City lodged their comprehensive appeal on October 1, meeting the deadline set by the independent commission process, stating in a formal announcement that the commission's opinion contains "clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe".

The club have insisted that they are "innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League" and that a "comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" exists in support of all of their positions.

The filing confirmed what had been widely anticipated since the verdict was published on September 29 - that the case would move into a further phase of proceedings before any sanction could be imposed or take effect.

The verdict itself found Manchester City guilty on 114 of the alleged 115 Premier League financial rule breaches, covering conduct across nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18.

The independent commission determined that the club arranged commercial sponsorship contracts under which a number of partners paid only a fraction of the agreed fees, with the remainder funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd.

Circular arrangements involving player image rights were also used to artificially reduce operating costs. The cumulative financial distortion was assessed at more than £900 million across the relevant period, with the commission additionally finding the club guilty on the majority of charges relating to a failure to cooperate with the investigation.

Notably, Manchester City have also consistently pointed to their successful challenge of a two-year UEFA ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020 as evidence of the club's capacity to succeed when adverse findings are subjected to further independent scrutiny.

As reported by Telegraph Sport's Jason Burt, lawyers informed clubs last week that the appeal process is expected to take three to four months, with the Premier League determined to bring proceedings to a conclusion by early 2027.

However, sources cited in the report indicate that outcome is unlikely to represent the end of the matter, with concern growing across the league about the scale of the legal costs being accumulated.

If Manchester City were to win their appeal, those costs - currently a source of significant anxiety among clubs - could go north of £100 million, a bill that would ultimately be shared across Premier League members.

The financial exposure for clubs carries considerable weight given that the legal proceedings were initiated and underwritten by the Premier League collectively rather than by any individual club.

An outcome in Manchester City's favour at the appeal stage would not only remove the prospect of any sanction against the club but would also leave the league liable for the costs of a case that has run for over three years and involved some of the most complex financial and legal arguments in English football's history.

A number of Premier League clubs - including Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United - are understood to be preparing compensation claims linked to the period covered by the charges, with the combined reported value of those potential actions in the region of £800 million.

The original hearings ran for six weeks across September to December 2024 before the commission deliberated for the best part of two years.

An appeal of the scope Manchester City have indicated will require its own extended period of preparation and argument, and the three-to-four-month window clubs have been given almost certainly represents the optimistic end of what remains an open-ended process of many caveats and participants.

Enzo Maresca's side return to Premier League action with a trip to Liverpool at Anfield on October 11, three days before a UEFA Champions League fixture against Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad Stadium.