According to the British media i Paper Sport, the results of Manchester City's 115 violation cases are expected to be announced in mid-November, possibly during the national team match day in November.

There is a joke among legal experts that they have been on call for a long time for the Manchester City case countless times. In order to be called in time to discuss the case, they have canceled dinner parties, night outings, and cleared their work schedules. However, the only punishment for this case so far is that it has seriously affected their lives.

But now it seems that their professional opinions will finally come in handy. According to a source familiar with the arbitration process, the verdict of the case is expected to be announced in mid-November, possibly during the international match.

This is in line with the predictions of many Premier League club officials, who all believe that the matter cannot be delayed until 2026. "Now everyone just wants a ruling to clarify the follow-up direction." A source pointed out that an important vote on the future of the Financial Fair Play Act will be held at the end of November, and these agendas are likely to be "completely obscured" by the progress of the Manchester City case.

There is a premonition in some boardrooms that the start of this season is nothing more than the Premier League's "calm before the storm". If City are found guilty, it could trigger a chain of lawsuits - rivals could file claims, and if City's points are appealed, the league table could even be marked with an asterisk. “It’s unusually quiet now because it has been delayed for so long that people have almost forgotten about it, but when the ruling comes down it may cause an uproar.” A source said frankly.

Since the Premier League officially confirmed the accusation for the first time in February 2023, the progress of the case has been kept secret, which undoubtedly exacerbated anxiety. The Premier League has always maintained silence, citing confidentiality clauses, with chief executive Richard Masters deftly dodging all inquiries in interviews.

Manchester City’s former consultant and legal expert Stephen Bolson revealed that as of the end of the latest international match day, the ruling documents had not yet reached the Premier League or club mailboxes. But he firmly believes there will be results before the end of the year. The hearing in this case will begin in mid-September 2024 and last for approximately 12 weeks to early December. According to media reports, this complex case involves more than 250,000 pieces of evidence, and Manchester City is accused of violating financial fairness rules 130 times between 2009 and 2023.

A source who has participated in similar arbitration cases said that the legal profession usually calculates based on the rule of thumb that "for every week of hearings, the arbitral tribunal needs four weeks of deliberations." If this pattern is followed, Manchester City's 12-week case is expected to take 48 weeks to decide, which will happen in November this year.

"There is no reason to delay any further," Bolson said last week. "Even if the arbitral tribunal is busy with other matters, it would be extraordinary if there was no timetable and no deadline for issuing a ruling in the past ten months. I think that in any case, ten months is enough time to issue a detailed ruling of four to five hundred pages in this case, and the judgment is imminent."

The ruling in this case has as much impact on the football world as it does Manchester City. Going to war with member clubs has proven to be a lose-lose situation - Manchester City just filed a lawsuit against the Premier League this autumn over related party transaction rules and reached a settlement, but those 115 accusations are unlikely to end amicably.

"This case is huge and politically challenging because Manchester City is an important part of the Premier League and the verdict will damage the league's brand," said Professor Rob Wilson, director of the Football Business University campus program. If guilty, it means that an important chapter of the Premier League story in recent years has been tainted. In either case, the Premier League looks like a loser."

The aftermath of the incident is bound to follow: if Manchester City is indeed found guilty of substantive crimes, Manchester City will inevitably file an appeal, and claims from Premier League rivals will inevitably follow. These disputes can last for months or even years. If a club misses European qualification or the league title due to Manchester City's violations, they may also appeal.

Earlier this month, Burnley's £50 million claim for Everton's violation of PSR rules was just concluded. People in the legal profession believe that the judgment in this case has important reference significance. "The loss of television broadcast revenue and league share due to relegation is clearly quantifiable," Daniel Gore, a senior associate at a law firm, pointed out, "but it is much more difficult to prove that 'could have advanced to the Champions League/Europa League or won the Premier League championship and received specific benefits.'"

The only thing that is certain now is that even if Manchester City's "115 violations" case is ruled in November, this is far from the end of the story.