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The Athletic FC ⚽ is The Athletic’s daily football (or soccer, if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up to receive it directly to your inbox. Hello! It’s back to the world of football finance today. Chelsea are potentially in hot water. We’re here to explain. On the way: I don’t know about you, but one of my hopes for this season was that we’d have the pleasure of yet another regulatory dust-up between a Premier League club and the powers that be. A month in, and here it is: 70-plus disciplinary charges levied against Chelsea by England’s Football Association. Advertisement We’ll add them to the Premier League charges that have hung over Manchester City for God knows how long (a can forever getting kicked down the road) and, while the nature of the alleged offences aren’t identical, they’re similar in the sense of potential consequences being hard to predict. Both go back a long time and, in Chelsea’s case, they appear to relate to past ownership. Before we broach the implications, let’s run through the claims made against the Stamford Bridge club: FA regulations governing intermediaries and third-party investors in players — including how those costs are recorded and registered — are pretty strict. The expenses contribute to profit and sustainability (PSR) calculations, and failing to disclose them properly could be regarded as an unfair sporting advantage. The question, as with City and the 115, is where this is heading — and what penalty, if any, Chelsea are likely to face. One crucial thing to point out: Chelsea reported themselves to the FA, the Premier League, and European governing body UEFA. Discrepancies were spotted during due diligence carried out prior to the Boehly-Clearlake takeover, and the consortium covered its back against future liabilities by shaving £100m off the purchase price of £2. 5bn. Data was passed to the authorities and dialogue has continued ever since. Simon Johnson’s explainer says Chelsea see this more as a tax issue, and the club believe any sanction from the FA will be financial, helped by their own transparency. But the commission that hears the case has the power to impose stricter punishment, including a Premier League points deduction. The FA has given Chelsea until September 19 — next Friday — to respond. In the meantime, the Premier League (already in the thick of its ruck with City) is investigating the matter separately, and could bring charges of its own. It’s thrill-a-minute stuff for the sports lawyers, but not so much anybody else. The charges against Chelsea arguably prove otherwise, but sometimes it seems as if financial controls imposed on clubs the world over are unduly lax. Premier League sides spent a mere £3. 11bn in the last transfer window, keeping it tight as usual. Advertisement Where restrictions are definitely paying off, however, is Spain. Our feature today on La Liga’s salary cap — the worry that keeps Barcelona awake at night — is packed with extraordinary statistics, many of which suggest the competition is better off for it. On the eve of the new season, for example, more than 100 signings in Spain’s top two leagues were waiting to be registered as salary-cap limits were checked. Go back 10 years or so and Spanish clubs were collectively in debt to the tune of around £2bn. A ridiculous number went through bankruptcy proceedings. Drastic action was called for, and drastic action has worked. The rules aren’t perfect (for example, they force teams to sell more homegrown talent then they would like, as a means of balancing the books) but to judge from the voices in this morning’s piece, they’re respected and credited with restoring Spain’s equilibrium. “There’s no doubt we are better off today, ” said a source at Elche, and it wouldn’t be the worst thing if salary caps caught on elsewhere. Is something rotten in the state of Manchester? Oli Kay suspects so. United’s depression we know about — it’s impervious to anything they try — but under-performance has been gradually infecting City too. The season’s first derby takes place at the Etihad on Sunday and it’s unusually tricky to call since neither club is travelling smoothly. United scraped a first win in their last game before the international break and looked rather undercooked. City shed six points in their first three matches and looked closer to raw. Both sides are examples of how power shifts in the Premier League. United ran the show for much of the 1990s and early 2000s. City, with Guardiola pulling their strings, reached record-breaking levels of dominance with four back-to-back titles. Sunday will be typically box office, but not for the reasons either club would like. Because, while they yearn for magic lost, the real action is going on around them. (Selected matches, times ET/UK) Friday: Bundesliga — Bayer Leverkusen vs Eintracht Frankfurt, 2. 30pm/7. 30pm – ESPN, Fubo/BBC, Bundesliga You Tube. Advertisement Saturday:  Premier League — Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest, 7. 30am/12. 30pm — USA Network, Fubo/TNT Sports; West Ham United vs Tottenham Hotspur, 12. 30pm/5. 30pm — NBC, Fubo, Peacock Premium/Sky Sports; Brentford vs Chelsea, 3pm/8pm — USA Network, Fubo/Sky Sports. La Liga: Real Sociedad vs Real Madrid, 10. 15am/3. 15pm — ESPN, Fubo (U. S. only); Bundesliga: Bayern Munich vs Hamburg, 12. 30pm/5. 30pm — ESPN+/Sky Sports; Serie A: Juventus vs Inter, 12pm/5pm — Paramount+, DAZN/TNT Sports, DAZN; MLS: Charlotte vs Inter Miami, 7. 30pm/12. 30am — MLS Season Pass/Apple TV. Sunday: Premier League — Burnley vs Liverpool, 9am/2pm — USA Network, Fubo/Sky Sports; Manchester City vs Manchester United, 11. 30am/4. 30pm — Peacock Premium/Sky Sports; La Liga: Barcelona vs Valencia, 3pm/8pm – ESPN, Fubo/Premier Sports; Serie A: Milan vs Bologna, 2. 45pm/7. 45pm — Paramount+, DAZN/TNT Sports, DAZN. Admission to Premier League stadiums is a massive bone of contention. More and more, long-standing supporters — or ‘legacy fans’, to use an awful phrase — resent the fact global appeal and oversubscription conspire to shut them out. So when it emerged that a secondary school in Dundee, Scotland, had randomly acquired 45 seats for Newcastle United’s home Champions League game against Barcelona on September 18 (the hottest ticket in town), it all kicked off. The official online queue ran to 110, 000 people. The natives were livid. Newcastle frantically intervened, saying the tickets had been purchased on an unauthorised resale site, and cancelled them. Sympathy with the pupils caught in the middle (all of whom were paying £295 for the privilege) but my wife is from Newcastle and, trust me, it’s best to keep the peace. (Top photo: Visionhaus/Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Phil grew up near Edinburgh in Scotland and joined The Athletic in 2019 as its Leeds United writer. He is now lead writer of The Athletic FC newsletter. He previously worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post as its chief football writer. Follow Phil on Twitter @Phil Hay_