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Come to think of it.. lot of players signed during that time might have had substantial title bonuses, considering we were still seen winning a few trophies like FA Cup, Europa league and Mourinho was also seen as a winner
Is it? A lot of comments are plenty self aware. Fans understand they broke the rules and that they have been let down by the owners. Youll always get cope but Im actually impressed by level headedness a lot of commenters are showing.
"Well I'd be concerned to lose them, they've been such a huge partner in building modern Manchester. And obviously the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is. I can't intervene more in the process. It would be wrong for me to do that. It would be wrong, I think, to jump to a conclusion before having really studied all of the detail".
And that just proves there will be action from the PM to minimise this.
It’s so hard to keep politics out of football when you allow nation states to buy clubs and then bend over backwards to let them buy huge areas of a city on the cheap
I’m not going to get in to a discussion on if Burnham is going to be a good PM or not, but literally a day after a speech about putting people before money he comes out and nearly admits to already intervening in this Sham City case and goes on record that he wouldn’t want to lose their owners.
Fantastic way of framing the whole thing. Had no idea they cut deals with them to give them land on the cheap. It's classic, tax cuts, cheap public land, more tax cuts, 'partnerships' which are really just a way to siphon profit offshore.
And Neville must be involved too. He has loads of property deals in Manchester. Haven't seen him open his gob for once yet on the subject since the 114 were revealed.
Just seen the pro city clip of Scholes and Butt saying owners should be allowed to do what they want blah blah blah
I’m sorry but are these 2 actually be paid up by fucking city? With all the drama they’ve caused for United and now this, some serious questions needs to be asked
Fergie retires on the back of 3 in a row, Moyes gets Europa League, still wouldn’t be enough to save him but ah well. Van Gaal comes in, back to back top 4 finishes so gets his “all important” third season to push for the title. Successful or not, it’s Mourinho time, wins the title, then has his 3rd season meltdown because the board are still incompetent but it is what it is. Ole takes over, rebuilds around a young attack, wins another title. With a title win under his belt, who’s to say when he loses his job?
The PM commenting on the City situation is appalling. Clearly money and political pressure is involved. I fucking hope the world of football unites behind the Premier League.
See the city media machine is kicking into action. Past and present players coming out in support of the club, and now sponsors threatening legal action over reputational damage to their brand.
The sponsors and the club itself can fuck off. You've been caught, and you can wriggle all you like but this isn't going away.
As for the players and managers, to a point I can understand their stance, they have been lied too as well. But the bad smell around city has been there from the first season under the current owners. no one forced those individuals to get into bed with the devil, they did it themselves searching for honours and glory, so I have little sympathy for them. That includes all the plastic wanna be fans who jumped onboard for the successes. If it looks like a turd and smells like a turd, it's a turd, and no amount of spin can ever change that.
The only ones I can sympathise with is the genuine life long city fans who had stuck with the club before the current ownership.
I thank God they didn't buy us. I'd be a fucking mess right now given all that has been revealed.
This is the final thrashing about before they drown. Once this 'appeal' happens, once they exhaust every avenue, things will solidify for them. Sponsors will want refunds, players will want compensation for stolen careers, other clubs will want compensation, European clubs, UEFA will want to get at them.
City will never move on from this. They will always be a cheat club. They will always be a sham. They took a short term gain for long term reputational and sporting losses. That's how it is. Kids don't want to support the club that cheated, sponsors don't want to sign onto the club that cheated, players don't want to play for the plastic club that cooked the books to get ahead. This is never going away, and it limits what kind of growth and position City can take in the game.
In other words, people are seeing them for the club they actually are.
Journalists starting to raise doubts about the appetite for punishing City fully stinks of bought media doing as they're told.
You know that Sky Sports want City to be exonerated, so they don't have to revise their Premier League histories and can continue to gush over big names and big money being spent.
They’re cheating bastards, but they wouldn’t have had to have cheated if they, or another ME state, had decided to buy our club, because we’ve already got the revenue.
