Manchester City has been fined £1.08 million by the Premier League for violating kick-off and restart regulations during nine of their matches last season. The club in question has taken responsibility for these breaches. It has an additional 14 days to pay the fine, according to the sanction agreement signed Thursday.
The Premier League even took its decision on the basis of events occurring between October-February. After that period, officials began to remark on delayed kick-offs and restarts. These fines are essentially limited to violations of Rule L.33, which outlines the strict time schedule for such occurrences. When Manchester City visited rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford last December, the match saw the longest delay in Premier League history. The match finally began two minutes and 24 seconds past scheduled start time.
Just last month, Manchester City was penalized again — on top of an earlier £2 million fine for breaching the existing rules. That was a fine for 22 other identical violations of kick-off and re-start rules from the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons. The club’s long history of incurring such fines has set a precedent that the league is very much interested in changing.
Among the nine matches cited for the recent fine, several notable delays included:
- A delay of two minutes and 10 seconds during the home match against Southampton on October 26, 2024.
- A one-minute and 38-second delay before kick-off against Tottenham on November 23, 2024.
- Another significant delay of one minute and 59 seconds while restarting against Nottingham Forest on December 4, 2024.
The club’s troubles with timing don’t just stop at these two instances either. Long stoppages happened in games played against the Minnesota United, Nashville SC and Seattle Sounders FC. In particular, 1:29 stoppage time against Crystal Palace, 1:18 kick-off and 2:24 re-start against Manchester United and 2:09 against Aston Villa.
“Maintaining a stringent enforcement of these rules isn’t a luxury, it’s a requirement,” said Premier League in a statement.
“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.” – Premier League
The league highlighted that adherence to these regulations is crucial for broadcasting schedules:
“It also ensures the broadcast of every Premier League match is kept to schedule.” – Premier League
These fines have nothing to do with the long-term set up. Manchester City is presently fighting a historic 115 charges for supposed financial regulation infractions. The club has categorically denied any wrongdoing connected to those charges.
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