Manchester City ‘cheated’, punishment ‘will be biblical’ and fans ‘should be ashamed of themselves’

Manchester City being found guilty of the vast majority of their 115 financial rule breaches has breathed life into the international break.

Man City: Guilty It’s been a long time coming. But halle-f**king-lujah, it’s arrived.

The verdict.

Manchester City – guilty on 114 of 115 charges.

We can talk about potential punishments: titles being stripped, expulsion from the Premier League, huge fines, transfer bans, enormous points deductions over consecutive seasons etc

The reality is, that stuff is all gravy. I mean, it’s crucial they’re hit with a metric ton of bricks, because it has to be made clear to any other nefarious owners that punishment for such sustained and blatant cheating will be biblical.

But, for now – Manchester City are guilty. They cheated, in many different ways over many years. Everything they’ve won is bullsh*t. Nothing they can say or do changes that. I feel sorry for old school Blues, of which I know a few, who always felt, at the least, uneasy with the ownership. I feel no sympathy for people who gloried in it.

This cannot be glossed over. Manchester City, while they remain in the PL, should be pariahs. All the other clubs, the media, fans, cannot let this slide. City are Lance Armstrong. They’re Ben Johnson. They’re the entire output of East Germany’s Olympians.

They cheated and by doing so, they cheated the sport.

Let’s not forget that.

Whatever happens, today has brought a measure of justice.

I’m off for a pint or three. Ben

One of your Man City articles states that Mike Keegan from the Mail reports “Points deductions could even be applied onto previous seasons, raising the chance that City will be stripped of their Premier League titles“.

If Man City are guilty of 114 out of 115 financial “doping” charges, then I would hope so. Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, and Lance Armstrong weren’t told they can keep their medals as long as they promise never to do it again. Different sports and different sort of “doping” but the principle is the same. If guilty and titles are stripped, surely it’s not just the 2nd placed teams that should be acknowledged and compensated in any retrospective action. What about the teams that missed out on the different European competitions by one place in any “dodgy” Man City season and all the financial benefits they will have lost out on? And the extra Premier League financial pay outs to all the other teams that would in theory now record a one place higher standing in the league than before. Or does being stripped of titles just mean you still finished first in the league standings and keep all the benefits that brought, but don’t get to keep your shiny things? Danny, Brighton

They can’t take this long and allow it to be overturned at appeal – otherwise there’s no point any more.

You gotta guess that Pep knew.

We all did.

Oh sweet blistering joy let this stick and let the National League games BEGIN!

But hey my sky blue boys, Don’t look back in anger, it’s Fylde away Sesh Juan

Some initial thoughts.

1. Rio Ferdinand is a nob.

2. Anyone who thinks that City will be relegated like Rangers or Juve, or have a big enough points deduction hasn’t been reading the room. Sky will not let let anything happen to a side whose media presence in the developing world is a big draw.

3. Saeed the Hutt and his ilk need to calm themselves down too. If City can rightly get pinged for this, surely questions can soon get asked about how a certain club can be over a billion in debt and still be operating. Aidan, EFC, Hoxton

Are we putting the City Ticker back up? 50 years now… Jack (Laughable how little impact this is likely to have in the short-medium term) Manchester

Can I just say, following today’s news there are alot of City fans who should be ashamed of themselves. They knew what was going on and decided to turn their backs and look the other way… Andy (MUFC)

Now English football must finally act

Manchester City have been found guilty on 114 of the 115 charges brought against them. After years of denials, lawyers, delays and City’s insistence that they possessed “irrefutable evidence”, an independent commission has reached an extraordinarily damning conclusion.

For most supporters outside the blue half of Manchester, the greater surprise would probably have been an acquittal. Sneaky, lying cheats FC has had its comeuppance.

Suspicion around City’s finances has followed their transformation under Abu Dhabi ownership for years. UEFA previously banned City from European competition for two seasons, only for that punishment to be overturned by CAS in 2020. City celebrated vindication, but the reality was considerably murkier: important allegations were time-barred, others were not established to the required standard, while CAS still found City had failed to cooperate with UEFA’s investigation and said UEFA had a “legitimate basis” for bringing the case.

