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Manchester City's appeal against the Premier League verdict will be heard in December, as per reports. City were found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period by an independent commission, as well as charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the investigation.
City have appealed the independent commission's decision, with the club’s hierarchy adamant they are innocent and remain committed to clearing their name. But if the appeal fails, the consequences could be devastating for the 2023 European champions.
Now, according to the Financial Times, City chiefs are aware the hearing will take place at some point in December. It's expected it will run for a number of days, with a judgement not expected until 2027.
As such, it would appear there won't be a decision on any sanctions until after the appeal has been heard and the judgment has been returned. It means it could be the Spring before a punishment is handed out, should the appeal prove unsuccessful.
One of the punishments touted, given the severity of the case against the Blues, is relegation to the Championship.
That would be done by administering such a hefty points deduction it would be impossible for City to accumulate enough points to avoid the drop.
There has been chatter about potential expulsion, which would represent a doomsday scenario for City, given it wouldn't protect their position in the Football League pyramid.
It's been suggested that expulsion is less likely than a points deduction that leads to relegation, but most options are on the table for the independent commission.
Speaking on the case, football finance expert Stefan Borson told talkSPORT this week: "There's a lot of confusion as to the exact stage that we're at. I've heard lots of different things, so I don't know whether they've had the sanction hearing or not had it.
"I was told by somebody who should know that there had been no sanction hearing as of last week. There's then the question of whether the sanction hearing is published or not.
"City will, I'm sure, try and argue it should've been published or that it shouldn't be binding or we shouldn't have a minus whatever, in the way we did with Everton and Nottingham Forest.
"We've seen it crystallise with Everton and Nottingham Forest, so the Premier League may well argue that it should crystallise immediately (with Man City)."
He added: "There's so many different aspects to what's going on right now, the level of litigation, appeal, other issues...
"The Premier League just brought on a guy, Sir James Eadie KC, who is the No.1 choice for government in these sorts of very technical, public law disputes, or judicial review type things.
"So there's obviously something going on in terms of an issue that requires a non-commercial KC to get involved.
"We just don't know what it is and there's just a number of different things it could be... it could be an appeal to part of the disciplinary section case, or it could be a Rule X arbitration, which is a challenge or an appeal to an appeal... It gets very complicated."
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