The Football Association are 'carefully considering' the implications of the findings into Manchester City after the club were found guilty of all the substantive charges brought against them by the Premier League for financial wrongdoing.

The official verdict was released on Tuesday afternoon, which showed City had cooked the books to the tune of nearly £900million through money artificially pumped into the club by their Abu Dhabi owners over a nine-year period.

City have been preparing to lodge an appeal against the verdict and are expected to do so before the deadline later on Friday.

A statement from the FA read: 'The independent commission’s decision has significant implications for the integrity of the game. We are carefully considering the decision and its implications and will take action where appropriate.

'As proceedings between the Premier League and Manchester City Football Club remain ongoing, we do not intend to comment further at this stage. We will, however, continue to monitor developments closely.'

Daily Mail Sport reported on Thursday that City will attempt to prove their innocence by arguing that the government of Abu Dhabi – rather than the club’s owners – part-funded ‘sham’ sponsorship.

The club's ‘disguised funding’ process – where the ownership group topping up commercial partnerships to the tune of £830.69m - it found, allowed them to illegally sign the players that ushered in an era of success at the Etihad Stadium.

However, those with knowledge of the situation claim that City’s argument is that the monies were actually paid by the government, which owns the sponsors, rather than the club’s owners Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) – a private company owned by Sheikh Mansour – and as such, no rules were broken.

Sponsorship deals with government-funded companies are commonplace throughout the Premier League, particularly in the case of airlines, and are not banned.

That argument, aided by what the club claim is ‘irrefutable evidence’ in the form of bank statements and witness accounts, is likely to be made in front of a new panel when City appeal the seismic findings.

If City's appeal fails it could see the club kicked out of the Premier League and ordered to hand titles back.

The Premier League say that the club was 'significantly in breach of both the Premier League's and UEFA's spending limits' during the time period in question, 2009-2018, when it won eight major trophies.

Had City reported accurately, 'it would have been in breach of both the League's and UEFA's spending limits by a very substantial amount'.

The panel also found that City committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and good faith in that it failed to assist the Premier League's four-year investigation, triggered by the emergence of club emails obtained by a hacker.

Indeed, City had 'made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the PL investigation'.

Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, said: 'The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade.

'It also vindicates the Premier League's decision to pursue this case against Manchester City. While the process to date has been both long and difficult, the League has remained determined that the facts be established independently.

'It is a key responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the Rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition. It is paramount that the League remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans. We take that role extremely seriously.

'This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history. There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches.

'Now we have the Commission's decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the League, our clubs and fans.'