In the aftermath of the news of Everton’s 10-point deduction after being found guilty of breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, those at Manchester City are suddenly looking over their shoulders.

While Sean Dyche’s side saw a five-place drop from 14th down into the relegation zone, their breach was significantly less than the Citizens’ 115 alleged breaches of FFP. A statement from the Premier League read: “An independent Commission has imposed an immediate deduction of 10 points on Everton FC for a breach of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSRs).

“The Premier League issued a complaint against the Club and referred the case to an independent Commission earlier this year. During the proceedings, the Club admitted it was in breach of the PSRs for the period ending Season 2021/22 but the extent of the breach remained in dispute.

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“Following a five-day hearing last month, the Commission determined that Everton FC’s PSR Calculation for the relevant period resulted in a loss of £124.5million, as contended by the Premier League, which exceeded the threshold of £105million permitted under the PSRs. The Commission concluded that a sporting sanction in the form of a 10-point deduction should be imposed.”

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, it was revealed in February that City would be charged with more than 115 alleged breaches by the Premier League after a four-year-long investigation. They were allegedly committed from a period starting in 2009 and ending in 2018 and will also be referred to an independent commission, much like Everton’s case.

Although the case itself is unlikely to be sorted for years to come given the immense scrutiny it will have to undergo and much in part thanks to City‘s persistent stymying of the legal process, it has left a lot of time for those in the media and supporters to question what exactly their punishment could be.

With the case sending shockwaves throughout the rest of the English top flight, fans across various clubs have questioned whether it’d be possible for City to be stripped of the trophies they’d won in that period, including the four Premier League titles they won in 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2019.

However, that appears unlikely, with the Independent’s Miguel Delaney previously saying: “Figures involved don’t seem to think any prospective punishments would be retrospective or ‘looking backwards’ (ie stripping titles) but this is all described as ‘unprecedented’.”

So while that option might be off the table, a very real threat is that of an enormous points deduction which could mean certain relegation for Pep Guardiola’s side. It’s understood that Everton’s punishment of 10 points deducted, while certainly a strong statement, could have been far more severe than first thought, with the independent commission apparently unwilling to follow the Premier League’s true guidelines.

Essentially, Everton could’ve been handed a punishment which would’ve started at a six-point deduction and adding one point for every £5million over the loss limit, meaning they could’ve been docked an incredible 60 points. That means it’s possible for City to be automatically relegated from the league if the Premier League felt it a worthy enough penalty.

Earlier this week, Martyn Ziegler, a journalist for The Times, said that ‘the threat of a 30-point deduction or automatic relegation from the Premier League would look to be very real’ for City. Either way, it shows that if the commission are willing to follow the Premier League guidelines, Man City could be hit with a hugely crippling blow which would completely wipe out any hope of staying in the top flight of English football.