Erling Haaland to Man Utd would be ultimate Man City punishment
Man City’s win at Liverpool needs to come with an asterisk; could the greatest punishment be just down the road?
Suggested punishment: Swap Manchester clubs I think people (United fans) were saying the worst punishment City can get is swapping ownership with United, letting Glazers suck the club dry. I have better one for you, why not exchange the entire squad as well, the coaching staff, even the kitman and lunch lady. Coach after coach, player after player, everyone turns to sh*t at United. Even C. Ronaldo’s career went downhill once he returned. Let’s see how Haaland and company do in the red jersey. It’ll prove my theory that there is something in the water at Carrington that turns everyone to sh*t at United. Rahil, MUFC, India (the scousers really let us down, Anfield should have had siege mentality, I think us United got a more hostile reception by Hammers at Upton Park in 2016, without any real long lasting rivalry between us)
Should have walked off… Liverpool could have walked off and got the same result, yet held their heads high for a reason this time. Jdb
Man City wins should come with an asterisk Manchester City * 3; Liverpool 0 That’s what it has become – a f***ing asterisk.
I don’t understand the Citeh fans just blindly supporting their cheating club. They more than anyone should be outraged.
When the Glazers came in, thousands of its supporters said no and started their own club. And all the Glazers did was a leveraged buyout (quite legal) that still leave the club with multi millions of debt 20 years later and allowing them to take multi millions out of the club.
Citeh cheated for fun. No appeal with a sovereign state coming in and pretending it was sponsoring City will change that.
The first in line to complain against the cheating should be City fans. After all all their recent achievements are covered in a thick film of sh*te. Tony Clarke
READ: 16 Conclusions from Liverpool 0-3 Man City: Doku, Gravenberch, Cherki and the futility of existence
…I knew I would feel angry, seeing them walk out at Anfield for the first time since the glaringly obvious was independently and officially confirmed. But I hadn’t thought much further than that.
How would I feel about the result of the game, if we won or if we lost? I hadn’t considered how I would feel if we did ourselves proud. If the proudest of all was young Lewis Koumas up front, who didn’t just run and fight, but fought smart and showed real athleticism, and would have beaten many top keepers with a powerful second-half shot? If Victor Munoz made me think that between him and Lewis Koumas something of the terrier spirit of Robbo and Diogo echoes in this team? If Ryan Gravenberch burst into his title-worthy form again, only for two half-yellows to equal red on 60 minutes?
If the same ref who happily watched Odegaard play basketball at Anfield and gave nothing, decided to hand City another gift? If City flaunted their ill-gotten squad to bring on the likes of Doku and Gvardiol to power them into a 3 nil lead? If City fans and players and coaches celebrated lavishly, Haaland milked it, Cherki lorded it, if there were badges slapped and bananas flailed, and blue banners printed with CHEATS in Oasis type? How would I feel if, to complete the symbolism of the spectacle, the City fans turned their backs on the world, to once again drown themselves in the inanity of their stolen celebration? How would I feel if we did ourselves proud and we got battered anyway, and the cheats gloated outrageously?
I knew I’d be angry. I didn’t know how disgusted I’d be with Man City, the fans, players, staff, owners. Of course they were always going to ‘circle the wagons’, lean into ‘us vs them’, adopt a ‘siege mentality’. But to actually see it, knowing what we know, with the findings that have been handed down, made it utterly grotesque. Guilty of 10 years of grandiose and systematic cheating. The veracity of hacked emails not contested.
To then behave like they’ve been exonerated by a 3-0 win against the club they morally harmed, to celebrate with the fans after the match like it was an epic win in a fair title race (hard to remember what that looks like)? It was obscene. So yes, anger, disgust…and then the overwhelming feeling, the one that surprised me, was cold nihilism.
What is the point of the Premier League I asked myself as City players gloated into the camera? How can anything mean anything in this league? Who can care anymore? I am absolutely sure of one thing after having gone through that ‘Super Sunday’ experience: my continued interest in the Premier League is in the balance, at best.
I thought that not even this scandal could ultimately drive me away, that I’d always come back for more. I was wrong. The sight of Man City scoring goals, celebrating like defiant victims, fans raucous and unrepentant…I have discovered that it sickens me so much I won’t be able to emotionally invest in a competition they feature in until they’ve been properly punished.
This matters to no one but me, but I’ve found my own personal line for my continued ability to stomach the Premier League. They must be docked a number of points that absolutely guarantees their relegation this season whatever happens. Wipe those smirks off their faces. They do not deserve to celebrate being top of the league at Anfield or any other ground. That’s the immediate minimum.
They must then move to expel Man City from the Premier League and ban them from promotion back to the division for at least 10 seasons. So that whatever the EFL do, they will not be allowed to sully Premier League competition for a very long time. It should probably be a ban for the same duration as this ownership regime has been in charge, call it a penalty on compound cheating. I require the current ownership to be forced to sell.
And I need a fine levied on the club that is so big it’s shocking the first time you hear the number. I do hope that every other party that has claims against City will get suing, but the Premier League can’t control that. I am now absolutely sure that I cannot care about a competition Man City are in until these things and more happen. I’m just one fan, who cares what I want, I don’t matter. I just hope there are millions of other fans out there who feel the same and won’t settle for less. If not I guess I’ll have to find a new hobby. Rob, LFC, NYC
…The City banner that sticks in my head is “hated, adored, but never ignored”.
