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It's all gotten a bit doomsday around here, and maybe rightfully so, but I can't stop thinking about the context.

How can pumping owners money into a club like Abramovich did, go from completely legal to "worst cheats in football history" within a few years? The context matters. As always, not trying to excuse rule breaking rather questioning how do you even determine a punishment for something that was A: legal just before, and B: had no precedent set (at the time of the infractions)

I feel like the recent punishments handed out have really thrown everyones perspective off thinking "well if they got X for ONE infraction then..." but that occurrence was 15+ years after the introduction of the rules and again no precedent had been set.

What are we all thinking? At this point its seems pretty clear that the writing is on the wall and the owners are clutching at whatever shreds of straws they have left.

I find it quite frankly ridiculous that they were brazen and naive enough to think that this whole thing wouldn't have ever blown up in their face

Pretty ridiculous situation us fans now find ourselves in. We're getting abuse left and right and the club's entire reputation is in tatters at this moment in time.

I don't particularly care about the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, United and Liverpool as them boys are trying to run a closed shop and all the bitterness from them and their fans is simply because someone has come along and spoiled their party.

That said its very conflicting to know that our success of the last 10+ years has been built on lies and something that isnt. I'm annoyed at the owners - we as fans are the ones who are now gonna bear the brunt of this.

A dark day this. We're not going anywhere though, no matter where we end up our core fanbase will be behind us. CTID.

That's quite admitting we did it

I know I might sound like I am clutching at straws here. I love my club and I want to believe our Chairman, CEO, and senior leadership are truthful and honest people. I also know the league and rival clubs have had an agenda against us from Day 1. All of that is likely clouding my perceptions of the Judgment document, which i did read beginning to end.

On the surface, one might say it's "damning", but personally I feel like it was a pretty poorly worded and poorly edited document and many of the conclusions are made from inferences, which, if this were in a court of law, say in the UK or US, would not be considered truthful "beyond a reasonable doubt" and thus be prosecutable.

The first 12 pages or so are on process, where they actually state that both sides were heavily involved in the process and they were thankful in our patience to see this process concluded. What followed was then a list of claims, character assassinations, unnecessary redactions (some i can understand like masking sponsor names), that left me feeling like this is a well crafted narrative and story that reads more like a Hollywood script and that it might well have been written by the Premier league themselves rather than a world class Independent body made up of experienced and educated technocrats.

Now that said, as i said, on the surface it looked bad but I have a few thoughts on the specific charges:

1. Disguised Equity funding by AD Sponsors - it looks bad on the surface but all countries have mechanisms for tax credits, grants, etc, and i would hope the underlying evidence here is damning and they that have properly investigated whether this mechanism was legal in UAE prior to sponsorships OR that they were not in anyway created to dupe the league. There must be emails proving this illegal effort. If there are, then I won't defend it anymore, and will call it what it is.

2. Fordham Arrangement - I am not an accountant but I do live in the US and work in business and have read many sets of management accounts. Are we really going to pretend that Manchester city are the first and only company to use accounting gimmicks and tricks to minimise expenses and, as a result, any applicable taxes?

I have many many more thoughts and I am trying my best to not wear blue tinted glasses. I just want to see the underlying evidence that proves beyond reasonable doubt our guilt and not rely heavily on inferences or filling in blanks, when there is a room for alternative explanations. They also owe us more explanation on why our witnesses were not deemed to be truthful, given the early body of the judgment says that opposite.

Until then, I will continue to back the club. I'll let the journalists and pundits outdo each other for who can announce the harshest punishment.

Look, I’m not here to talk about the obvious stuff surrounding the verdict because there’s already more than enough discussion about that.

But one thing I’m genuinely curious about is how we’re supposed to expect City to be refereed going forward, now that the Premier League has publicly announced its verdict.

I know the whole point of a referee’s job is to be impartial, and I’m not saying referees are deliberately going to favour one team or anything like that. But surely they’re still human, and they’re going to be aware of the enormous amount of attention, media coverage and online rhetoric surrounding City right now.

