A severe punishment for Manchester City over their alleged financial breaches could inadvertently spark a dramatic revival of the European Super League, a former top-flight player has exclusively told Sports Mole.

At the end of September, the Premier League released a damning statement confirming that Man City have been found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the league’s financial rules and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the investigation.

The Citizens are accused of using "sham" contracts and bogus deals to disguise more than £830m in secret funding and artificially inflate revenues between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.

Richard Masters, CEO of the Premier League, has said that the findings show that Man City "systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade."

In response, Man City continue to plead their innocence, stating that “a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case,” and they have subsequently lodged an appeal.

An appeal decision should ideally be reached within 12 weeks of the hearing, meaning there is a possibility that an announcement could be made at some stage towards the end of December or beginning of the New Year.

A wide range of potential sanctions have been mooted for Man City, including heavy fines, transfer bans, stripping titles, points deductions leading to relegation and expulsion from the Premier League.

Could ultimate City punishment trigger Super League return?

Should the Premier League choose to exact the ultimate punishment and expel Man City from the top flight, it could force the club to explore unprecedented alternatives.

Speaking exclusively to Sports Mole, former Chelsea and Everton winger Pat Nevin has warned that banishing City to the lower tiers of English football risks driving the European Super League back onto the table.

The European Super League was a controversial, breakaway project launched in 2021 by 12 of Europe's elite clubs aiming to create a closed-shop midweek competition to rival the UEFA Champions League – the so-called 'big six' Premier League teams, including Man City, eventually backed out.

In December 2024, the company behind the European Super League contacted UEFA and FIFA to seek official recognition for its new competition - the Unify League - and had initially planned to launch in 2026, but that now seems highly unlikely.

“I do not expect it to reappear immediately, but if you are Manchester City and you are banished to the lower reaches of football, would you simply accept that, or would you start having conversations with other clubs about creating something else?” Nevin told Sports Mole.

“The phrase is ‘follow the money’. The Premier League is as successful as it is because of the money. If you look at this purely as a business, there is an obvious opportunity in getting the biggest clubs to play each other under their own rules, with their own television deals.

“I love football and do not want to see it that way, but I can understand the commercial logic. It is up to supporters and the rest of football to oppose it. Whether that will be enough in the long term is another question.”

The danger of forcing Man City into a corner after 114 guilty verdict

While Nevin admits he holds traditional views on the game, he believes that the Premier League must be careful not to back Man City – eight-time champions – into a corner.

“I would not give that idea a helping hand,” he continued. “Punishing City so severely that they feel they have nowhere else to go could encourage that thinking.

“When people say City should be sent to the eighth, ninth or 10th tier, I am not sure they have considered the long-term consequences for everyone else. People want immediate retribution, but lawmakers have to look further ahead.

“The Super League idea will not simply disappear because the business opportunity is too attractive. Other industries have consolidated into huge international organisations. My concern is that football could eventually move in the same direction."

As the footballing world eagerly awaits the final outcome of the appeal, Enzo Maresca’s Man City are purely focused on on-field matters and currently sit top of the Premier League table after eight matches, level on points with champions Arsenal.

The Citizens suffered their first league loss of the season at Aston Villa last weekend and will be looking to return to winning ways at home against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.