City escaped the ban. The questions never disappeared… and the biggest p*ss take in football history was allowed to continue. Because the UAE who own the club had deep connections in to UK politics, subtle threats were made about security and investment…

Now we have 114 proven charges and an altogether bigger question: how the hell did English football allow it to get this far?

The Premier League investigation began in 2018, charges were finally announced in 2023 and the alleged breaches stretched back to 2009. Throughout that extraordinary period City continued competing, spending, collecting prize money and lifting trophies while the biggest financial investigation in Premier League history moved at glacial speed.

That is a catastrophic failure of regulation.

Financial regulations aren’t boring accounting rules. They are sporting rules. They determine what clubs can spend, which players they can buy, what wages they can offer and ultimately what team walks onto the pitch. If one club obeys those restrictions while another breaks them, the advantage isn’t confined to a spreadsheet. It plays football on Saturday afternoon.

Everton and Nottingham Forest received points deductions while the City case disappeared beneath years of lawyers, hearings and confidentiality. The cases were different, but the contrast exposed an uncomfortable reality: English football could punish relatively straightforward breaches quickly, yet appeared almost paralysed when confronted with the richest and most legally formidable organisations in the game.

And 114 proven charges cannot simply be deposited outside the Etihad and attributed to an inanimate football club.

Some seriously deluded people run Manchester City. They knowingly devised its crooked financial strategy, approved its accounts, negotiated commercial agreements( with themselves) and dealt with regulators. Sheikh Mansour has controlled City since the Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008 and is also Vice-President and Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE. He needs barring from all sport now.

The ownership enjoyed the trophies, prestige, commercial growth and extraordinary transformation of Manchester City, knowing they cheated the system.

Ownership means accountability. A colossal fine isn’t enough. When those behind a football club possess almost unimaginable wealth, even an eye-watering financial penalty risks becoming an expensive parking ticket.

And this matters far beyond Manchester City.

Elite sport has spent two decades enthusiastically embracing sovereign and state-linked Middle Eastern wealth while asking remarkably few questions about whether its governing institutions were capable of regulating it. Qatar’s 2022 World Cup became engulfed by criticism over migrant-worker abuses and human rights. Saudi Arabia has poured extraordinary sums into football, boxing, Formula One and LIV Golf while facing persistent accusations of sportswashing.

Now English football has its own reckoning.

So many of us were of the ‘told you so’ persuasion because Middle East regimes control every aspect of their countries. So when sporting institutions designed to regulate conventional owners suddenly encounter organisations backed by staggering financial resources and enormous political influence, and a culture of ‘ we do what we want when we want’ – they sometimes struggle with the pressure. For years City told football the allegations were wrong. They told us their evidence was “irrefutable”. Their supporters mocked the infamous number 115.

Well, that number has changed. It’s 114.

The Premier League must now impose a heavy punishment that actually matters, pursue individual responsibility wherever the evidence leads and then conduct an uncomfortable examination of its own failures. Nothing short of relegation from the league and bans from promotion for 10 years will do. Send a message that we will not tolerate it.

Now somebody needs to explain how one of the richest leagues on Earth allowed it to happen on this scale in the first place…

Blue Moon My Arris Levenshaa ha ha ha ha

The only correct sanction

Have just seen the news regarding Man City. I think the only appropriate punishment is a 10 point deduction for Everton. Chris NUFC

What a mess

We ought to all line up to say thank you to City, if we can’t watch them play PL football again for a while, the fallout from them being found guilty on all but one charge will still be more entertaining than watching Arteta murdering the beautiful game.

But on a serious note, Christ knows how they’re going to sort it all out if they get booted out of the league – can you imagine how much (justifiably to a degree) noise is coming from Liverpool fans, and obviously the Gooners will be even louder because they are about everything nowadays. Then there’s the folk who will try to claim the points/GD City took off them means they should never have been relegated, etc, and so on.

Actually quite a fun game sitting thinking about how wide and deep (oo-er) the upcoming scope of this mess is going to be. RHT/TS x (And of course, as first team coach at the time, Mr Charisma is complicit in their heinous crimes)

Appeal away

Everyone strap in for another year or two of appeals which end with half the charges being overturned and a medium sized fine. At which point almost 20 years will have passed since the first breaches and most people will just want to move on. Things are going exactly to plan for Man City. Henry

Why the negativity?