That’s all they’ve ever wanted – an end to their general historical irrelevance. And it kills them that post whatever punishment, they’ll not be talked about for a long time.
In terms of the game, I felt nothing. It was meaningless. A Potempkin game in a sham league while City remain in it. Commentary as though it was business as usual – surreal. Haaland doing his wind up gestures – Noel and Alfie looking like they’re about to climax. The bananas. Just weird. Give me the Chelsea Celery Song every day of the week.
Enjoy the rest of the farewell tour. Aussie Red
It all means nothing now If results against Sham City don’t end up counting, what about the cards? Do goals and assists against them count towards the individual awards?
After that game, I didn’t feel the sort of frustration I’d usually go through with a bad loss. It was more like how I feel after reading the news. Depressing that the cheats won but we’re all getting used to that these days, I guess. Josh (maybe Jonny Nic was right) Jhb
…City won and nobody cares.
Instead all I can see is Man Utd fans and most others wondering why the ref was so biased to City. Some pulling up the same refs other dubious decisions which favoured Man City in previous seasons and reminders of how Man City are a bunch of cheats.
But all this conspiracy is why this season is going to be a disaster from now on. This City ruling and the time it’s taken plus the additional time it will take to finally see through will only keep adding more and more fuel to the fire. The prime minister seemingly tried to intervene before he realised how bad a look that was but even there the damage is done. He can rephrase but influential decision makers know what his real preference is. There’s an interesting game theory argument about how independent central banks don’t really get to be independent because they can be removed from their posts by a government…the same argument holds for the PL and the lawyers reviewing the appeal knowing what the PM really wants outcome wise.
If City win the league what happens? Obviously nobody will care because nobody ever has but it just adds to the joke that the league has been turned into.
We all stopped watching WWF when we were 14 and realised that grown men in tiny shorts writing their own story lines was a pathetic way to invest our time and money. The league in this current situation really doesn’t have much time to redeem itself and days like today don’t help its case. Minty, LFC
…Dont write in very often but this is all very sad isn’t it? I thought the whole affair couldn’t get any worse but insert Mick McCarthy GIF here because watching a City fan holding up an AI generated banner that said ‘In Kaldoon we Trust’ really just kicked the biscuits down the road. Awful for football, awful for the Premier League and awful for everyone really. Properly spoilt the season and, honestly, has soured what I assume is the crux of a lot of people’s happiness. City fans included by the way, whose cherry picked responses probably dont showcase the range of emotions they must be going through.
Anyway. Wirtz eh? Terrible isn’t he? Stu, AFC, Illinois
Iraola is not the man for Liverpool I have a horrible feeling that all the Sham City noise might actually disguise a cold hard truth that no reds fans seem willing to accept – Iraola is not the man, he is taking Liverpool backwards. The talk of Klopp having difficulties at the beginning of his reign is a nonsense. Klopp was a Bundesliga winner, champions league finalist and all round inspirational personality. Is Iraola any of these things?
He’s not even Brendan Rodgers. Tom Whitlock
How can you say Liverpool failed? Who the hell is Michael Lee and how the feck can he simply say Liverpool failed to rise to the occasion in the front-page article?!!
Liverpool were the best of 2 equals at that point. We all know Gravenberch shouldn’t have been sent off, the first yellow quite simply isn’t one. Second is 50/50 so whatever.
I think missing Isak, Gakpo, Szobo and Bradley from the starting 11 and still being marginally the better team with 11 on the pitch constitutes rising to the occasion…But hey, I’m not trying to generate clicks.
That was bloody hard to take after waiting 3 weeks for real footie to return. It’s mental what a bad referee can do to your wknd. Patricio del Toro
READ: How Liverpool exposed Man City but Wirtz and Barcola flopped again
…The game was going well as a Liverpool fan until Grav got sent off (odd that Haaland and Enzo didn’t get booked for asking for a yellow card when Araujo had been earlier, but there we are). I figure the ref was so keen to show he wasn’t going to be intimidated by the atmosphere that he swung the other way. Until then we’d played some nice stuff and had any of our goalscoring attackers been available we might have done a bit more. Wirtz and Barcola played pretty well, but they’re not graded on a “play pretty well” curve at that price.
After that it’s all a bit ugly. A ball dropping to Haaland in the box is unfortunate and Doku scoring his customary curler into the top corner against us (in part because Araujo was booked so was standing off a bit more that you’d expect). Cherki’s goal was a bit special, wasn’t it? Frimpong was all over the shop – just play Gomez RB
One thing that did strike me though is what happens if in December City get a punishment that effectively relegates them? They’ll just stop trying in PL games and save themselves for the cups and CL like PSG do. Teams that play them then will have a much easier job than the ones playing them at the moment and that will have serious fairness implications – it’s another massive headache for the league. Tom, Andover
Man City excellent, mind Whilst the Man City of 17 to 8 years ago are apparently the biggest hoax in sporting history, the Man City of today are very good at kicking the football. Danny, Brighton
…Went to the game today (yesterday?) . Love my team. Love my club. That third goal is why you watch football S Manchester