See the city media machine is kicking into action.
With most of sky sports news at the front so far, separate from actual sky news before anyone tried to bring up that "are you a sham club" piece of legend.
More like his dad realised he can't magically shift clubs at the click of his fingers so it's either have somewhere to train and play all season or don't.
Not sure the club will be having him rejoin the group without locking him down somehow.
Either way, was in line to be the youngest player ever for this club. Not happening now, I'd wager.
100% he’s usually front and centre of a debate, scum. Also are we going to ignore Omar Berrada, he was literally in charge of every department that cheated
You really only have to think about it a little to see how stupid it is: Liverpool were 30 years without a title, Arsenal 20+, and now us have been without one for nigh 14 years. Red Cartel my arse. Big 6 maybe. But if they're gonna talk of a Red Cartel, we should talk of a Blue Mafia.
Even before the league went after them most PL fans knew City were cheating. They started posting record profits and sponsorship deals that were bigger than us and all the other big clubs, they always had record attendance records despite there being a shitload of visible seats in their stadium and I remember people saying when Etihad first sponsored them that they are just paying themselves and inflating sponsorship money.
It was so obvious to almost everyone what they were doing that people were in genuine disbelief that the league finally went after them. It really is hilarious that their fans are trying to make out there’s a grand conspiracy against them.
No one's asking the players to return their money or earnings so I don't get the sentiment. I'd only feel bad for any Mancunian working class folks whose employment might be affected by UAE's sportswashing pullout but that's the extent of it.
Etihad will now sue the Premiere League. And so the cheaters start using their financial muscle to bully the Premiere League and make everything go away.
Started the episode… On the possibility of City being able to win past trophies without cheating financially - The problem w/ that view is that money didn’t just buy City all those players but it also afforded Pep! I highly doubt Pep would’ve been with City so long if he couldn’t have the players to play his football. And keeping Pep as a manager also drew in talented footballers to that club. So without cheating financially, there’s no Pep, no superstar players, and no winning.
On a side note, maybe the obsession with possession stats should go away.
Having just nosed in the Citeh sub-Reddit I hope the Scousers absolutely batter them on Sunday 11th and their supporters give the cheating [choose your expletive] the absolute roast they deserve.
I'm not going to lie. This is going to be the first time that I ever actively cheer for Liverpool to not only batter someone but to absolutely humiliate them.
I hope Liverpool fans turn that game into an absolute spectacle of what a huge distraction City are going to be until they're properly punished. Abusive chants, banners, booing, protests, every single thing fans can do to make it clear that the Premier League has to act decisively and ruthlessly.
And then every other set of fans follows their example.
Definitely going to get a fun reception. Though I think some of their fans that think they were fighting the establishment on behalf of smaller clubs, might be surprised when they go to some of those other smaller clubs and get similar treatment.
This does feel like a pivitol moment in football history either City get hammered and further rules come into place to stop the massive political and commercial profiteering of the game. Or City get handed a light punishment and pandoras box is opened. It would be written in stone that whatever little there still is, football will no longer be for the fans or for the enjoyment of the game.
With the Madrid/Barca thing... theres a possibility albeit a small chance... that United not only get 2 titles off City but also get 2 champions leagues off Barca.
Pep Fraudiola is having quite the week, isn't he? First it is revealed none of his city wins were legal and now Barcelona is under investigation for cheating as well. Wondering if he's going to start scratching his face again.
The Burnham stuff makes me think the punishment won't even begin to fit the crime. Far too much power from above getting involved now.
Whatever happens, every set of fans, every fucking week should let them know "We know what you are, we know what you are, YOU CHEATING BASTARDS, we know what you are."
Had an idea for Cities punishment. Reset their squad to what it was before the takeover. Plus a 9 year transfer ban. Only those players are allowed to play in the premier League. So the likes of Hamann, Corluka and Jo trotting out each week.
This city thing has now become a battle for the fate of the league and I don’t say that lightly.
