It’s likely that we haven’t heard the last of this, but the ruling from UEFA could be massive when it comes to the future of Man City and English football.
The news broke earlier that City had been banned from the Champions League for two seasons and were also hit with a huge fine:
Uefa announce Man City banned from next two seasons of the Champions League and fined 30 million euros pic.twitter.com/yUku5PMGZ4
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) February 14, 2020
On the face of it something had to be amiss when it came to City’s growth. They don’t have a huge support, don’t make a lot of money from player sales and have spent a lot of money on the squad, so it’s not a surprise to hear they’ve been in breach of UEFA’s rules.
City have since come out with a statement on their own website, where they take a shot at UEFA for their handling of the case and the judgement.
They’ve called for an independent body to make these decisions, and seem to be suggesting that UEFA ran a seriously “flawed” process when it came to reaching their verdict.
City have an ageing squad and missing the Champions League could be huge. It may make them less attractive to new signings, Pep Guardiola may chose to leave and the loss of revenue will hurt them when it comes to spending in the future.
This could be a huge day to look back on in a few years.