I had a quick delve last night into the posting history of the guy who made this claim*. Couldn't be arsed putting in much of an effort on Christmas Eve, but for what it's worth, the conclusions are below.
He's not a frequent contributor but definitely seems a committed Blue of long standing. My guess is that the chairman he references is Daniel Levy, mainly because posts commenting on a potential transfer to City for Harry Kane a few years back, as rumoured in the media, seemed to hint at knowledge of the situation beyond what was in the public domain.
If it is Levy, then he in my view has every motive to continue to the bitter end to take this line in private to anyone who'll listen, whatever the truth. He'll want pressure to be on the PL to use any available avenue of appeal if the current proceedings entail a better outcome for City than he suggests. Meanwhile, if the final result is similar, it leaves a suggestion of City getting away with it that the client media will happily amplify.
I agree with Stefan in that the soft signals at the moment all point one way. That refers to matters in the public domain that might be thought of as indicative but can't, given that we don't know for sure what the evidence is, be regarded as conclusive.
* - To the poster himself: sorry for subjecting you to this scrutiny. However, you didn't offer any real evidence of your good faith or otherwise, which is important for others with this kind of post. This type of research is therefore the natural step to enable us to assess that.
* * *
Anyway, thanks to all who've contributed interesting and insightful posts to this thread in the last 12 months. Let's hope that we're now relatively close to the end and it's an outcome we on here can be satisfied with.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all! Mind how you go.