A verdict has seemingly been reached in the long-running Manchester City course case with the club reportedly set to be found guilty on nearly all of the 115 charges levied against them.

Manchester City have always denied all of the charges that relate to breaching Premier League financial rules, and could yet appeal, but may well face stiff sanctions nearly two years after a hearing into the matter concluded.

The alleged breaches related to a period between 2009 and 2018 in which the club became a Premier League powerhouse, with the final two years of that span encompassed within the tenure of Pep Guardiola .

The manager was appointed to the club in 2016 and went on to win six Premier League titles and a Champions League crown during a decade of dominance in Manchester before departing earlier this year. There is no suggestion that the manager had any awareness of any alleged wrongdoing.

It has been a prolonged and protracted saga, with Guardiola first asked about possible breaches in 2019 after Uefa launched an investigation over an alleged breach of financial fair play (FFP) which followed reporting in German outlet Der Spiegel about their sponsorship deals.

Those reports claimed that Roberto Mancini, who managed the club between 2009 and 2013, had been paid extra via a second contract with Al Jazira in Abu Dhabi.

Guardiola reacted angrily when asked if he had ever received payments of that type in the moments after Manchester City secured a domestic treble with an FA Cup success at Wembley.

The manager said: "Honestly, do you think I deserve to have this type of question, the day we won the [domestic] Treble, did I receive money? Are you accusing me of receiving money?"