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Manchester City, who lost the Premier League title after four years on top of the English top flight, have been fined £1.08 million by the league for kicking-off or restarting matches late repeatedly last season. It is understood that there were nine out 38 Premier League matches of Manchester City in the 2024-25 season which started late, and the club have accepted the breach apart from apologising to the league.
Notably, the longest delay in a Manchester City match last season happened during the Manchester derby in December last year, with the second half resuming two minutes and 24 seconds later than the original time. Now that Manchester City have accepted the breach from the Premier League, they are liable to pay the outstanding sum of money in just 14 days, as per the report published in BBC Sport.
Manchester City were fined £2.09 million two seasons ago for late kick-offs and restarts
It was just two seasons ago when Manchester City had to pay a hefty fine of £2.09 million for delay in 22 out of 38 Premier League matches, and at the time, manager Pep Guardiola has spoken about trying to keep his team talks short. As far as their current breach is concerned, the Premier League said, “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.”
“It also ensures the broadcast of every Premier League match is kept to schedule,” it further read in regard to Manchester club not adhering to time. Moreover, the last season for Manchester City was quite a tough one on the pitch as well, not being able to win any trophy in years, losing the Premier League title to Liverpool, who were head and shoulders above every team in the English top flight.
