Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has given his verdict towards the scale of the points deduction Manchester City could face if found guilty of serious financial misconduct. In February 2023, the Premier League referred Man City to an independent commission over 115 alleged infractions of financial rules dating between 2009 and 2018.

City have consistently denied any wrongdoing and a hearing eventually took place between September and December of last year. Given the fact Liverpool have fiercely competed with the club for silverware during and after the period investigated, they will hold some degree of interest in the outcome delivered 'in one month', or so Pep Guardiola claimed last week.

If City are eventually found guilty then severe punishments could be handed down, with the prospect of a heavy fine, transfer embargo, relegation or possibly a mass points deduction having all been touted. And, appearing on the Tear Us Apart podcast when his assumption for a scale based on the charges was called upon.

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He said: "Looking at the commission reports for Nottingham Forest and Everton when they have both been charged by the Premier League, it is noticeable that the commission conclusion was that they were 'minor breaches'.

"They were minor breaches and they resulted in a four-point deduction [for Forest] and a six-point deduction [for Everton, reduced from 10 after a successful appeal]. What Manchester City is being accused of is effectively corporate fraud, which has to be constituted as a major breach of the rules.

"If guilty, and I really have to stress the word 'if', the punishment is likely to be far harsher [than what Everton and Nottingham Forest got]," he responded.

Maguire went on to state that, in his opinion, if guilty City would have to be subjected to a points deduction rather than any other form of punishment, adding: "It has to be a points deduction – if found guilty. We are looking at a points deduction somewhere in the region of 60 to 100 points."

Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp recently joked he would throw a party should the Premier League strip City of past titles due to the alleged breaches. The Reds finished second to Guardiola's side while under Klopp in 2018/19 and 2021/22.

At his first public appearance as Red Bull's head of global soccer, the German said: "We had this discussion when I left. I haven't spent a lot of time in Mallorca because I am always flying around the place.

"But if it would happen, I told all the people who wanted to [come]: 'Just book a flight to Mallorca. I will buy the beer!' We'd have our own parade in my garden."