What sham agreements did they have? Who are the parties involved? Were any players involved?

The sponsorship inflation scheme

The commission found that City arranged sham commercial deals with a number of its sponsors, which were part of a disguised funding scheme whereby those companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees, with the remainder secretly funded by ADUG, which owned the club. The effect was simple: a sponsorship that was genuinely worth, say, £8 million appeared on the books as being worth £50 to £60 million, because Abu Dhabi was quietly topping it up. Sponsors debated for years as having potentially understated connections to City's ownership include Etihad Airways, Etisalat (now e&, the UAE telecoms giant), Aldar Properties and others, given their ties to Abu Dhabi.

The operating expenses scheme

Further sham arrangements, also funded by ADUG, were entered into to enable the club to record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred. In other words, City was spending more than its books showed, and Abu Dhabi was covering the gap off the record, making the club look leaner and more financially self-sufficient than it was.

The Fordham image-rights scheme

A sham circular arrangement was also found with Fordham, an entity that purchased the club's players' image rights, and that arrangement was also funded by ADUG. Image rights deals are a common part of modern football contracts: a club pays a company (often controlled by a player or their agent) for the right to use the player's name and likeness commercially. The commission found City's arrangement with Fordham was not a genuine arm's-length deal but another vehicle for moving money in a way that distorted the club's true financial picture.

Were players involved?

Yes, indirectly. The violations included hiding payments that supplemented the salaries of managers and players. There were 14 charges related to failing to provide accurate details for player and manager payments between 2009 and 2018, including breaches connected to former manager Roberto Mancini's contracts and alleged illicit payments to midfielder Yaya Touré. Among the specific accusations was the use of a secret shadow account to double Mancini's wages. The players themselves are not accused of wrongdoing; the allegation is that the club concealed what it was paying them from regulators.

The bottom line

The purpose of City's schemes was to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs by more than £900 million during the affected period, to appear to comply with financial rules. The commission concluded that "by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules." City has said the verdict contains "clear material errors of law, principle and fact" and intends to appeal.