Manchester City could face a mammoth points deduction after the independent commission found them guilty of breaching 114 Premier League rules last month.

The Cityzens were found to have used 'sham' sponsorship deals to boost their earnings by around £900million between 2009 and 2018 - a period when they won three Premier League titles.

City have maintained their innocence throughout the three-and-a-half year saga after claiming they have 'irrefutable' offence to support their case, but if their guilty verdict is upheld, they are likely to have their punishment decided as late as February 8.

Man City could be docked 50 points for breaching Premier League rules

Possible punishments include fines, transfer bans, points deductions, expulsion from the league, and titles being stripped, while the owners could also be removed by the Independent Football Regulator.

City are prepared to exhaust 'every legal avenue' to avoid being punished, while the Premier League is pushing for a punishment to be applied before the end of the 2026/27 season.

To punish them in the worst way possible, many are hoping for a string of points deductions across multiple seasons, but sources from both the FA and the Premier League suggest the greater likelihood is a points deduction that would give City a chance of staying up this season.

Instead, sources have told Football Insider that a 'single-season points deduction of around 40 to 50 points is increasingly likely', before adding that ‘City are also likely to be hit with an extended transfer ban and an astronomical fine’.

City can appeal the sanctions after the verdict is shared and can then request arbitration if they feel the process is flawed, before taking the case to the High Court.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire thinks City are ready for a “long and expensive fight”, which would undoubtedly create an even bigger rift between them and the rest of the Premier League.

“A lawyer friend told me that City have already started the process of creating noise and mess around the process,” Maguire said via Football 365.

“If you look at what’s happened already, it appears they are gearing up for a very long and expensive fight over this.

“Is the aim to persuade the Premier League to go to its members and say, ‘This could cost us as an organisation £25m-a-year to fight it, do you want us to negotiate a settlement?"

“For the clubs like Ipswich, Sunderland, and Brentford, they might see that money as coming out of their bottom line and – potentially – this isn’t really their fight because they were never trying to be competitive with Manchester City.

“The pressure has really been applied by two or three clubs who lost out on trophies or Champions League places. If this approach splits the Premier League, then things get complicated.”

Biggest points deductions in English football history

Should the Premier League action the above punishment and hand City a single-season 50-point deduction, it would be the biggest in English football history.

Luton Town's 30-point deduction in 2008/09 is currently the biggest, and by a considerable margin, after they were relegated from League One in the previous campaign. That led to them dropping into the National League for the first time in their history.

Derby County are second after being deducted a total of 21 points during the 2021/22 campaign. Firstly, they were docked 12 points for entering administration at the start of the campaign and then another nine in November for breaching the EFL's accounting rules.

Rotherham and Bournemouth, meanwhile, were both deducted 17 points respectively during the 2008/09 campaign for both failing to adhere to the EFL's rules for exiting administration. Leeds United are fifth in the list with a 15-point deduction in 2007/08 after failing to comply with the EFL's insolvency rules.