Manchester City punished by Premier League for breaking unusual rule 22 times
There were 22 separate breaches.
Manchester City have been fined just over £2m by the Premier League for breaching kick-off and re-start rules 22 times over the last two seasons.
Man City accepted the fine and apologised to the Premier League while reminding their players and management of their responsibilities.
Rule L.33 says clubs will be disciplined if they ’cause delays to either the kick-off of a match or the re-start after the half-time interval’ unless they have ‘good reason’.
Manchester City were found to have been guilty of such offences 22 times over the last two seasons, with the longest delay coming at the start of the final game of the 2023-24 campaign when the match began two minutes and 46 seconds late.
In total, Man City – who remain under investigation into 115 charges for alleged breaches of financial regulations – delayed restarts by 39 minutes and 52 seconds.
A statement from the Premier League read: ‘The Premier League and Manchester City FC have entered into a sanction agreement after the club accepted it had breached Premier League Rule L.33 relating to kick-off and re-start obligations.
‘The breaches relate to a number of Premier League matches during the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.
The games that led to Man City's fine
- vs Crystal Palace (H) – August 27, 2022 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute 18 seconds)
- vs Brighton (H) – October 22, 2022 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute 19 seconds)
- vs Leeds (A) – December 28, 2022 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 34 seconds)
- vs Everton (H) – December 31, 2022 (Length of delay to kick-off: 2 minutes and 33 seconds)
- vs Leicester (H) – April 15, 2023 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 29 seconds)
- vs Everton (A) – May 14, 2023 (Length of delay to restart: 2 minutes and 15 second)
- vs Chelsea (H) – May 21, 2023 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minuute and 26 seconds)
- vs Brighton (A) – May 24, 2023 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 17 seconds)
- vs Burnley (A) – August 11, 2023 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 32 seconds)
- vs Newcastle (H) – August 19, 2023 (Length of delay to kick-off and restart: 2 minutes and 34 seconds and 1 minute and 17 seconds)
- vs Brighton (H) – October 21, 2023 (Length of delay to kick-off: 2 minutes and 35 seconds):
- vs Aston Villa (A) – December 6, 2023 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 34 seconds)
- vs Crystal Palace (H) – December 16, 2023 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 19 seconds)
- vs Sheffield United (H) – December 30, 2023 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 26 seconds)
- vs Newcastle (A) – January 13, 2024 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 46 seconds)
- vs Chelsea (H) – February 17, 2024 (Length of delay to kick-off: 1 minute and 55 seconds)
- vs Aston Villa (H) – April 3, 2024 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 40 seconds)
- vs Crystal Palace (A) – April 6, 2024 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 43 seconds)
- vs Brighton (A) – April 25, 2024 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 45 seconds)
- vs Nottingham Forest (A) – April 28, 2024 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 22 seconds)
- vs Tottenham (A) – May 14, 2024 (Length of delay to restart: 1 minute and 27 seconds)
- vs West Ham (H) – May 19, 2024 (Length of delay to kick-off: 2 minutes and 46 seconds)
‘Rules relating to kick-offs and re-starts help ensure the organisation of the competition is set at the highest possible professional standard and provides certainty to fans and participating clubs.
‘It also ensures the broadcast of all 380 League matches around the world is kept to schedule.
‘As required by the Premier League Rules, the sanction agreement has been ratified by three members of the Independent Judicial Panel.’
Manchester City won the Premier League for the fourth year in a row last season, edging out Arsenal in a thrilling title race.
The Premier League champions face FA Cup winners and local rivals Manchester United in the Community Shield final on August 10 before kick-starting their title defence the following weekend against Chelsea.
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