Manchester City’s Premier League Charges: What Is Official, What Is Reported, and Why the Numbers Differ

“Manchester City 115 charges” is the informal label for a long-running Premier League financial case that returned to the centre of English football on September 25, 2026, after major news organisations reported findings against the club on most allegations the independent commission considered.

One part of the story needs particular care: how many charges were actually involved.

The case is widely known as Manchester City’s 115 charges, and Reuters reported on September 25 that The Athletic said City had been found in breach on 114 of 115 alleged breaches. But the Guardian’s reporting gives more context to how that number evolved. Its September 25 timeline says the Premier League initially listed 115 charges and that the number of potential breaches was later revised to more than 130. A separate Guardian verdict article refers specifically to 134 charges.

The Premier League’s own February 2023 statement is structured differently. It does not give a single headline total. Instead, it lists alleged rule breaches by category, rule and season. As of September 27, 2026, the detailed commission award has also not been publicly released, so readers cannot independently reconcile every allegation charge by charge from the primary documents.

That means 115 and 134 should not be treated as competing official totals. The available reporting suggests an initial count followed by a revised, larger tally, while the League’s public statement itself itemises the allegations rather than publishing one overall number.

Manchester City, meanwhile, continues to say that the process remains ongoing and that significant elements are still to be completed.

The clearest way to follow the case is therefore to separate four things: what the Premier League officially alleged, how the reported charge count evolved, what current reporting says the commission found, and what Manchester City says remains unresolved.

What the Premier League officially alleged in 2023

The official public record begins on February 6, 2023.

In its statement that day, the Premier League said it had referred “a number of alleged breaches” of its rules by Manchester City to an independent commission.

The League then set out the relevant rules and seasons rather than announcing one overall headline number. Premier League statement — February 6, 2023

The first major category concerned financial information supplied for each season from 2009/10 through 2017/18. The Premier League alleged breaches of rules requiring accurate financial information giving a true and fair view of the club’s financial position, including information concerning revenue, sponsorship revenue, related parties and operating costs.

Another category concerned remuneration. The League alleged failures involving full details of manager remuneration for seasons between 2009/10 and 2012/13 and player remuneration for seasons between 2010/11 and 2015/16.

The referral also covered alleged failures involving UEFA club-licensing and Financial Fair Play requirements, Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules, and Manchester City’s duty to cooperate with and assist the League’s investigation.

These were allegations when the Premier League published them. Manchester City disputed them.

Why the case is called 115 charges — and why reports now say more than 130

The familiar 115-charge label did not appear from nowhere.

The Guardian’s September 25 timeline describes the Premier League’s February 2023 action as initially listing 115 charges against Manchester City. It then says the number of potential breaches was revised to more than 130, while breaking the allegations into categories including financial information, player and manager remuneration, UEFA regulations, Premier League profitability rules and cooperation with the investigation. Guardian timeline — September 25, 2026

A separate Guardian report published the same day uses the more specific figure of 134 charges and says they covered the period from 2009/10 through 2022/23. Guardian verdict report — September 25, 2026

Reuters and much of the wider football coverage have continued using the familiar 115-charge denominator. Reuters reported that The Athletic said City had been found in breach on all but one of 115 alleged breaches.

So the difference is not wholly unexplained. Current reporting indicates that 115 was the initial widely reported tally and that the number of potential breaches was subsequently revised upward.

But there is still an important limitation.

The Premier League’s own detailed February 2023 statement does not publish either 115 or 134 as a single headline total. It itemises rules and seasons. And because the commission’s full written award is still unavailable publicly as of September 27, BlogsLoop cannot independently map every reported count to every individual finding from primary documents.

The safest description is therefore:

The case was initially and widely reported as involving 115 charges. The Guardian says the tally of potential breaches was later revised to more than 130 and separately reports a total of 134. The Premier League’s public referral itself lists alleged breaches by rule and season rather than stating one overall headline number.

That keeps the history of the count intact without pretending one media denominator is a newly published official total.

Manchester City’s position

Manchester City rejected the allegations when they were announced in February 2023.

The club said it was surprised by the Premier League’s action, particularly given what it described as extensive engagement with the League and the volume of detailed material it had supplied.

City said it welcomed review by an independent commission and referred to what it described as a comprehensive body of evidence supporting its position.

Those statements represent Manchester City’s defence, not an independent finding about the strength of that evidence.

Manchester City statement — February 2023

The distinction works both ways: the Premier League officially alleged rule breaches, while Manchester City officially disputed them. The independent process exists to determine the case.

How the independent commission process works

The Premier League’s 2023 statement says the commission is independent of both the League and its member clubs. Members are selected from the independent Judicial Panel, and proceedings are confidential and heard in private.

The same statement says the commission’s final award will be published on the Premier League website.

The Premier League provided additional detail about its disciplinary structure in a February 2024 statement involving Everton. It explained that suspected rule breaches can be referred to an independent commission, commission proceedings are confidential, and the commission’s final decision is published at the conclusion of proceedings.

A party can challenge a commission decision through an independent Appeal Board. Appeal proceedings are also confidential and heard in private, and the Appeal Board has discretion to allow or dismiss an appeal or vary the commission’s order. Premier League explanation of commissions and appeals

That process explains why a reported commission finding and a published final award should not be treated as identical things.

As of September 27, 2026, the detailed Manchester City commission award described by those rules is not publicly available on the Premier League website.