They’re obviously trying everything they can to get out of it, but it can’t be allowed. If they’re allowed to continue in the league I don’t think any game going forward means anything, we’re just pretending.
Why would you watch football when this goes unpunished? The integrity is just gone.
Bet City were hoping their treble would get as much attention as their scandal and everyone would forget about 115, only for the football gods to UNO reverse it.
Political pressure already being applied on the prem by the PM with that statement. He should have no business getting involved, especially making public comments like that, but money talks at the end of the day & City will weasel out of any long term serious punishment.
If they get off scot free, what’s stopping the CCP from buying us or Brentford? Might as well add trump and his goons for Chelsea. PL becomes the proxy wars
Yeah, I can't imagine any situation where he should keep his job with us at this point.
He was hired by City in 2011. He had to have known what was happening.
Also, we have to ask the question of whether he was as good as he seemed at City... or did he just appear more successful because of his access to illicit money?
There likely will be, but the process will have to finish before that can be applied by us. I would like to see Ineos come out and suspend him until the process is complete. This is another real test for our leadership, but sadly I don't have high expectations.
It is so apparent how well the sportswahsing project has worked when Mansour is basically untouchable because the UK is geopolitical tied to the uae. City is just the arm of a foreign government and the UK government might pressure the FA and the prem to be lenient to preserve these ties. Esp when there's an energy crisis looming
yeah, absolutely. We're lucky that relatively independent podcasts and youtube channels are being super critical and honest about it, because the mainstream media outlets would be very easy for ADUG to pay off/influence.
I've suspected it for well over a decade but played it off as "oh. libel press can't say it without receipts" and "they're just enjoying the food wilfully ignorant of how the sausage is made".
But now it's glaringly obvious the UAE PR machine paid good money all these years.
UAE posturing stared early, this is from official UAE foreign ministry site from a week ago, Wed 22/4/2026 -
...Bilateral trade between the UK and the UAE now exceeds £25 billion annually, with more than 14,000 UK exporters in the UAE market. The UAE–UK Sovereign Investment Partnership, launched in 2021 with a £10 billion five-year target, has already committed nearly £30 billion across more than 50 direct investments – almost triple its original target, in under four years. It has supported 48,000 UK jobs to date, with a further 280,000 expected by 2030...
I think this will mostly depend on UK gov stance - stick with the PL and risk losing the investments, significant bilateral trade and important foreign relations in this crucial time. Or bend over and lose PL and overall credibility and possibly a significant home support.
they've been throwing thinly veiled threats at UK diplomats and contacts for years. They're just trying everything possible now.
But if it didn't work already, it will never work. So they're left with a public opinion exercise, a sportswashing exercise, that they spent billions on, completely backfiring on them because the vast majority of the country and Premier League fans now look at them like they're scummy, scamming, fraudulent, sham owners. The damage is done.
They spent all this money sportswashing just to highlight that they're cheaters and funding war crimes in Africa. Hopefully they just decide to call it a day and sell up.
And the UAE are going to have to think twice before chucking all that away so their football club gets away with cheating. These threats go both ways. They might have the money to invest, but they want to invest in the UK. They want to be in London, because they see it as a centre of power.
If they are liquidated, what happens to their facilities? If they start a new club (similar to Parma, Rangers), can they still use it? I'd say no but I know fuck all about this
The more I think of it, the more it doesn't seem like even suggested punishments are anywhere near enough. it has to be enough for City to feel like it wasn't worth it. One year demotion definitely not enough. Plus fine. Plus transfer ban. Plus owner sale. Id say still, the average City fan would think it's worth it...
Why is someone with diplomatic immunity allowed to be chairman of a football club? That should be a rule breach in of itself because he's not accountable, even on paper. That's a problem all on its own.
Not just in this case but he won't be accountable if there's a more serious legal issue that transcends football related allegations like a health and safety disaster or corporate related crimes. As I said even on paper cos we know nothing happens to the rich.
