‘Secret’ venue where Man City will learn their Premier League fate revealed as club face threat of relegation
THE “secret” location for the Premier League’s hearing which could end with Manchester City being relegated has been revealed.
While both sides in the dispute are sworn to secrecy, City’s legal lead, £5,000 per hour Lord Pannick KC, was spotted heading into the International Dispute Resolution Centre in the City of London.
Lord Pannick is part of a high-powered City team, which also included Philip Marshall KC.
But his opposite number, heading the Prem’s legal arm, is a member of the SAME chambers at the Inns of Court.
Adam Lewis KC, like Lord Pannick, works out of Blackstone Chambers and has previously acted for both the Prem and the FA.
He is working alongside Blackstone colleague Andrew Hunter KC with a legal team of seven more behind them for day one of the hearing.
It is now understood that the three-member independent commission, approved by both sides, will conduct the majority of the likely 10-week hearing at the ven, just a stone’s throw from St Paul’s Cathedral.
City have consistently denied all of the “115” charges – actually now 130 separate allegations – that were first laid against them, following a six-year probe, in February 2023.
While the majority of the hearing will take place in a court-style room, with thousands of pages of documentary evidence expected to be produced by the two feuding legal teams, some witnesses may be quizzed remotely.
Under Prem rules, all hearings take place behind closed doors with strict confidentiality requirements on all sides.
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What will happen to Man City?
MAN CITY are favourites to win the Premier League title yet again – but there is one elephant in the room that threatens to put the skids under the Etihad giants.
Sunsport’s MARTIN LIPTON discusses what the next few months could hold with Head of Sport SHAUN CUSTIS….
Custis: So the big question – will there be a resolution this season?
Lipton: Yes…. probably! We know the case will start to be dealt with in October or November.
It will take at least a month to go through the evidence. So I suspect around March, April time, we will get a result. But that’s where it starts to get tricky.
Custis: Why is that?
Lipton: If the result is in City’s favour, that’s the end of the matter. They will be cleared. They will have no punishment to face.
But if City are found guilty, these will be the heaviest penalties ever imposed by the Premier League.
I suspect if they are found guilty, they will be expelled from the league or given a massive points deduction and a huge fine so that they’re not in the Premier League next season.
Check out the full discussion on Man City’s future.
It means the names of the commission members will not be publicly available until the final ruling and any sentence if the charges are proven.
That is not expected to come for at least six months, with experts anticipating the “written reasons”, outlining the arguments, rebuttals and legal points from both sides, could stretch to 400 closely-typed pages.
It is also now understood that the initial part of the case will see the Premier League lawyers seeking to prove that City were in breach of the regulations.
Unlike criminal trials, the burden on proof for the Prem is the civil one of “balance of probabilities” rather than “beyond reasonable doubt”.
But should the charges be upheld, there would effectively be a second element of the case, in which the two sides would argue over the sanction that should be applied.
Under Prem regulations, all punishments – from a fine, through points deductions and up to expulsion from the League – would be at the discretion of the commission.