What was reported on September 25, 2026

The major September development arrived through media reporting rather than a newly published Premier League decision.

Reuters-linked coverage reported that The Athletic said Manchester City had been found in breach on all but one of the 115 alleged breaches associated with the familiar count.

The Guardian reported that an independent panel had found City in breach on almost all of more than 100 charges. Its report uses a total of 134 charges for the underlying case.

The Guardian also reported that the Premier League had not issued a public statement announcing the result and that sources had confirmed the findings to the newspaper.

That distinction needs to remain visible in BlogsLoop’s wording.

It is reasonable to say:

Current reports say the commission found Manchester City in breach on most of the allegations it considered.

It would be less precise to say:

The Premier League has officially published a final judgment confirming 114 breaches out of an official total of 115.

The public primary documents do not support that second formulation as of September 27.

The Guardian’s timeline also helps explain why different reports use different denominators: it describes an initial 115-charge tally followed by a revision to more than 130 potential breaches.

What Manchester City said on September 26

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak addressed supporters on September 26 after the previous day’s reports.

His letter reproduced the club’s September 25 statement, which says:

“The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality.”

The club said its position remained consistent with its February 2023 statement. Al Mubarak also told supporters that “nothing has changed” from City’s perspective and stressed that confidentiality limited what he could say publicly. Manchester City chairman’s letter — September 26, 2026

That is Manchester City’s position.

It does not establish that the reported commission findings are incorrect. Equally, the reports do not remove City’s ability to challenge commission findings through the process described by Premier League rules.

Both belong in an accurate explanation of the case.

What still has not been published

The largest remaining gap is the commission’s detailed written award.

As of September 27, 2026, the public does not have a Premier League-published document showing:

• the commission’s complete reasoning;

• the exact allegation-by-allegation findings;

• the detailed mapping between the initially reported 115 charges and the subsequently reported total of more than 130;

• the precise basis for the 134 figure used by the Guardian’s verdict coverage;

• the reasoning behind individual findings that were upheld or rejected;

• the final procedural position after any appeal.

The count difference is therefore partly explained by the reported revision from 115 to more than 130, but it cannot yet be reconstructed fully from the Premier League’s public documents.

That is a more precise position than simply saying nobody knows why the numbers differ.

The Guardian has reported a 134-charge total and findings against almost all of more than 100 allegations, while Reuters-linked reporting continues to use the initial 115 denominator and the 114-of-115 formulation.

Until the award is published, those numbers should remain attributed to the reporting that uses them.

What happens next

The Premier League’s published disciplinary framework provides for an appeal from a commission decision.

An Appeal Board is independent, its proceedings are confidential, and it may allow or dismiss an appeal or vary the commission’s order.

The Guardian reports that Manchester City intend to appeal, while City’s own statement says significant elements of the process remain outstanding.

Beyond that, uncertainty remains.

Premier League commissions have a range of disciplinary powers, but those general powers do not tell us what the ultimate outcome of this particular case will be.

This article therefore does not predict a points deduction, fine, relegation, removal of titles or any other sanction.

Those outcomes should be reported if and when they become formally established.

Why careful wording matters

After more than three years of headlines, several stages of the case are easy to collapse into one.

The public record is clearer if it is divided into four layers.

Official: The Premier League referred numerous alleged breaches to an independent commission in February 2023. Its public statement lists the relevant rules and seasons, rather than giving one single headline count.

Reported count history: The Guardian timeline says the case was initially listed as 115 charges and later revised to more than 130 potential breaches. Its separate verdict report uses 134. Reuters-linked coverage still commonly uses 115.

Reported findings: Current reports say an independent panel found Manchester City in breach on the vast majority of the allegations it considered. The detailed award has not been publicly released by the League.

Manchester City’s position: The club continues to dispute wrongdoing and says the process remains ongoing, with significant elements still to be completed.

That gives readers a much more accurate picture than choosing either 115 or 134 and treating it as a settled official denominator.

Conclusion

The September 2026 reporting appears to mark the biggest development in Manchester City’s long-running Premier League financial case since the original referral.

But the numbers need context.

The case became widely known as the 115 charges case. The Guardian’s September 25 timeline says that 115 was the initial count and that the number of potential breaches was subsequently revised to more than 130. Its separate verdict report uses 134 charges.

The Premier League’s own February 2023 public statement does something different: it lists alleged breaches by rule and season without providing a single headline denominator.

So the difference between 115 and 134 is not entirely mysterious; current reporting describes an initial tally that was later revised upward. What remains unavailable is the detailed commission award that would let the public reconcile those counts allegation by allegation and examine the commission’s reasoning directly.

Current reporting says the panel found City in breach on most of the allegations. Manchester City continues to dispute the case and says significant procedural elements remain unfinished.

As of September 27, 2026, the responsible summary is therefore:

The allegations are official. The charge count evolved in reporting from an initial 115 to more than 130, with the Guardian using 134. The September findings remain media-reported rather than available in a published Premier League award. Manchester City continues to challenge the case, and the final procedural outcome remains unresolved publicly.

Explore more reporting in the Blogsloop Sports section.

Sources

Premier League — February 6, 2023 statement

Manchester City — February 2023 club statement

Premier League — commissions and appeals process

Guardian — September 25 timeline explaining initial 115 and revised count

Guardian — September 25 verdict report using 134 charges

Manchester City — September 26 chairman’s letter

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