F365 interview: Hargreaves calls for Man City to avoid points deduction for ‘another punishment’

Owen Hargreaves has suggested Man City should not have Premier League points deducted from their total this season if they are found guilty of breaching Financial Fair Play rules.

City’s lawyers arrived at London’s International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC) on Monday as a hearing to examine 115 Premier League charges issued against the club began .

Lord Pannick KC, who is leading City’s legal team, was pictured arriving at the IDRC, for a hearing that is reported to have been scheduled for 10 weeks, with the independent commission’s verdict not expected until early in 2025.

The charges facing Man City , who won a fourth straight Premier League title under manager Pep Guardiola in May, date back as far as the 2009-10 season.

Man City are also accused of failing to co-operate with the investigation and they could face a range of punishments including a severe points penalty or even expulsion from the Premier League if found guilty.

Yet Hargreaves, who had an unsuccessful spell at City in the 2011/12 season, has insisted any sanction handed down to City should not impact this season, as he claims the club’s current players should not be punished for breaches committed long before they arrived at the club.

Nottingham Forest and Everton had points deduced from their Premier League tally last season and Hargreaves has insisted that is not the best way to punish teams guilty of financial breaches.

“You look back at last season and deducting points during the season from teams, but I don’t think that should happen,” TNT Sport pundit Hargreaves told Football 365.

“The players should decide the game and we don’t want to change it mid-way through the season due to outside issues.

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“Do that later. Have another punishment, but adjusting league tables with points deductions? I don’t like it. Players work so hard to come get to be pros and compete for stuff, so let them decide the game.

“It’s like the referees affecting a game. When a lot of matches are not being decided by what they are looking at on a monitor, the game gets a little bit lost.

“We need to make decisions like this one (City’s FFP verdict) at the end of the season and let the players focus on the game.

“No one doubts that City are the best team and Pep is the most innovative coach. Their players can’t sit there and worry about what could come in terms of this whole situation. They will focus on their first Champions League game and go from there.

“The City players won’t be thinking about the charges. It’s out of their hands. They are looking at playing 60 games a year and all the other stuff will be sorted out by the lawyers.”

Hargreaves went on to suggest City are favourites to lift the Champions League trophy this season after a sparkling start to the season that has included four straight Premier League wins and a glut of goals for their striker Erling Haaland.

“Manchester City are favourites for the Champions League,” added Hargreaves. “They have Pep, they have made a few changes to their squad, the way Haaland has started the season, they are going to be tough to beat.

“Throw in Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, (Ilkay) Gundogan coming back. Then you look Rodri is arguably one of the best players in the world at the moment. They are favourites for me, with Real Madrid a close second.”

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