LONDON – Former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany hit back at the club’s critics on Tuesday after the English champions were rocked by more than 100 charges relating to the Premier League’s financial rules.

City have been charged with alleged offences relating to a period between 2009 and 2018, with the potential punishments if they are found guilty ranging from fines to expulsion from the Premier League.

Kompany, now manager of Championship leaders Burnley, won four Premier League titles and six domestic Cups during an 11-year spell at the Etihad Stadium.

The 36-year-old Belgian retains strong emotional ties with City and, although he would not comment directly on the financial charges, he said it was wrong for outsiders to point the finger of blame at his old club.

Asked after Burnley’s FA Cup 2-1 fourth-round win over Ipswich if the allegations could tarnish the memories of what he achieved at City, Kompany said: “I kind of look at it and sometimes roll my eyes a little bit.

“No doubt there’s a lot of righteousness in the world to come and tell you what you’ve done wrong and then, if everybody looks at themselves, I think the football industry in general is not one that can afford to point the finger too many times.

“I think all of you will have a little bit of a smile on your face to know what the football industry is about.

“I’m very sceptical when people start pointing fingers.

“Do the best for yourself and let’s try and improve all the time but I’m a little bit sceptical when the fingers get pointed easily.”

City, who in December topped the Deloitte money league of the world’s richest clubs, have been referred to an independent commission. But the club appear to be confident they can ride out the storm, insisting there is “irrefutable” evidence that supports their case.

It is not the first time the club, transformed on and off the pitch after their takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, have been in the spotlight over issues of finance.

City were fined €60 million (S$85.4 million) in 2014 for breaching Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations.

The club were also banned for two years from Uefa competitions in February 2020 by European football’s governing body for “serious financial fair play breaches” but the sanction was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later that year.

David Pannick, of Blackstone Chambers, will again defend the club after assisting with their successful appeal to the CAS. The case is expected to be a long-drawn affair.

Pannick, who recently advised former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in an investigation into whether he misled parliament, could be paid £80,000 (S$128,000) a day, or £400,000 a week, the same rate as Kevin de Bruyne, City’s – and the Premier League’s – highest-paid player, said legal website The Lawyer.

In 2022, City manager Pep Guardiola made it clear that he would walk away from the club if he discovered he had been lied to by the owners regarding their financial dealings.

This, besides all their possible sanctions, would be a worst-case scenario for City, who have won four of the past five Premier League titles under his leadership.

A Daily Mail report has said that the other members of the Premier League’s “Big Six” – Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United and Liverpool – are pushing hardest to see City handed the harshest punishment, which essentially means expulsion from the English top flight.

The report added that there is a growing sentiment among those clubs that the stripping of City’s titles is “meaningless” and a fine is also not likely to have much effect for a club with such enormous wealth. AFP, REUTERS