Football finance expert, Kieran Maguire, has warned Manchester City that they could be hit with a 100-point deduction and “heading out of the division”.
City will see their protracted Financial Fair Play, FFP, case heard from Monday.
Proceedings are expected to be wrapped up by the end of the calendar year.
The Premier League champions face accusations of breaching financial regulations over the course of a nine-year period from 2009.
There have been speculations over the type of punishments if they are found guilty, ranging from fines to demotion out of the English top-flight.
Maguire told talkSPORT: “It can’t be a financial punishment, that would make everybody think the whole thing was a waste of time.
“If you take a look at the hearing at both Everton and Nottingham Forest, the commissions both said this is a minor breach of the rules.
“Now if the allegations against Manchester City are proven, that surely has to be a major breach of the rules, effectively that the club misrepresented the money coming into the club, the club have also been accused of disguising payments to players and managers through third-parties, effectively being paid offshore via Abu Dhabi for services provided by members of staff.
“That is also completely against the rules one would think, although it could be that it’s within the Premier League rules so we would have to be looking at a very significant points deduction.
“If all 115 charges are proven, then you would imagine the points deduction would be somewhere in the region of 60-100 points on the basis that they would want the club to suffer enough to be heading out of the division.”
