Hull owner maintains Man City charges as serious as doping at Olympics

The owner of Hull City has said if Manchester City are found guilty of breaches of the Premier League's financial rules their successes will be equivalent to winning an Olympic medal by doping.

The Premier League has yet to issue an official comment on reports which began circulating last Friday that Man City have been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges laid against them for alleged breaches of the league's financial regulations.

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The charges cover a nine-year period during which the club won eight trophies and established itself as a powerhouse in modern football.

Hull's owner Acun Ilicali said he did not know if Man City were guilty of the charges, which they have denied, but said that if they were it amounted to "financial doping", and called for a severe punishment to act as a deterrent to any other clubs tempted to break the rules.

He told the Hull Daily Mail's The 1904 Club podcast: "Their chairman says they are innocent. I don't say they are guilty or not because they are saying they are innocent, and the Premier League says they are not innocent.

"If they are not innocent, I think it is no different to doping and winning an Olympic medal. This is financial doping at the end of the day. Bringing the top four or five players with huge money, breaking the rules. From that side, it doesn't look very positive.

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"If you give a small punishment, then everybody will do it.

"For the future of football, and for it to be a clean future, this kind of thing, if it happens, should be punished and not let people do something like that."

Ilicali, who oversaw Hull's promotion via the play-offs last season, called for "natural money" in football and added: "If there is a mistake like this, this kind of mistake gives crazy advantages to some teams and it's not fair."

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