I’m currently on holiday and have therefore had the time and space to devour the internet. A rare privilege for me.

Over the last week I’ve read many articles, and have been very surprised at the level of negativity directed at Liverpool. Yes, they have not had a scintillating start, but overall it’s been very positive.

Thus far they remain unbeaten, and since the Newcastle game have not looked like losing. They’ve won four of the last five games, with three consecutive clean sheets in the league, and appear to have established a very strong foundation in defence – Jacquet has been a revelation, as has Araùjo – who would have thought Barcelona’s captain would be a great signing?

And, of course, Barcola is just finding his feet on Merseyside.

All positive.

And yet I read Alonso has had a better start than Iraola despite not having a European game, and being whipped by Brentford; and generally the press are reporting the start to the season as mediocre.

Of course everything could change against City but for now I am cautiously optimistic. Rob

Thunderb*stards

Victor Wanyama for Spurs away to Liverpool Matt Carr, Spurs, Wilmington, NC

Look, thunderbastards are fine if you like that sort of thing but they’re a bit basic, aren’t they? Guy swings his boot, ball flies into the top corner. In musical terms, they’re Status Quo. A chip however is a thing of delicacy and impish precision. Belle & Sebastian, if you like. A solo goal? Sun-era Elvis. But a really well worked team goal a la Jack Wilshere’s against Norwich . . . ah, that’s Mozart. Matt Pitt

Must agree with Akillies re: the chip/lob being the purist form of ultimate goal.

Mainly because you’re either a geometry wizard or you are just mocking the keeper/his team. Chances are you’re a few goals up and the gaffer won’t rip you a new one if you get it wrong at that point.

Case in point, John O’ Shea, Arsenal, left footed as well for +10 p*sstaking points. Richard

Non-golden oldies

There’s much chat about the problems at Utd and Liverpool, and for me, the answer is simple.

Underperforming oldies.

Liverpool – took a year to realise Salah was past it. Still to realise Van Dijk is in the same boat. He’s 35. Man Utd – team is centred around Fernandes. He had a great season last time, but it’s not consistent. You’ll improve after he leaves. He’s 32.

How many key players do City and Arsenal have at that age? None?

You can buy all the exciting new players you want, you’re only as good as your weakest old links. These guys are living off their reputation, and it takes some massive cojones for a manager to do something about it. Currently the task is beyond both clubs. Simon S, NUFC, Cheshire

Fixtures flippancy

Absolutely amazed at the content of the Nations League Fixtures to watch article regarding the Republic of Ireland’s upcoming fixtures.

Ireland recognises the Palestine state and the feeling of the majority of the country is that these games should not be taking place. Ireland’s last home game against Qatar experienced a huge number of delays due to fan protests and the feeling around this game is so fervent in Ireland that the Ireland’s home game has been moved to a neutral, behind closed door venue in Serbia.

That fact was clearly lost in the writing of this piece, referencing Israel’s visit to Dublin and the Irish crowd. Fair enough I guess, not up to speed on this news story. But to reference that it might be quite some atmosphere depending on the fallout from the first game moves from a lack of awareness into complete ignorance.

The blurb for the first meeting is as bad, making it seem like some petty argument between our coach and the Israeli FA.

I get it’s a short piece on each game to try and build up a bit of hype for a game each day, but I think if you are not going to discuss the events around these games in length, they shouldn’t be included. I think if you are going to write about something with such strong feelings based on the type of horrible atrocities taking place, it deserves to be written about in a serious and detailed matter with as much context as possible, not as a flippant international break preview filler.

Feeling in Ireland is generally that these games should not be taking place, with fans disappointed in our FA going ahead with the games rather than boycotting the games and taking a stand. Amnesty International has outlined how UEFA’s inaction is helping to validate Israel’s behaviour and Israeli historian Ilan Pappé has spoken about how allowing Israel to continue competing creates a symbol of belonging in Europe which normalises their behaviour, arguing how boycotting and sporting sanctions would deeply impact the Israeli public much more than any political comments that are easily ignored. Carl