MANCHESTER-Manchester City has been fined £2.09 million for their habit of being late for both the start of games and the half. The team acknowledged that there had been 22 without good reason, external infractions of Premier League regulations.
Why was Man City fined £2 million?
“Apologizing for the accepted breaches and confirming that it has reminded the players and football management teams of their responsibilities,” the Premier League stated the club had done. “Rules relating to kick-offs and restarts help ensure the organization of the competition is set at the highest possible professional standard and provides certainty to fans and participating clubs,” stated the statement. It also ensures the broadcast of all 380 league matches around the world is kept to schedule. City has not responded to requests for comment. The 2022–2023 Premier League winners were fined £390,000 for their eight restart delays. During the 2023–24 season, there were 14 infractions and £1.7 million in fines; the second half began eleven times later than the first half did, while the match started four times later. The penalties varied from a warning for the first offense, which occurred during a game against Crystal Palace on August 27, 2022, to the maximum fine of £200,000 for the longest delay of two minutes and 46 seconds. That occurred on May 19, 2024, during their 3-1 victory over West Ham, on the final day of the season, when they won the Premier League for the fourth time in a row. On August 19, 2023, they defeated Newcastle 1-0 at home. The kickoff and restart times were delayed, and throughout the course of the two seasons, 12 infractions occurred in home games.
How many times did Man City delay kick-offs?
Crystal Palace was fined £220,000 in March 2023 by the league’s independent disciplinary panel, with £70,000 of that amount being suspended, for creating delays in two games in October 2022. These were Palace’s 13th and 14th infractions in two seasons. A Premier League disciplinary tribunal is scheduled to hear 115 claims against City later this year, some of which are related to suspected financial regulatory violations that occurred as long ago as 2009. A portion of such fees are associated with sums that sponsors connected to Abu Dhabi have paid to the City. The club maintains that they are backed by a body of irrefutable evidence and has consistently and vehemently disputed the allegations. This seems like a very large fine to be assessed for such a small offense. However, kick-off timings matter in a world of worldwide television, and the Premier League is aware that disrupted schedules might eventually have an impact on revenue. With a warning as the first sanction and a £10,000 fine as the second, the Premier League seemed to be irritated and assumed the matter would be settled swiftly.
What are the rules regarding kick-off delays?
According to bbc, But it wasn’t, and as a result, the penalty increased. Although City is not competing, I wonder if they may have a private conversation with Pep Guardiola. They are all aware of his extraordinary attention to detail. It obviously has a price. The longest delay made by Pep Guardiola’s team came against West Ham. The fastest came when they started the second half of games against Brighton in May 2023 and Newcastle in August 2023, taking one minute and seventeen seconds. As Guardiola and his players prepare for the next season in the United States, they have recently played competitive friendlies against Barcelona, AC Milan, and Celtic. The next match is scheduled for August 3 in Ohio against Chelsea, led by Enzo Maresca. As per goal, Thunder and lightning caused a significant delay to the pre-season friendly in Orlando, but Grealish eventually supplied the spark that allowed City to fight back from down twice against a youthful but fearless Barca team that was playing its first game under Hansi Flick. Despite the absence of many first-team regulars, the German coach saw his club take the lead midway through the first half thanks to a brilliant passing play by Pau Victor. Grealish helped 19-year-old Nico O’Reilly of City tie the score, but Pablo Torre of Barcelona immediately answered for Pep Guardiola’s team before halftime.
How did the delays affect matches and fans?
Torre benefited from some careless goalkeeping from Ederson, who is having a terrible time touring the US and may be leaving City in the near future due to transfer rumors to Saudi Arabia. But Grealish took matters into his own hands and scored for the first time since December to equalize in the second half.
