No Premier League appetite to strip Man City of titles - but threat remains

It is one of the biggest talking points from the Manchester City case.

Should City be stripped of the eight trophies they won between 2009 and 2018, the period in which they were accused of breaking Premier League financial rules?

Judging by social media, many fans of rival clubs are now hoping for such an outcome.

However BBC Sport has been told there has been little appetite from within the Premier League - both the organisation and clubs - for past titles to be stripped from City

Does that put an end to it?

Not quite, as the decision will be made by an independent panel which is yet to hold a "sanction hearing". That means it cannot be ruled out, although a points deduction, huge fine or possibly even expulsion from the Premier League are thought to be more likely.

Here, BBC Sport analyses this difficult issue and decision the panel is now facing.

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"I think we still have a chance to win that league… and then they have to pay me the bonus and give me the medal."

It was almost two years ago that Jose Mourinho mischievously raised the possibility that his former club Manchester United could be handed the 2018 Premier League title held by Manchester City.

Under Mourinho, United finished second to City by 19 points in 2018, his final full campaign in charge at Old Trafford.

City have always denied wrongdoing. But now we know they have been found guilty of the majority of the 115 charges, was Mourinho right?

Premier League rules do not directly make reference to such a sanction, with a fine, points deduction or expulsion listed as possible punishments. However, they also allow for a disciplinary commission panel to impose a penalty "as it shall think fit". That theoretically could include retrospectively-applied points deductions, or the stripping of titles.

Many will argue that if upheld after any appeal, the nature and scale of the wrongdoing City have been found guilty of warrants such as sanction on the basis that titles were won unfairly, and any misrepresentation of revenue and costs gave them a crucial competitive advantage.

City were accused of a wide range of rule breaches, centred around claims that they inflated sponsorship revenue from connected companies and made other "off the books" payments to circumvent football's financial rules.

So with a cloud hanging over the trophy-laden era City have enjoyed since the takeover of the club by Abu Dhabi billionaire Sheikh Mansour in 2008, could asterisks now be applied to the titles City won during the period in which they have been found to have broken the rules?

Could they be left blank? Or, as implied by Mourinho, reallocated to those teams who finished runners-up to City?

2011-12: Manchester United

2017-18: Manchester United

Such a move would threaten to open the proverbial can of worms, raising questions over other accomplishments.

For instance, there is now scepticism towards the various trophies Chelsea won in the 2010s, after the club were found to have made a catalogue of secret payments to agents over transfers, between 2011 and 2018.

Some will ask that if retrospective action is applied to City, should the same not happen to Chelsea?

It is impossible to know exactly to what extent City benefited on the field from their rule breaches. And which players they may not have been able to afford if they had adhered to the regulations.

And what about the period between December 2018 and February 2023, when City stand accused of a failure to co-operate with Premier League investigations?

Should retrospective action be applied then too? Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool finished runners-up to Pep Guardiola's City twice during that time, by a single point in both 2019 and 2022. Last year, the German coach joked he would host a party in his garden if his former club were suddenly awarded those titles.

Some will conclude that the rule breaches between 2009 and 2018 helped City to lay the foundations on which Guardiola built on to achieve so much success, culminating in the Treble triumph of 2023.

Does that era come into scope? Where does it end?

For some, the mass reallocation of titles over such a long period would risk making a mockery of Premier League history, jeopardising its reputation and commercial viability. Others would argue that some 17 years after the first alleged breach, and with City accused of distorting the competition over multiple seasons, serious damage has already been done to the league's standing.