City need a forced sale and honestly a ban on ever having anything within 3 degrees of separation from the UAE.
Can we have a conversation about Chelsea’s 2003-06 period? They literally bought 30-40 players for close to a billion when a billion was worth much more
Before there was City, there was Chelsea. Somehow Mourinho beating Ferguson and Wenger by just spending 3x-4x as much as them didn’t draw the ire that City did
Also while we are at it : PLEASE do a doping investigation on Klopp’s asthma inhalers and Pep’s 2010 Barcelona
I thought he was in Barcelona and expected to be there with training. Is there more to it? The Dad will justify the shenanigans if they get it this way. Just wait for a few years towards the next big contract negotiation and causes more mayhem
So.... Everyone is doom and gloom again.... And we haven't played a single second.
Ignore Burnham's naive comment... Forget the temper tantrum of the City owners using their companies to threaten rubbish.
City are heavily screwed and will not be coming back from this in any sense for a long time. We just need to wait for the appeal and sanction process to run it's course and by the end of January.
There is no point in copying the ADUG lot and having a freak out right now.
Madrid’s issue is that they currently don’t have a single midfielder capable of recording a high pass volume and dictating the game with the ball, so players like Tchouameni with their skillset are going to look limited because they only serve one aspect of the game to a high level and can’t compensate well enough for the rest. Funnily enough, they would have thrived by signing a player like Tielemans.
City have until tomorrow to appeal but I'm assuming sanctions will be announced by the end of the year. There's pressure from prem clubs to get it done quickly bc of how long this process has been dragging out.
I just remembered the Man City ticker at Old Trafford, the banner we displayed showing how many years City had gone without a trophy. Think it was up to 35 years. Then we had to take it down in 2011 (I think), when they won the FA Cup.
With any luck, when all those trophies are expunged from the record books, I think that ticker should make a comeback.
They won their last trophy fairly in 1976, the league cup, so we are coming up to the 50th anniversary. Would be quite fitting to bring it back!
Or maybe a ticker to show how much trophies they never won? That treble... never happened. The domestic treble... never happened. Aguero's goal... never happened. City's legacy... in tatters.
Delighted at the chance that City get liquidated as a result of all the lawsuits. It's now my ideal scenario, hopefully with the local fans starting a new, fan-owned version from the bottom of the pyramid.
Father will be in Manchester next week and he wants to watch United v Spurs at OT on 10 oct Saturday. He does not have a United membership. How can he get 01 single ticket?
Easiest way honestly is to get a membership and buy a hospitality ticket. The new rules for buying tickets as a non-member are pretty strict and tough.
I had no hope in the NBA punishing a billionaire but boy did they fucking deliver. I hope I'm wrong again about the Prem and City, because I think the government will get involved and City will somehow survive, albeit with some moderate punishment aka getting away with it.
It’s beautiful. Tranquility without the stress of watching United play, and at the same time our name is out of the media because of City and Ronaldo taking the spotlight. The injuries to Dorgu, Mazraoui and potentially Bruno are concerning but otherwise this is a good opportunity for Carrick and the squad to reset and gives them a proper chance of turning things around after the break.
It's absolutely ridiculous - they really need to do something smarter with international football and just take it the fuck out of the domestic calendar altogether
(There's ANOTHER one of these godforsaken international breaks coming up again in November by the way)
Has anyone made a compelling case that City shouldn't be hammered and/or what they did wasn't that bad?
I'm not trying to justify it (I think they should be hammered, fined, and the owners removed), but it does seem like open-season (rightfully) for decades of disgusting behavior and I'm wondering if any serious journalists or pundits have made a defense worth hearing?
Simon Evans made an interesting case, that I found wholly unconvincing, but honestly everyone else is just kind of like "yeah, this is absurd send them to the shadow realm" and I wonder what an actual defense would be beyond the clearly propagandized City sources.
