Manchester City have been warned that they face the worst possible punishment after the guilty FFP verdict, with a new investigation looming.

Last month, Man City were found guilty on 114 of their 115 charges after being accused of breaching the Premier League’s FFP rules between 2009 and 2018.

Despite this, Enzo Maresca‘s side have continued to insist on their innocence and have appealed the initial verdict, saying they have ‘irrefutable evidence’ to clear their name after being accused of producing several ‘sham’ deals worth £900m in fake revenue.

However, if Man City’s appeal fails, they face severe sanctions, including a huge fine, a transfer ban, a points deduction, expulsion, and/or being stripped of their Premier League titles.

We were told on Tuesday that an announcement on Man City’s punishments could drag into next season, but their sanctions could expand beyond sporting penalties.

This is because the Head of the Independent Football Regulator, David Kogan, has confirmed that they can intervene and “mount our own investigation” into Man City’s situation.

Kogan said on The Rest is Football: “I am not going to get pushed into making any judgement on this until we’ve seen all of those questions being answered and then we will have to decide whether we’re going to mount our own investigation and come to a conclusion on that and what we’re going to do.

“And pre-empting that would be a colossal mistake.”

Man City face the worst FFP punishment with ownership under threat

However, when asked what role the new regulator could play in the Man City FFP process, Kogan replied: “We would judge against the tests of ownership and senior directors and executives. We would judge the actions of those individuals.

“We’re not there, we can’t, unlike the Premier League, who obviously can take action against the club in terms of fines or points deduction or whatever it may be.”

Co-host Gary Lineker then pressed further on what the regulator can do. To which Kogan added: “We look at the individuals. We will look at the individuals who’ve given evidence, we will look at the individuals involved with the club and we will take a judgement call.”

He continued: “We have the power to ask an owner to step away from a club if we believe that they run a club in a way that is neither fit, fair or done with propriety.”

On whether Man City’s owners could refuse, Kogan said: “No, no, no. We’ve got absolute power to do so.”

This is certainly a fresh blow for Man City after Gary Neville claimed that owners being ousted is the only sanction they will be “worried” about.

City, though, continue to protest their innocence, and TEAMtalk has been exclusively told by a top sports lawyer how the club could take their fight all the way to the High Court.