Why Chelsea's punishment offers no comfort to City

Anyone hoping Chelsea's recent FA sanction might soften the ground for Manchester City's long-running 115-charge saga is likely to be disappointed.

Stefan Borson, who previously worked as a financial adviser to City, has told Football Insider that the Premier League champions would face a punishment far more severe than the one Chelsea just received, should they be found guilty.

"The punishment would be nowhere near the Chelsea punishment. It would be far more severe."

The FA fined Chelsea £10million and handed them a suspended two-window transfer ban for illegal payments to agents during Roman Abramovich's ownership. That ban only activates if the club repeat those offences.

Chelsea, it should be noted, saw an original 15-point deduction reduced to zero, with no evidence suggesting their actions delivered any sporting advantage on the pitch.

No mitigation available

The contrast with City's position could hardly be starker. Borson argues the Blues' recent leniency provides a useful measure of just how defining a guilty verdict could be for the champions.

Where Chelsea could point to cooperation and an absence of sporting gain, Borson suggests City would have little to lean on.

"If they are proven, City just simply won't have the mitigation that Chelsea had."

He points out that Chelsea didn't admit anything, didn't allegedly cooperate, and still couldn't claim exceptional cooperation. Yet even with all that, their punishment was effectively wiped out.

The sporting advantage problem

The key difference, in Borson's view, comes down to sporting advantage. Chelsea could argue their breaches gave them no edge on the pitch. City, given their sustained success, would struggle to make that case stick.

"The only question would be, could City show, or would there be any possibility of demonstrating that there was no sporting advantage? I think that is extremely unlikely."

His conclusion is blunt. If the charges are proven, you would have egregious breaches, aggravating factors everywhere, no early admission — quite the contrary — and no mitigation to speak of.

Everton and Nottingham Forest have already felt the sting of points deductions in recent times. Borson's assessment suggests City could be looking at something on an entirely different scale.

"First of all, we don't know whether the 115 charges are proven or not, and clearly if they're not proven, then it has no bearing at all," he said.

That remains the great unknown. But if the worst-case scenario materialises, Chelsea's relatively gentle landing will offer no comfort whatsoever.