wider sanction debate grows around it.
City’s form on the pitch only sharpens the contrast. They have won their opening seven Premier League games this season, sit three points clear of defending champions Arsenal at the top of the table, and have a +12 goal difference after a perfect domestic start.
The legal process will decide whether the verdict stands, and that is the point at which Kogan’s warning becomes relevant. For now, the most immediate fact is that City’s appeal is active, and the regulator chair has already put the strongest possible sanction into the public conversation.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