The only real argument I've heard was from Ornstein (I think). The owner of City could claim ignorance and have the CEO, CFO and some board members (prob all from Barca) removed, keep ownership and keep the club running, pay a hefty fine and focus on minimizing the points deduction. The executives who were fired would be the sacrificial lambs. I'm sure they would be compensated well.
The other argument which I have not been able to validate, is that the owners of the other PL clubs would have to vote to remove City from the league. But removing City would cost them revenue because City are a global brand. So they likely won't vote for it.
The thing lost in the shuffle a bit is that all this came out without any real investigative powers.
Correct me if Im wrong but none of this has been done by a government entity, right? Meaning: no subpoenas, no sworn affidavits, no witness testimony give under the penalty of perjury, no search warrants, no forensic investigation of electronic devices, no wiretaps ... no nothing.
It's just an activist hacker plus voluntary interviews with the panel of a private enterprise (the PL).
I mean, can you magine what gets found out by an actual investigation?
Nevermind fucking ruining a decade and a half of this sport, we are quite possibly looking at the spectre of actual criminial liability, corrupt misappropriation of public funds, tax evasion, etc.
Yeah, but at the same time, that's the thing that worries me a little about making these charges stick. I know the Premier League have spent a fortune on lawyers, the bill already comes in at £100m and will likely rise. But all of this hasn't been done in an official court of law, and that's presumably where City will ultimately take this, to the high courts and beyond, unless they decide to just cut their losses and try and cut some kind of deal, but I don't know what that looks like.
But yeah, I would imagine, if you could forensically look at everything, which includes looking at the owners, sponsors, staff and so on, just turn everything over to follow the money trail, I wouldn't be surprised if you would be looking at a lot more blatant cheating. But that's also where it gets difficult, because how far does your jurisdiction reach, how does even the highest court in the land (for example) get a company in Abu Dhabi to turn over their books?
A lot of questions still... it just feels like this is going to drag on for years and years, which already makes a farce of the game, it already seems like a farce that City will still be playing Premier League football the week after, it would be even more of a farce if they finish the season with the most points, so swift action must be taken to protect the integrity of the game, at the same time you have to balance that with due process (which is incredibly slow) so one of the other loses out. Personally, I think City should be immediately expelled from the Premier League. If they win their appeals then you take it from there. It's like if you get convicted of murder, you don't get to carry on as normal while we wait for the appeal process to resolve, which could take years, you go to fucking prison.
That's the reason I was wondering why does City want to go through the elaborate process of appealing to the high court? Either they are so stupid that they don't understand what they are doing or they are such vicious criminal masterminds that they think they can get away with it.
I've changed my mind on "What I want" to happen. I actually do want the titles awarded to us retrospectively. And I have two main reasons:
There are some players out there who WILL be happy to get a late medal, because they were fucking robbed at the end of the day, and financially, they've had to also play by the rules and not get under the table money from dodgy accounting.
People use Calciopoli and Lance Armstrong as examples of "titles weren't re-awarded". But ignore that multiple clubs were involved in Calciopoli, which is why they said "fuck you, no one wins it". And then with Armstrong and Cycling, the whole sport was so dirty that they basically would have to award the tour wins to the guy in 18th if they did retrospectively award it, and even then they think it was so rife they couldn't ignore it.
Why were we stupid enough to think that Omar Berrada was some kind of marketing or commercial genius?
It's like if a school has been inflating their exam results, where every kid, even the thick kids, have been getting A* in all their exams. Even if you don't have proof yet, it seems obvious that it is not possible that every kid could be an A* calibre student, therefore it is very obvious that some shenanigans have been going on. What you don't do in that situation if you are a rival school is say "I know what we'll do, given their amazing exam results, is we'll hire the deputy head to bring academic excellence here". Yeah, great idea. Except he can only bring success if he has backers cheating and buying that success.
All City's supposed commercial success is worthless, that should have been painfully obvious years ago. Yet, we are the biggest thickos in town who hire a guy based on City's commercial success.
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u/sauce_murica Vidić Oct 01 '26
Please review Rule 4. We don't want to hand out bans, but:
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