The hearing regarding Manchester City's 115 charges may be paused as the Premier League continues to battle the English club, according to one financial expert.
City have been charged with breaking the Premier League's financial fair play rules over a nine-year period between 2009 and until 2018.
The official trial began on Monday, September 16 and was expected to last around 10 weeks, meaning the result was expected to arrive in early 2025, if not sooner.
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But now, a new report from Football Insider has claimed that City may have to wait continue their fight against the charges as the hearing may be delayed for one specific reason.
According to finance expert Stefan Borson, the hearing may be paused in the wake of City's other legal hearing against the Premier league regarding the Associated Party Transactions (APT) rules.
After the results from the hearing were published earlier this month, with both sides claiming victories, the scheduled Premier League meeting with all 20 clubs, which was due to take place on 17 October, was postponed.
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And it is precisely this that Borson believes could have a knock-on impact on the trial over City's 115 charges.
Speaking to Football Insider, Borson said: “It’s not a good situation for the Premier League.
“They’re now in the hands of the tribunal and I don’t know how quickly they can sit on this thing.
“The other aspect of it is that both City and the Premier League are both busy in another hearing.
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“It’s not that easy to switch between big cases. There is a lot of overlap with the lawyers."
Borson added that City's lawyers will not want to be battling the Premier League in two hearings at the same time, and this is what could lead to the potential delay.
“City’s lead KC’s are busy with the 115 charges and they’re not going to want to be distracted by the tribunal on the APT stuff," he continued.
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“They may well want to leave it until after the 115 charges are finished, or they could leave a gap in that hearing to sort out the APT case.
“It’s so urgent.
“We just don’t know. It’s pretty chaotic for this to be happening, and we’re reading between the lines because all we know is what is coming out.”
Topics: Manchester City, Premier League, Football
Ben McCrum