English clubs' FIVE year European ban, Juve's 'Calciopoli' scandal... and how Boro postponing a game led to top flight relegation: Football's harshest punishments as Man City face possible Premier League expulsion after financial rules charges

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Manchester City were left stunned after being charged with over 100 breaches of financial rules by the Premier League.

But they perhaps should be fearful too, given the possible punishments that they could be handed by the English top flight consist of a points deduction as well as possible expulsion.

It wouldn't be the first time a football authority would throw the book at a football club, and there have been many incidents of clubs suffering at the hands of governing bodies in relation to off the pitch turmoil.

Many in the last 20 years have consisted of teams suffering points deductions in the wake of going into administration with clubs as big as Southampton, Derby County, Bournemouth and Reading among those who have been stung.

But it's not just getting the numbers wrong where teams have fallen foul, as Sportsmail takes a look back at some of the biggest scandals at football clubs and the heavy punishments that followed.  

Manchester City are facing over 100 Premier League charges over financial breaches

Calciopoli

You are never that far from a scandal in Serie A. In fact the last one involving Juventus was only a few weeks ago as they were deducted 15 points following an investigation into their transfers that saw key members of their board resign. 

But this rocked top-flight football in Italy and brought one of the country's biggest clubs to their knees - and its rulings still cause disgruntlement today.

It's remembered for leading to the infamous relegation of Juventus but it's often forgotten there were many clubs involved - including teams in Serie B.

The scandal was based on telephone tappings that revealed communications between club executives and referee's organisations over selecting favourable match officials during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.

While Fiorentina, Lazio and AC Milan were involved, it was Juve who paid the heaviest penalty with then sporting director Luciano Moggi at the centre of the scandal for the Bianconeri. 

They were stripped of two league titles, relegated to Serie B and then deducted nine points ahead of playing in the second tier.

Juve bounced back with instant promotion but with many key stars having left, it took six years for them to win Serie A again.

The resulting investigation only published its final conclusion in 2015, and found  Moggi was acquitted of 'some individual charges of sporting fraud, but not from being a 'promoter' of the 'criminal conspiracy' that resulted in the scandal.

While Moggi has been given a lifetime ban from the sport, Juventus still believe they have been robbed of the two league titles they were stripped of and are innocent -  even suing the Italian football federation for €443m for financial damages caused by their relegation.

Juventus were hit hard by Calciopoli, being forced to play in Serie B in 2006 (above)

English clubs banned from Europe

One of the harshest punishments ever delivered - given many clubs paid a penalty for a tragic event they had no involvement in whatsoever. 

Everton and Gary Lineker were denied European Cup football after English clubs were suspended from the competition

Liverpool were beaten 1-0 by Juventus in the 1985 European Cup final but the main story from the evening was the resulting 39 deaths of mostly Italian and Juve fans in the Heysel disaster after a confrontation between opposing supporters ahead of the tie led to the collapse of a wall and bringing a further 600 injuries.

The mid-1980s saw the height of hooliganism though, in at least the English game,  enough was enough. 

Following pressure from British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, UEFA banned every English club from competing in Europe for five years, and Liverpool for six given their supporters' part in the events of Heysel.

This led to numerous teams being denied what could have been memorable runs in Europe between 1985 and 1990 including two European Cup campaigns for Everton and another for Arsenal.

Coventry City and Wimbledon's Cup-Winners' Cup campaigns were blocked while other teams missing out on rare appearances in the UEFA Cup included Southampton, Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford United, Luton Town, Nottingham Forest and Derby County.

Middlesbrough's costly postponement

Never has a Premier League postponement proved so costly for one team. 

Middlesbrough's side of 1996-97 will always be a famous one in football - not least because of their brutal campaign that saw them suffer defeat in both domestic cup finals AND suffer relegation from the Premier League. It doesn't get much worse than that.

Except it does. While the final defeats against Chelsea in the FA Cup and Leicester City (after a League Cup replay) were just unfortunate, their relegation was totally avoidable.

The story begins with the club taking extraordinary action to postpone a game at Blackburn Rovers on December 21, 1996 after claiming to have up to 23 players sick or suspended and unable to play their fixture at Ewood Park.

While their claims appeared true they had no authority to cancel the game, not least fewer than 24 hours before the match and after an FA investigation they were deducted three points and fined £50,000.

Come the end of the season, they were relegated by two points and with a superior goal difference to the the sides above them. The hard fact to swallow was had they just sent out a youth team at Blackburn and lost, they would have maintained their top flight status.

Middlesbrough's costly three-point deduction led to their Premier League relegation in 1997

Resetting Rangers 

Chances are if you stopped watching Scottish football between 2011 and 2018 you would think nothing had happened out of the unusual during the intervening years. 

Either side of these dates the Premiership continues to be a two-horse race between fierce Glasgow rivals Rangers and Celtic, yet a huge financial scandal tore Rangers apart following the 2011-12 season.

In June 2012 after four months in administration following years of financial mismanagement the club entered a process of liquidation, leading to the sale of the business and assets to a new company.

