Commercial suicide! Club chiefs staggered by idea of 15 clubs voting to expel Man City

Expelling Manchester City from the Premier League would require 15 of the 20 clubs to vote in favor, and senior executives at top clubs would be staggered if such a scenario ever materialised, Sky Sports News reports.

Details: Two senior executives at different top level Premier League clubs told Sky Sports they would be amazed if 15 clubs were genuinely ready to vote for expulsion, with one of them calling the idea commercial suicide.

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The expulsion scenario has been hanging over the Premier League ever since an independent commission found City guilty on 114 of the 115 charges of breaching financial rules. But the mechanics make it extraordinarily difficult: three quarters of the clubs must support the most radical sanction in the competition's history, and the people running those clubs are acutely aware of what losing the reigning champions would mean for broadcast deals, sponsors and the league's global appeal. While many clubs are pushing hard for heavy punishment and preparing compensation claims, there is a gulf between demanding points deductions and actually voting a fellow member out of the league. The word from the boardrooms, at least for now, suggests that expulsion remains more of a theoretical threat than a realistic outcome.

It's worth noting that the saga keeps throwing up new obstacles for anyone expecting swift and brutal justice. City are preparing an appeal, their chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak holds diplomatic immunity in the United Kingdom, main sponsor Etihad is considering legal action over the sham sponsorship claims, and Prime Minister Andy Burnham has publicly admitted he would be really concerned to lose the club's owners. Points deductions and fines look far more probable than the nuclear option, but with clubs demanding a resolution this season, the pressure on the Premier League to act decisively is only growing.

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