Shaun Harvey warns Manchester City relegation could hurt Wrexham

The Reds' director admits the authorities face a major dilemma over City's alleged rule breaches, arguing that any relegation punishment could unfairly impact clubs in the second tier chasing promotion to the top-flight.

City are still awaiting the outcome of the Premier League's financial case against them, and Harvey believes finding a suitable sanction will be far from straightforward.

Speaking to Sportico, Harvey said: "I don't know how you go about sanctioning this in a way where it actually suits the game of football.

"Because I can understand the sanction and penalising Manchester City, but the unintended consequences of that could be so significant."

Harvey pointed to Wrexham and their Championship rivals as an example of how a potential relegation could have a knock-on effect throughout the pyramid.

"Just look at Wrexham, for example, and indeed for the purpose of this point, any of the other 24 Championship clubs," he said

"If they were to be relegated and it was to the Championship, that's one promotion place potentially gone for next season when clubs have been investing for that opportunity."

Wrexham fine-tune for Derby clash with practice match against Wigan Nothing to prove, everything to achieve: Worrall’s Wrexham mission Wrexham boss Parkinson pleased to see international stars return unscathed

Harvey questioned how the authorities could impose a punishment on City without negatively impacting clubs that have done nothing wrong.

"So, how do you square a punishment on Manchester City that then turns into a punishment on 24 other clubs?" he added.

"The sanctioning of this is going to be complicated because of all those matters and indeed, many, many more."