Richard Masters Addresses Manchester City's Financial Charges Delay

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has insisted the long wait for a verdict on Manchester City’s financial charges cannot override the need to “establish the truth”, even as frustration grows across the game.

Speaking at a launch event on Tuesday and in an interview with talkSPORT, Masters acknowledged the process has dragged on far longer than anyone expected. City were charged back in February 2023, with an independent commission hearing finally concluding in December 2024. Since then, silence.

“As every day elapses, we must be a day nearer,” Masters said. “I obviously can't comment on it. I do understand the frustration. It has taken longer than expected, but we have to follow the process.”

That process, he argued, is non-negotiable. The Premier League has asked the independent commission to rule on a series of serious allegations, and Masters made clear that, in his view, speed cannot come at the expense of thoroughness.

“In the end, the Premier League's responsibility is to ask the Independent Commission to look at serious allegations and to establish the truth,” he said. “That shouldn't be qualified by it taking too long, for example.”

The contrast with Chelsea’s case hangs over the debate. Chelsea were hit with a £10 million fine and a suspended transfer ban for historical breaches, a situation resolved far more quickly and cleanly. That outcome has fuelled questions over why City’s case remains stuck in legal traffic.

Masters drew a sharp line between the two situations. He stressed that Chelsea’s breaches were historic and, crucially, that the club’s new ownership chose to cooperate fully with the league.

“In the situation with Chelsea, obviously it's historic. It's very different to PSR cases,” he explained. “In the case of Chelsea, the new owners came forward with all the information, and we decided to enter a sanction agreement.”

City’s case, by contrast, sits in a different category. The charges are more extensive, the timeline more tangled, and the evidence trail more contested. Masters suggested that in complex historical investigations where the league does not have full documentation or access to key witnesses, a full, contested commission is often the only realistic path.

That route brings delay. It also keeps Manchester City under a harsh spotlight while the rest of the Premier League waits to discover what the eventual judgment will say about competitive balance, precedent, and the way football polices its own financial rules.