Man City Found Guilty: What the FFP Ruling Means for Your Last Man Standing Picks

Friday 25 September 2026 is going in the Premier League history books, alongside the big title nights and the ugly ones. After years of leaks, hearings and "any week now", an independent panel has found Manchester City guilty of 114 of the 115 financial charges brought by the Premier League.

That's huge. But if you play Last Man Standing, the bit that matters is this: nobody has been told the punishment yet.

And your question is a lot simpler than the legal one. Can you still pick City this week? Will they still be on the list next month? If you've been saving them for a horrible away trip in April, is that pick still alive?

What was actually decided today

This is a ruling on guilt, not a sentence.

The panel looked at more than a decade of alleged rule-breaking, mostly between 2009-10 and 2017-18, and found City in breach on almost every count. The charge sheet covered:

• Failing to give the league a "true and fair" picture of the club's finances
• Incomplete details of payments to players and managers
• UEFA FFP and Premier League profitability breaches in the mid-2010s
• Owner-linked sponsorship income the league said was inflated

City have always denied wrongdoing, and Friday's statement didn't admit to anything. It said the Premier League process "remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality." In plain English: we're not done, and we'll appeal. The Premier League hasn't commented. Other clubs have been briefed, which is how this leaked.

So think of today as the day the case stopped being a rumour and became a finding. It isn't the day City lose points, titles or their place in the league.

Why the 115 charges case took so long

The league charged City in February 2023. The closed-door hearing started in September 2024 and ran for about 12 weeks. Then everyone waited. Pep Guardiola left after 2025-26, still waiting. Enzo Maresca took the job, still waiting. Five games into 2026-27, City are top with five wins from five, and now the verdict finally lands.

That timeline matters for your picks. A case this old doesn't end with a points deduction on Monday morning. The sanction comes next, then an appeal. City get 14 days to lodge one once the decision is formally issued. Recent Premier League financial appeals have taken weeks or months, and this case is far bigger than Everton's or Forest's. Any final sporting penalty could easily slip into 2027.

Will Manchester City still be available to pick?

This season: almost certainly yes

City are a Premier League club today, and they'll play Premier League fixtures until the league says otherwise.

A guilty finding doesn't take them off the fixture list. Expulsion is on the table, but even that would normally kick in at the end of a season, not halfway through one. In theory a points deduction could be immediate. In practice it waits for written reasons, a sanction hearing and, usually, an appeal.

Until a published sanction changes City's membership or their remaining fixtures, they stay in the pool of 20. If you haven't used them yet, they're still a legal pick.

Next season: that's the real question

Looking at 2027-28, these are the realistic outcomes:

• A fine and/or a modest points hit. City stay up and you keep picking them. They're just a slightly less reliable banker if they're carrying a deduction.
• A heavy points deduction. Still a Premier League club, still on your list. Saving City for a hard week gets riskier, though.
• Titles stripped from 2009–18. Ugly for the record books, but it makes no difference to your pick screen. You're predicting future results, not rewriting 2012.
• Relegation or expulsion. The rules allow it, but it's the hardest outcome to land and the easiest to fight. If it ever happens, it'll almost certainly be after the appeals, so late this season or early next.

If City were thrown out or sent down at the end of 2026-27, they wouldn't be a Premier League option in 2027-28. Championship sides don't appear in a Premier League Last Man Standing game. That's the only scenario where the answer is no, and it isn't where we are today. Right now we're at "guilty, now argue about the sentence."

How this changes your pick this month

In Last Man Standing Official the rules stay the same: pick one Premier League winner a week, no repeats in a competition, and a draw or defeat knocks you out.

On current form City are still the best team in the country. Five from five, top of the league under Maresca. If you haven't used them in your September or October game, they're still one of the cleanest "I need a win this week" buttons on the list.

The new risk isn't legal, it's human. Dressing rooms don't love headlines like this, and rivals will make sure they hear it. A deduction hanging over a club can turn a 2-0 into a 1-1 in the last 15 minutes. That's not a reason to freeze City out. It's a reason to stop treating them as automatic.

• Need a win and City are at home to a bottom-half side? They're still the pick. The panel didn't take Haaland off the teamsheet.
• Already used them? Nothing changes. You can't pick them again anyway.
• Saving them for Anfield or a late-season six-pointer? Keep an eye on the sanction calendar. A mid-season deduction would change the value of that saved pick overnight.
• Tempted just because it's all over the news? Don't be. Noise isn't form.

Monthly £100 games reset the puzzle every month. A season-long private league with your mates doesn't. Over 38 games City are one of only 20 chips, and burning them in a week when three other home favourites are available has always been a mistake. It still is today.

What the punishment could look like

The commission can mix and match from:

• A points deduction, immediate or suspended
• A fine
• Transfer or registration limits
• Stripping historic titles from the charged years
• In the extreme, removal from the Premier League

Everton and Forest set the recent template for points deductions, but those were short-window PSR cases. This one is about whether City told the truth about how a dynasty was funded, which is why people keep saying "expulsion." It's also why City will appeal as a matter of course.

For anyone still standing in the app, an appeal does two useful things. It delays any sporting punishment, and it keeps City in the Premier League while the argument drags on. You don't need to rip up your whole strategy tonight.

The honest answer

Will we see Manchester City available to pick next season?

• Rest of 2026-27: Yes. Pick them when the fixture's right.
• 2027-28: Yes, unless the nuclear option survives an appeal. It's possible, but it isn't the most likely outcome. The most likely outcome is City still in the Premier League, maybe carrying a deduction or a fine, and still one of the 20 names on your screen.

If the league ever does remove them, the app will follow. Last Man Standing Official is a Premier League game with all 20 clubs, and when the official fixture list changes, the pick list changes with it. Until then, City are live.

Open the game, check the fixtures, and if City are the standout winner and you haven't used them yet, go for it. Pick them because they're good.