The Manchester City could be relegated this very season. According to the Daily Mail, which cites sources close to the proceedings over the club's financial charges, the most likely punishment would be a points deduction large enough to guarantee relegation to the Championship, along with a very hefty fine. Expulsion from the Premier League and being sent to League Two appears to be an unlikely scenario.

The punishment could include a second points deduction, intended to keep the club in the Championship for at least one more season. The idea is that of a severe punishment followed by a path for City to rebuild.

What seems to be ruled out is ending up in League Two, which would mean leaving professional football and unprecedented chaos. If it were applied midway through the campaign, all of City's results would have to be annulled and nobody would know where the team would play until June.

The Premier, according to the British outlet, is pushing for the punishment to be made known before a ruling is issued on the appeal. That possibility would change the timeline of the case. City would have a sanction hanging over them while they play the season, and the appeal would be decided with the campaign already well advanced.

A historic sanction

At the end of September, the independent commission found City guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against it by the Premier League for breaching financial rules over nine seasons, and of most of those related to failing to cooperate with the investigation. The sanction has yet to be decided.

City appealed. After the verdict, the club said it would exhaust all avenues of appeal available to it and maintained that the ruling contains errors of law, principle, and fact. 

Everything now depends on two clocks. The one for the sanction, which the Premier wants to bring forward, and the one for the appeal, which would not be resolved before January. Until one of them is settled, City will continue competing without knowing which league they will belong to next season.