Could Manchester City's 115 Charges Have Any Impact on AFC Bournemouth?

After Manchester City's long-running financial case finally reached a significant milestone, for AFC Bournemouth supporters, an obvious question might be: what does any of this actually mean for the Cherries?

With an independent commission finding the Premier League club guilty of all of the serious financial-rule charges brought against them, along with the majority of the alleged failures to co-operate with the investigation, naturally thoughts swing back to our own club - and whether any of the potential sanctions could affected the powers that be at Dean Court.

The short answer is - probably very little directly. That said, there are some potential indirect consequences worth keeping an eye on.

On Tuesday, the Premier League announced an independent commission had found Manchester City guilty of the serious financial breaches covering a nine-season period between 2009/10 and 2017/18. The language they used was damning, and even the level-headed Kieran Maguire, on his Price of Football podcast, suggested that the wording was "as strong as you can get" - highlighting repeated uses of the word "sham".

These included fraudulent commercial agreements, misstated accounts and significant breaches of both Premier League and UEFA spending limits. 

As is stands, the sanctions will be considered at a separate hearing, which will remain private until the outcome can be published. City also have until Friday to appeal the commission's findings, and as it gos, they vehemently seem to be defending their position.

So, right now, there is currently no points deduction, relegation, expulsion, title-stripping or compensation payment to other clubs - but what could it mean to AFC Bournemouth once any decisions are made?

The charges cover a period stretching from the 2009/10 season through to 2017/18 - and, for most of that time, Bournemouth were not even in the Premier League.

The Cherries' first Premier League season was 2015/16, meaning Bournemouth overlapped with the period under investigation for only three seasons: 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18. Their league positions during those campaigns were 16th, 9th and 12th respectively.

There were not even any transfers between the clubs, as Nathan Ake joined the Citizens in 2020.

That said, compensation could be due... 

This is one of the more complicated possibilities, as following the verdict, there has been discussion about clubs potentially buddying up to seek compensation if they can demonstrate that Manchester City's alleged financial breaches caused them a financial loss.

This could theoretically involve things such as lost prize money, European qualification, or a "loss of chance" to achieve a particular sporting or financial outcome.

But simply being a Premier League club during the relevant period would not automatically make a club eligible for compensation - a club would presumably need to establish some form of causal connection between City's conduct and its own loss.

And that is where Bournemouth's case looks considerably less obvious, because if you take the 2017/18 season for example - Bournemouth finished 12th with 44 points. Even if Manchester City's position were somehow removed from the equation, Cherries would not suddenly become a European contender.

The same is true of the previous two seasons.

That doesn't mean there could never be a Bournemouth-related financial argument. It simply means that a significant historical compensation claim appears much harder to establish than it would for clubs that were directly competing with City at the top of the table.

This is probably where Bournemouth supporters should pay more attention, because if Manchester City eventually receive a substantial sporting punishment, it could alter the Premier League landscape.

Possible sanctions have been widely discussed, ranging from financial penalties to points deductions and potentially much more severe sporting consequences. The exact punishment remains unknown because the sanctioning process has yet to take place.

If a points deduction were imposed during the current season, for example, it could obviously affect the Premier League table, and that would affect every club, including Bournemouth.

Similarly, if City were forced to operate under a substantial sporting handicap, the clubs around them would potentially have an easier route to points, league positions and associated prize money.

That doesn't mean Bournemouth would suddenly benefit in any guaranteed way. They would still have to win their own matches, but removing or weakening one of the Premier League's most powerful sides would inevitably change the competitive environment.

This is another possibility that will undoubtedly attract attention, but it is important not to get carried away... the commission's guilty verdict does not automatically rewrite Premier League history.

There is no current announcement saying that Manchester City's titles will be removed or that historical league tables will simply be recalculated, and even if historical positions were changed, Bournemouth's position would alter dramatically - that said, the prize money for each positional increase has become exponentially more important as seasons have passed.

Perhaps the most interesting issue is not whether Bournemouth will suddenly receive money or move up an old league table - it is the broader question of competitive fairness.

Manchester City's case concerns allegations that financial arrangements artificially inflated revenue and reduced reported costs, with the Premier League saying the commission found City had significantly breached spending limits.

Bournemouth, meanwhile, have spent much of their Premier League existence operating on a completely different financial scale - they have had to make recruitment decisions, manage their wage bill and compete within the financial regulations governing Premier League clubs.

So there is a legitimate wider question about what happens when a club is found to have gained an advantage through breaches of those rules. It is not necessarily something Bournemouth can turn into a cheque from the Premier League, but it does go to the heart of what these regulations are supposed to achieve.

Absolutely, but not because a huge windfall is coming to Vitality Stadium, as, the Manchester City case is primarily about Manchester City - for Bournemouth, the direct connection is extremely limited.

But, the potential Bournemouth impact is therefore much more likely to come in the future rather than from the past - a major points deduction, relegation or other sporting sanction against City could alter the current Premier League competitive landscape, and a wider compensation or regulatory process could theoretically have some financial implications for clubs across the league. Plus, further changes to financial regulations could affect how Bournemouth compete in the years ahead.

For now, though, Bournemouth supporters probably don't need to start rewriting the history books just yet.