Manchester City will not be preparing for relegation. They will not be drawing up plans to rebuild a squad from the Championship. According to sources, the club are not even considering the possibility.

Instead, the hierarchy intend to keep protesting their innocence until the very end, convinced they can prove the Premier League wrong. That much is clear from the noises coming out of the Etihad. The confidence remains. The intention to appeal remains. The belief that they have done nothing wrong remains.

What also remains, unless they can successfully plead their case at an appeal hearing, is the prospect of a hefty points deduction.

Wyness: 'Certain' to Lose at Least 50 Points

Keith Wyness, the former Everton chief executive and one-time Premier League board member, offered a blunt assessment on Friday. He told Football Insider that City's hopes of overturning the verdict are "tenuous at best". He expects a deduction of at least 50 points. Heavy fines and reputational damage, in his view, are also coming.

Wyness did concede one thing: the Premier League's own reputation is on the line too. Eight titles won while potentially breaking the rules does not reflect well on the competition, whichever way you look at it.

He also suggested the appeal process could drag on for up to three months.

Stefan Borson, a former City financial advisor, was similarly downbeat last weekend. He believes City may challenge specific points of law, but rates their chances of overturning the guilty verdict as extremely unlikely. In his view, they face a huge uphill battle given how severely they appear to have lost on the initial judgement.

The Premier League found them guilty on all but one of the 115 charges. That is the reality City are staring at.

A Saga Nearing Its Endgame

This has been rumbling since February 2023. It now looks set to come to a head in the coming months, with the Premier League already making their initial verdict clear and briefing the other clubs.

City's position is straightforward: they will appeal. They have every intention of doing so. They believe they can win. Whether that belief is justified is another matter entirely, and the men who know the financial landscape best are not sounding optimistic.

For now, the club are holding firm. No relegation planning. No squad restructuring. Just a refusal to accept the verdict and a determination to fight it.

The next few months will decide whether that defiance looks brave or deluded.