They were denied the right to retain their place in the Scottish top-flight, with a 25-5 vote from other league members forcing them down to the fourth tier in an effective reset of the club. It would take four years and three promotions before they returned to the top flight in 2016.

Rangers were relegated to the Third Division after years of mismanagement at the club

Luton's giant points deduction

Even heading into the 2008-09 season, Luton Town were a basket case of a club being run poorly behind the scenes and crippled financially. They ended the previous season in League One by finishing bottom and 17 points off safety having been deducted 10 points for entering administration.

Having already suffered back-to-back relegations it then somehow got worse for the Hatters. Before a ball had been kicked they were found guilty of 15 misconduct charges, handed a £50,000 fine and given another 10-point deduction to start the season in relation to irregular matters on player transfers.

But the final uppercut was yet to come. The club violated Football League rules by leaving administration without having made a Company Voluntary Arrangement with its creditors. An example needed to be made, and they were hit by another 20-point deduction.

Starting the season on minus-30 points the club had to hit title winning form just to stay in the Football League. Despite battling well, the punishment hit them too hard and they finished bottom with 26 points - 15 away from safety and were left facing non-League football for the first time since 1920.

Luton Town boss Mick Harford looks on after seeing his side relegated in April 2009

Portsmouth's plight

Portsmouth ended the 2007-08 season with an FA Cup and an exciting talented squad under Harry Redknapp that featured the likes of David James, Jermain Defoe, Niko Kranjcar and Sol Campbell - with Peter Crouch due to arrive the following campaign for UEFA Cup football. 

Exciting times lie ahead but one year on from the Wembley success the beans were not adding up behind the scenes and financial problems soon struck.

The firesale soon started, with Redknapp, Defoe, Kranjcar and Crouch ending up at Spurs with other big names jumping ship as the south coast club sank to the bottom of the table.

By October some players and staff were not being paid and despite takeovers this problem would continue to the point that the Premier League put a transfer embargo on the club. The club's ownership was chaos behind the scenes with them having a fourth of the campaign by February but the club's debts were still not paid. 

Eventually the club were forced into administration - the first Premier League club to do so - and were docked nine points as a result. It made little difference to their top flight position as without the deduction they still would have finished the season bottom and seven points off survival. 

The club though is still trying to recover from the financial fall-out. By 2013 they were playing in the fourth tier and even today they been unable to lift themselves out of League One. 

Portsmouth became the first Premier League club to be hit with a points deduction after entering administration during the 2009-10 season before being relegated

Bury's Football League expulsion

The club that to this day is alive only via a life support machine. Years of poor financial management left Bury pleading poverty ahead of the 2019-20 season.

The club was bought for just £1 in 2018 by businessman Steve Dale and in February paid an outstanding tax bill to avoid a winding up order. 

But players were receiving their pay late nearer the end of the season and the cracks were appearing everywhere at the club with a huge wage bill to be paid racking up to nearly £1.6m.

Winding up petitions were put back throughout the summer to give the club time to find funds.

It never arrived. They were unable to play their opening fixtures and despite intervention form MPs no solution or new buyer was found leading to their expulsion from the Football League - the first since Maidstone United in 1992.

Bury FC remains a registered name but disputes over mergers with phoenix club Bury AFC, formed after Bury's collapse, mean it is still in limbo. 

Still to this day the now majority supporter owned club have not played a game since ending the 2018-19 campaign by winning promotion to League One.

Bury have still not played a game since being kicked out of the Football League in 2019

Marseille and match fixing

How many clubs have a Champions League success with a bigger asterisk next to their name than Marseille?

There's no complaints over the French side's performance in the 1993 Munich final as Basile Boli's goal saw off a much fancied and star studded AC Milan side. But how they got there leaves a rather sour taste.

During the 1992-93 French top flight season Marseille's club president Bernard Tapie was caught in an alleged match fixing affair, paying opposing sides to lose matches so the French outfit could stay fit for bigger games.

Following an investigation, Marseille were stripped of the league title for that year and banned from defending their European title for the 1993-94 season.

They did though keep their, to-date, only Champions League title as the scandal only related to French top flight matches.

Marseille defeated AC Milan in the 1993 Champions League final played in Munich

Leeds' double punch 

Leeds eventually recovered from their Premier League relegation from 2004 by earning promotion back to the top flight in 2021.

But outside of Elland Road, it is easy to forget there was a 90-minute period during 2006 where the long journey could have been avoided. 

It came during a play-off final against Watford, which after losing saw the club hit a fresh tailspin following their initial top flight exit in the wake of financial mismanagement - or 'chasing the dream' as then owner Peter Ridsdale put it. 

Leeds never recovered and on their way to relegation from the Championship in 2006 were deducted 10 points for entering administration.

By the start of the following campaign they still had not exited the process and with a buyer not found, the Football League 'under exceptional circumstances' allowed the club to be sold to chairman Ken Bates. However without exiting administration, properly the club were hit by another 15-point deduction.

Leeds United were relegated from the Championship during the 2006-07 season