Liam Gallagher: Man City Will Avoid Harshest Punishment

Liam Gallagher says Manchester City will get away with nothing worse than a fine and a transfer ban once the Premier League rules on the 115 financial charges against the club.

The Oasis frontman, a long-standing City supporter, posted on social media that someone "in a very, very high position" at the club had given him the outcome ahead of any appeal. City currently lead the Premier League table on their own while they wait on a verdict that has taken years to reach this stage.

The Athletic reported last week that the independent commission has found City guilty on 114 of the 115 charges, covering a decade of alleged financial irregularities. The claims include withheld information on sponsorship income and undisclosed side deals, among them a separate contract that paid Roberto Mancini 2 million pounds a year for four days' consultancy work at Al Jazira, another club owned by Sheikh Mansour, more than the 1.6 million he earned as City's manager. The commission is also said to have concluded that City repeatedly breached Financial Fair Play rules set by UEFA and the Premier League.

"I've just been told by someone in a very, very high position that if we lose our appeal, which we won't, we'll get a fine and a ban. That's it. So all of you desperate neurotic types, shut up," Gallagher wrote.

His brother Noel, also a City fan, struck a more subdued note when he reacted to the same report, describing himself as being in a state of shock rather than reaching for defiance. Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has made no public statement since the story broke and maintains, by all accounts, that the club will prove its innocence.

No formal ruling has been confirmed, and City's appeal has yet to be heard. If the outcome matches what Gallagher describes, the club's league position and playing squad go untouched; a harsher finding would leave the appeal carrying far more weight than a mere formality.