Now, according to the Financial Times, City's bigwigs 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 the new year.

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, should the appeal prove unsuccessful, is handed out.

One of the punishments that has been 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 leading to relegation, but most things are on the table for the independent commission.

"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)."

Adding: "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."