The football world is seemingly waiting with baited breath to see exactly what punishment, if any, is going to be metered out to Man City by the Premier League.
It’s alleged that the Cityzens have failed to provide the necessary information on various aspects of Financial Fair Play, and the 115 separate charges against them are damning.
Were the club to be found guilty on any or all of them, it would surely tarnish their incredible achievements over the past few years.
The treble win from last season is likely to be seen as the pinnacle, however, City are only one win away from a fourth successive English top-flight title – a feat that’s never been achieved before in over 100 years of history.
Man City players could leave the club
It would also be their sixth Premier League in the past seven years, all under Pep Guardiola. In the only season that they didn’t win it, they finished second, cementing the Catalan’s legacy at a third club.
There’s no doubt that Guardiola has changed the face of football in England, in the same way he did in Germany and Spain. For all that to be tainted would leave a really sour taste.
Former professional turned pundit, Paul Robinson, believes that if the charges are proven City face an unprecedented player walkout.
“It depends on what the sanctions are,” he said on Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast.
“We are at the mercy of the Premier League and the independent board of appeal.
“We don’t know who they are, what they are going to dream up or what punishment they are going to dish out.
“If you ask for a few points back, you might get them back. We make a joke out of it, but genuinely nobody knows.
“Until we get guidelines for punishments for certain offences, like 10 points for £10million or five points for £5million, we’re not going to know.
“They said every case is dealt on an individual basis and is looked at individually, so we’ll never be privy to that information.
“The only way I think you would see Manchester City players leaving is if the sanctions were that hard that they fell through the leagues. I can’t imagine many of that first-team squad wanting to play in the Championship, League One or League Two depending on what the punishment was.
“If the punishment was that severe and they went down to the Championship, there may be a case where they have a shut-door siege mentality where they say ‘Right, it’s us against the world, we’ll be back next season, we’ll go romp the Championship’.
“Or the squad and the team will fall apart. It just depends on how harsh the actual sanctions with regard to the future of a lot of the players.
“If they are in the Premier League, I don’t think you would see anybody leaving.”
Far from being the controversial meanderings of an out of touch ex-player, Robinson makes a genuine point.
Every single player and member of staff involved at the club during the time of the alleged breaches will have their reputations stained. Perhaps irrevocably.
City have played some of the best football ever seen in the top flight of English football over recent years, and the great shame would be that all of that would be forgotten if history only remembers them for matters that allegedly occurred off the pitch.
Any punishment now for alleged transgressions back in 2009 etc. is like punishing an 18 year old for something they may or may not have done when they were 3 or 4 years old !!
Also most of the staff and players from that era are long gone. The ones being punished now would be the fans and current players, neither of whom control what may or may not have occurred. Any punishment should not be directed at either group !!
It would be the Club that would be punished.
Your analogy would be more accurate if it were a 40-year-old being punished for something they did when they were 25. They knew what they were doing back then; they weren’t innocent, naive children.
Everton’s fans and current players had nothing to do with what happened, yet the club took the points deductions.
Well people have to face the consequences for offensive tweets that surface many years later…. or imprisonment for crimes committed years before. The fact that the personnel have changed at MCFC is immaterial… the organisation has to pay the penalty if found guilty.
It won’t happen only little clubs will get done
The Signings WERE made OFF the Pitch!
City created the infrastructure which enabled more recent achievments using money which was gifted to them, the club itself simply didn’t have the money to do it alone. In three short years they went from flogging Shaun Wright-Phillips to avoid bankruptcy to then buying Robinho for 32 million quid.
Send em down, not least for the sheer arrogance, hypocrisy and delusion of their supporters.
Totally agree they should be punished heavily. Their arrogance is going to be their own down fall. What’s that saying the bigger you are the harder you fall.
Ex city player saying shouldn’t get points deduction for early charges what a joke never heard him when Everton or Forest got charged and dealt with within couple months premier league corrupt and these charges should have been dealt with by season
Cheats are Cheats no matter the time scale if they hadn’t cheated they would not be where they are now
They Should be punished for each and every transgression whether from 2009 or not because without them they would probably have won nothing. People who say they shouldn’t be punished for things they did in 2009 should remember the reason they haven’t is because they have been denying the charges.
If proven They should be stripped of all things won since 2009 and demoted to Division 2.
Spot on and we’ll said. It’s the right thing to do
They will pay their way out of ot, one of the most corrupt clubs, besides real madrid, Chelsea, FA are corrupt
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I’m a life long Villa fan..but the F.A, the league, the money..it’s all a joke now.
Nothing is WON nowadays its ALL BOUGHT. The more money a team has the more top flight players they can afford..and more of them too to cover injuries. Lower down teams have no chance anymore other than by complete fluke of getting anywhere.
Where that money has come from to enable these teams to buy these players is important . Yes maybe these accusations are historical but it has meant they’ve been able to achieve what they have.Stop letting them keep denying it..prove they did wrong and punish accordingly…tho what ‘accordingly’ will turn out to be ..? They won’t relegate them..as said above no doubt some ‘deal’ no doubt financial will be done.
I reckon ALL sponsorship deals be banned for club and players for a season or 2 !
Can’t see why it’s taking so long its like a corrupt move has stopped the progress of this investigation. Just my opinion I don’t trust citys owners corrupt to the core.
Cheats the lot of them!!!!! Can’t win by playing by the rules as every other team have to. Nobody is bothered about what they win as people know how they got there.
Treat them the same as Ranger’s up in Scotland
City should have a hefty penalty for the Financial Fair Play, and the 115 separate charges they should be relegated down to the lowest division level and have a transfer window Ban for at least 3 seasons and a 4 year European ban for at least three years after they reach qualification
But because it is Man City I can see them getting away with it because the premier league and the independent board of appeal. Will get paid off
If city do get away with it I think that the rest of the football league’s should got to court against city and make sure something is done about it
Should hardly be punished. Cheat their way to success.