Gary Neville warns League may become Serie A after Man City verdict

Gary Neville warned on The Overlap that the Premier League is being dragged through the mud after Manchester City were found guilty of every Premier League financial‑rules charge covering 2009‑2018, a case he says could turn English football into a Serie A‑type scandal. Getty One reported City inflated its accounts by over £900 million.

Verdict details and financial scale

The independent commission concluded that City breached all charges and that the breaches spanned a nine‑year period. The report also noted that Manchester City spent over £400 million in the summer under scrutiny.

Comparisons with Italy’s Calciopoli

Neville drew a direct line to the 2006 Calciopoli scandal that saw Juventus stripped of titles and relegated to Serie B. He warned that the Premier League could suffer a similar reputational decline if the case is not dealt with firmly.

“I am chilled. It (the guilty verdict) is chilling. This is not celebratory,” Neville said on The Overlap, adding that the Italian game has suffered immeasurably in the last 25 years.

He stressed that the Premier League is “the greatest export that we have in our country and the world”, and that being “dragged through the mud” threatens that status.

Neville called for the most severe sanction: the removal of Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners. “The only punishment that would be fair would be huge consequences – the biggest consequence – would be removing the owners,” he argued.

City have denied any wrongdoing and have until Friday to lodge an appeal, insisting “a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all [the club’s] positions.” Neville described the club’s “irrefutable evidence” comment as “a bit Trump‑esque”.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham faced criticism for saying he would be concerned about losing the owners, a comment labelled “tone‑deaf” by Stan Collymore. Rio Ferdinand added that Burnham was “on the back foot referencing Manchester City”, while other commentators accused the government of political interference.