Six points, three years, no verdict: Leicester punished as Manchester City wait

Last Updated on 6 February 2026

On Thursday night, the Premier League’s financial rulebook struck again. Leicester City were hit with a six-point deduction. It’s a punishment that immediately reshaped the Championship relegation picture.

The timing felt impossible to ignore. It’s been exactly three years since Manchester City were charged with 115 alleged breaches of financial regulations. Leicester’s swift sanction serves as a sharp contrast to the ongoing silence surrounding Premier League’s biggest unresolved case.

As Leicester tumble and City wait, the question fans keep asking grows louder by the day: why do some clubs face immediate consequences, while others remain stuck in legal limbo?

Leicester City’s six-point blow and the cost of (relatively) swift justice

Leicester City’s punishment landed with brutal efficiency. The six-point deduction drops the Foxes into 20th place in the Championship. It leaves them hovering above the relegation zone on goal difference alone.

The club, now dealing with the fallout both on and off the pitch, has already pushed back against the ruling.

In a statement, Leicester described the sanction as “disproportionate,” arguing that key mitigating factors were not properly reflected and warning of the damage it could do to their sporting ambitions this season.

Whether an appeal follows or not, the message is clear: breaches at this level are being acted on quickly, decisively, and with little patience for prolonged disputes.

The 115 charges – why Manchester City are still waiting

Leicester’s case inevitably drags Manchester City back into focus. It has now been three full years since the Premier League charged City with 115 alleged breaches spanning 2009 to 2018 and still, no verdict.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has offered insight into why the process has moved at a glacial pace, as per Give Me Sport.

City face an extraordinary volume of accusations, each requiring a separate defence, backed by hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces of evidence. Even single-charge cases involving Everton and Nottingham Forest generated tens of thousands of documents.

More importantly, Maguire notes the severity of the allegations. The Premier League claims City disguised owner funding as sponsorship revenue, effectively alleging financial fraud. That level of charge demands overwhelming proof, careful scrutiny, and time.

Add to that an independent commission juggling existing professional commitments. Not to mention, the sporadic meetings and a process that was always destined to crawl. In Maguire’s view, the Premier League may even regret bringing so many charges at once.

But, for now, the elite gets away with it, while the Foxes suffer.