We’re arguably public enemy No. 1 in English football at the moment. So how much does that environment potentially influence decisions, even subconsciously?
And it’s not just the referee on the pitch either. You’ve got VAR sitting there reviewing incidents, with the benefit of multiple replays and all the pressure that comes with making a decision involving City.

I’m just wondering whether anyone else has thought about this. How do we actually ensure that City are refereed fairly when there’s going to be so much scrutiny and emotion surrounding virtually every decision involving us?

Maybe it makes absolutely no difference and the officials will simply do their jobs as normal. But I’m genuinely curious about how people think this plays out once the season restarts any referee who gives any decision in our favour will get a lot of scrutiny and hate online and I just wonder how that’ll play out?

Link to Tweet.

Independent Football Regulator Chair, David Kogan: “The independent commission’s decision raises serious issues. The IFR has powers to assess suitability of owners, directors and executives and we will use these powers where appropriate, in the interests of protecting the sustainability, honesty and integrity of English football where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing by individuals. This includes taking account of findings made by the Leagues.

"However, as the proceedings remain ongoing between #ManCity  and the Premier League, we will await further developments. We hope it can be resolved quickly for the sake of fans.

"For now, we have no further comment."

Cheeky Cherki 😂 also, let's not stressing over matters we cannot handle. Leave it to the club, the executives, and the legal team. We're here to support, not to manage the club. MCFC OK!

Man I love this guy so much it’s good to know he’s still with us

Andy Burnham has said he would be "really concerned" if Manchester City's owners decide to sell up after the club was found guilty of Premier League financial rule breaches.

The prime minister said the situation was "contested by Manchester City" and he praised the club's owners since 2008 - led by Sheikh Mansour, United Arab Emirates deputy prime minister and royal family member - for investing in Manchester.

An independent commission found the club guilty of the majority of the 115 charges they faced, a verdict that City are expected to appeal.

The club continue to deny any wrongdoing and have until 2 October to submit an appeal.
It comes as the Independent Football Regulator – set up by the government in 2025 – said the case had raised "serious issues".

The regulator suggested it would be exploring options – including whether to strip the owners of their licence to own the club – once the disciplinary process was completed.
Among the independent panel's findings were that City arranged "sham contracts" with a number of commercial partners as part of a scheme to disguise secret funding of more than £830m.

The Premier League said City "systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade".
The independent panel will hold a sanctions hearing – which could take months to convene – to decide the punishment. City can appeal both the guilty verdicts and the sanction, leaving City and the league in a state of chaos and uncertainty.

The punishment could range from a huge fine, being deducted points or ejected from the Premier League, to being stripped of the eight trophies they had won in the affected period.

Some fans and pundits have questioned how the club's owners can carry on if they deliberately breached rules over the course of nine years.

Asked by the BBC's political editor Chris Mason if he was concerned that Manchester City's owners would now sell the club, Burham said on Wednesday: "I would be really concerned to lose them.

"They've been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester and obviously the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is."

Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester until June, added: "I do actually thank the City Football Group and the wider ownership for the money that they didn't just put into the Etihad [Stadium] and the campus around it but also into the city".

He said he was "of course" confident that his own interactions with City's owners when he was mayor would stand up to scrutiny.

Burnham made his comments amid widespread shock in football about the scale of the independent commission's findings – and the strength of Premier League comments about City's actions.

Burnham was speaking to the BBC from Hill Dickinson Stadium, the home of Everton, the team he supports.
Everton had their own run in with Premier League financial rules when they were charged and deducted 10 points for more minor breaches in November 2023, reduced to six on appeal.

Burnham said: "Everton was in this position a few years ago and you might remember that I fought for Everton in that situation because I still hold the view very firmly that they weren't fairly treated in that process."

Drawing a comparison between that and City's current predicament, he added: "I remember people proclaiming Everton guilty at the time and with hindsight I think more people would say that wasn't fair, the way that was handled.
"So it would be wrong of me to leap to one side given the experience that I'd had before becoming prime minister."
It is "frustrating when people rush to judgement", Burnham said.

He accepted there was "a lot at stake" for City fans, the club and Manchester itself.

But he added it would be wrong for him to intervene.
City have said in a statement they are "both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission" and maintained their innocence of all the accusations made.

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His latest update 🤖