Man City fined more than £2m for delaying games

Manchester City have been fined more than £2m for delaying Premier League kick-offs and restarts 22 times over the past two seasons.

The club accepted they had breached Premier League rules when they delayed kick-off or delayed the restart after half-time on multiple occasions “without good reason”.

The Premier League champions delayed restarts eight times in the 2022-23 season and were fined £390,000.

In the 2023-24 season there were 14 breaches and fines amounting to £1.7m – with the start of the second half delayed 11 times and the start of the match delayed four times.

The punishments ranged from a warning for the first offence – in a match against Crystal Palace on 27 August 2022 – to the largest sanction of £200,000, which they have received for the longest delay of two minutes 46 seconds.

That came during their 3-1 victory over West Ham on 19 May 2024, as they sealed a fourth consecutive Premier League title on the last day of the season.

Their 1-0 home victory over Newcastle on 19 August 2023 featured a delayed kick-off and restart, and 12 of the breaches across the two seasons happened at home matches.

In the sanction agreement, the Premier League said the club had “apologised for the accepted breaches and confirmed that it has reminded the players and football management teams of their responsibilities”.

“Rules relating to kick-offs and restarts help ensure the organisation of the competition is set at the highest possible professional standard and provides certainty to fans and participating clubs,” it said.

“It also ensures the broadcast of all 380 league matches around the world is kept to schedule.”

City have declined to comment.

In March 2023, the league’s independent disciplinary commission fined Crystal Palace £220,000 – £70,000 of which was suspended – for causing delays in two games in October 2022 – the 13th and 14th breaches in two seasons.

Later this year, a Premier League disciplinary commission is expected to hear 115 charges against City for allegedly breaching its financial regulations, some of which date back to 2009.

Some of those charges relate to amounts paid to City by sponsors linked to Abu Dhabi.

The club have always strenuously denied the charges and say they are supported by a “body of irrefutable evidence”.

Simon Stone, BBC Sport chief football news reporter

On the face of it, this seems a ridiculous amount of money to be fined for something so minor.

But kick-off times are important in a global broadcast arena and the Premier League knows wrecked schedules can eventually affect income.

Given the initial punishment was a warning and the next a £10,000 fine, it feels like the Premier League viewed it with irritation and thought it would quickly be resolved.

Except it wasn’t, so the fines kept going up.

City are not contesting but I wonder if they might have a quiet word with Pep Guardiola.

We all know his attention to detail is immense. It clearly comes at a cost.