Michael Carrick given damning ‘dead man walking’ verdict as Man City break more rules
It’s the start of another week for a football world now hopelessly encumbered by a massive great blue elephant in the room.
We’ve got inevitable fallout and reaction from Sunday’s events at Anfield, and more bad news for Manchester United’s no longer tanned and relaxed manager Michael Carrick.
We also pose a vital question: when does a ‘thinly-veiled jibe’ become simply a ‘jibe’?
And it’s LIVE! We’re not saying the Mirror are starting to regret committing themselves to a daily Manchester City Verdict live blog when what is an undeniably huge story that squats over the whole Premier League is also one that moves forward at molasses pace, but the big headline news from it this morning is this:
Premier League clubs believe Manchester City should be expelled from the top flight next season if their appeal against the financial charges fails, per reports.
Those reports being from Sky Sports, last Tuesday. Which is six days ago. And thus, we would humbly contend, stretching the reasonable definition of ‘live’ significantly beyond its elastic limit.
Also worth noting that what is now a six-day-old Sky Sports report was also rehashed and reheated six days ago by… the Daily Mirror.
Walk the line Michael Carrick is done for at Manchester United. We know that not because his Man United team are just awful – quite possibly worse even than Spurs on Saturday’s evidence – but because of this far more compelling truth, courtesy of Samuel Luckhurst in The Sun.
MICHAEL CARRICK had a face like thunder when he marched into the press conference room at Old Trafford on Saturday night.
His stride was not quite that of a dead man walking.
Damning. But does rather beg the question: what, precisely, is the stride of a dead man walking that Carrick did not quite possess alongside his thunder-like face?
We’re thinking Michael Cera in Arrested Development.
But there’s more.
Carrick, 45, was tanned and relaxed when he took over in January, having holidayed in Barbados over Christmas and New Year. Now he is frayed and grey.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that no successful Manchester United manager has ever had grey hair.
A slight return We genuinely enjoyed Ian Herbert’s Daily Mail piece about the discombobulating feeling of unreal futility that surrounded Sunday’s experience for Liverpool and their fans at Anfield.
But while we can get on board with the first half of this headline conclusion, the second half feels like a bit of a stretch.
A dark day at Anfield but Man City will probably not be here again
We will take that wager. Of course Man City will be here again. Like we said, it’s a good piece that captures the mood of the day better than anything else we’ve read on the subject, but let’s not get carried away. There might be some reasonable doubt about the when, but not the if of Man City playing at Anfield again. Come on now.
Euro vision Curious piece from the Daily Express, this, chiefly because of its timing.
The exact date Harry Kane should overtake Cristiano Ronaldo as world’s top goal scorer
Now obviously nobody can actually claim to meaningfully predict such a thing. But it’s a bit of fun, and we’d totally accept the premise as a daft little bit of filler for the bleak final days of a long international break.
Basically, if you’re publishing this last Wednesday or Thursday we’d shrug our shoulders and move on, perhaps even with a grudging pang of regret that we didn’t think of it ourselves.
But this was published just after 5pm on Saturday. It could hardly have been used at a time when it was less required, with actual football having already taken place that afternoon and El Sackico about to get underway at Old Trafford. It was not exactly low tide in Content Bay.
We do like and admire the committed certainty of this complete guess, though, loftily dubbed ‘projections’.
According to projections, Kane is expected to break the record at Euro 2032 in Italy and Turkey. The tournament will run from June 11 until July 11 – just 17 days before Kane’s 39th birthday.
As I expect England to be in the final, and win the tournament, Kane will break Ronaldo’s international goal record in the final on July 11 against, you guessed it, Portugal. He will lift the trophy and become the most prolific international striker of the modern era.
But seriously, imagine mucking about like that with made-up nonsense about Kane’s England goal tally. Grow up.
From bad to worse Honestly, where does it end with Manchester City? Even after their 3-0 win over Liverpool, we’re sad to report that the blatant rule-breaking continues.
Man City flout another Premier League rule after thumping Liverpool and 115 charges verdict
What malfeasance are they up to now, Manchester Evening News?
Manchester City reportedly breached another Premier League regulation following their commanding 3-0 victory over Liverpool on Sunday, after manager Enzo Maresca failed to speak with radio broadcasters.
Honestly, the decade-long conspiracy to cheat the entire sport is one thing, but this is the final straw. We were leaning towards letting City off with a warning and stern talking-to, but now expulsion from football altogether is too good for them.
And while the club have submitted an appeal as they continue to contest their innocence, City will find themselves unable to escape a rule violation committed in the aftermath of Sunday’s clash at Anfield.
According to the Express, the club did not allow permit Maresca to speak with radio broadcasters after the match, despite engaging with the likes of Sky Sports and attending a post-match press conference.
This is like getting Al Capone on tax evasion, in a way.
We did also enjoy this description of the reception City received at Anfield.
A chorus of boos and jeers rang out in the build-up to kick-off, accompanied by chants of “You cheating b******s, you know what you are,” in a thinly-veiled jibe at the club amid their ongoing legal battle.
Not sure there’s really a veil of any kind there, no matter how gossamer-thin. Pretty sure that’s just a straight-up jibe.
