In light of Manchester City FC’s recent 114 alleged cases of severe financial misconduct, it is important to reflect on the financial landscape of football and how this level of misbehaviour must be punished and exposed. It has increasingly become the case that whoever has the most money to spend will succeed and those who do not will fail dramatically.
A great case of this change in action is Wrexham. Since Ryan Reynold’s and Rob McElhenney’s £1.5 million purchase of the club in 2021, the club has grown to be worth between £300 and £350 million pounds. During this fiveyear period they have achieved a historic three successive promotions. However, despite increasing their revenue 23 times over, the club has suffered a £25 million loss across the five years of American ownership. This highlights how, even while losing tens of millions of pounds, in the current landscape of finance in football, owners must continue to spend if they wish to be successful.
By comparison, fellow Welsh team Swansea City reported a club record £21.6 million loss in 2025 alone, just £3.4 million shy of Wrexham’s across five years. The financial demand of football clubs in this modern era is clearly becoming too much, leading to increased ticket prices distancing fans from their club. One that is still suffering despite spending the most money in their history.
In 2026, the highest sale of a player in the second tier of English football was £84 million pounds for Mateus Fernandes of relegated West Ham. Comparatively, five years ago in 2021, the record sale was Aaron Ramsdale with £24 million pounds. This is a 250% increase in money paid for a second division player. This drastic increase in money is crucial to the success of clubs everywhere globally. Money has always been a large part of the game but it is now becoming the only factor.
It is important to note that this change to the game has been gradual, not sudden. Since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, football has become incredibly commercialised, with 64 clubs going into administration between then and the present.
This is why the alleged financial misconduct by Manchester City must not remain unpunished. In allowing clubs to spend increasingly shocking amounts of money on players, the gap between teams becomes strikingly large and unjust. Not only as they have succeeded due to an alleged inequitable amount of spending, but also the financial fallout it has created for other clubs. Many teams which have lost out on title wins, cup runs and European qualifications have suffered losses in the tens of millions at the hands of City’s strategy.
Punishment has been rumoured to be anything from points deductions and fines to expulsion from the league and relegation down the pyramid. Shockingly, only 49% of fans would want to see the club relegated, with a majority preferring other, less damning punishments. It is an interesting result considering that these fans and their club have suffered due to City’s alleged rulebreaking.
This level of spending within football has been protested for years now, as the sport has become primarily obsessed with money and success only as an afterthought. The slogan “created by the poor, stolen by the rich” is now ever-present. It is important that we continue to see fans push back against this commercialisation within football as we saw in 2021 in response to the proposed “European Super League”.
In a world where the cost of living grows by the day, the sport that was once working class is drifting further and further from its origin and to a new, pay-to-win direction.