Manchester City are heading for a key juncture of their modern history and its impact could extend much further than expected.

Man City were found guilty on 114 charges of breaching Premier League rules relating to financial reporting and obstructing the subsequent investigation. The ruling was made by an independent commission, and both the club's appeal and the punishment they're due are pending.

City were found to have artificially inflated revenue to the tune of more than £900 million between 2009 and 2018, enabling them to spend vast amounts of money beyond the sums allowed by Premier League regulations.

Man City owners could be heading for even more trouble

The possible sanctions are wide-ranging and could be incredibly serious. The Premier League has the power to expel Man City entirely, to impose points deductions, and to apply restrictions on registering players. They could also be stripped of their titles and heavily fined.

While the original investigation is now beyond a guilty verdict and into the appeal stage, where City's owners are promising to share the 'irrefutable evidence' that was not unearthed during the previous proceedings, there are other bodies now taking an interest in the scandal.

According to the Mirror, City are facing a probe on behalf of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority over loans of taxpayers' money to firms owned by City owner Sheikh Mansour, and scrutiny from England's new Independent Football Regulator.

It has also been confirmed in the House of Commons that the Financial Reporting Council has assumed control of 'regularly consideration' regarding the scandal and that a preliminary investigation is already underway.

Those are potentially very significant problems for Man City but the owners will also be aware of the one mechanism by which they could be removed from English football entirely and forced to sell the club.

The Independent Football Regulator was established by the Football Governance Act 2025 and has been imbued with a range of powers that club owners must be wary about.

They include the right to boot owners out of football lock, stock and barrel. City have been warned that this is one of the punishments they could face beyond the Premier League's own sanctions.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football as reported by the Mirror, the chair of the Independent Football Regulator said that it would be keeping its powder dry for now, but has the ultimate say-so when it comes to whether City's owners are permitted to continue.

"We will look at the individuals who've given evidence, we will look at the individuals involved with the club and we will take a judgement call," said David Kogan.

"I am not going to get pushed into making any judgement on this until we've seen all of those questions being answered and then we will have to decide whether we're going to mount our own investigation and come to a conclusion on that and what we're going to do. And pre-empting that would be a colossal mistake.

"We have the power to ask an owner to step away from a club if we believe that they run a club in a way that is neither fit, fair or done with propriety.

"We've got absolute power to do so."