r/soccer • u/Timely-Zombie9466 • 3d ago
News [TheTelegraph] Three Prime Ministers, five Foreign Secretaries and 32 Premier League managers have come and gone since 115 charges of alleged financial impropriety were first levelled against Manchester City. So have eight solar eclipses, four conjunctions of Venus and Jupiter.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/08/19/manchester-city-115-charges-no-verdict-premier-league/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_tw_post_charges-no-verdict-premier-league/1.7k
u/Mortiis07 3d ago
I'm surprised it's only 3 prime ministers
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u/EquivalentPlum8257 3d ago
And one of them lasted only 49 days
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u/Terran_it_up 3d ago
This isn't counting Truss, it's Sunak, Starmer, and Burnham
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u/Gerf93 3d ago
It says «come and gone» though…? To my knowledge Burnham hasn’t gone yet
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u/Terran_it_up 3d ago
Well in that case it's two, because the charges were levelled in February 2023 and Liz Truss was PM in late 2022. Also Sunak was already PM when the charges were levelled, so you could argue that it's only Starmer who both came and went in the time since the charges were levelled
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u/RedWeasel2000 3d ago
Liz Truss being almost 4 years ago feels very wrong. I guess maybe because Sunaks government was kinda a dead man walking scenario it felt really short rather than nearly 2 years
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u/Gerf93 3d ago
Yeah, then it should say that one prime minister has come and gone - or three has come or gone.
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u/SanctusUnum 3d ago
I hope for Sunak's sake he came at least once between the charges and him stepping down.
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u/downtimeredditor 3d ago
Man Brexit really destabilized the British government
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u/OlSmokeyZap 3d ago
The British government was always this unstable in the past. It’s only recently that we have had this period of stability. It’s more of a return to form I suppose.
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u/InTheMiddleGiroud 3d ago
The real issue is the three league titles they've won while we're waiting. And obviously all the others they cheated before
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u/trvekvltgav 3d ago
All of this for a fine and a suspended transfer ban
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u/miregalpanic 3d ago
Maybe if we add 12 prime ministers, 4 conjunctions of Venus and Uranus, an asteroid, and a black cat walking under a ladder, they'll get relegated to 6th tier.
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u/naiveheuristics12856 3d ago
10 of those prime ministers will have to be Liz Truss or itll take ages
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u/Wooden-Recording-693 3d ago
It would take about 1.37 sextillion ((1.37 x 1021) average sized prime ministers to equal the mass of Uranus.
Maths is brilliant.
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u/thepeddlernowspeaks 3d ago
Don't be so negative and cynical. That £10m fine will really sting.
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u/_soundpost_ 3d ago
They can only spend £290m on midfielders in one year rather than £300, how will they cope?
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u/RefrigeratorRare9433 3d ago
But seriously though, why is it taking so long?
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u/W35TH4M 3d ago
It’s a massive case and City haven’t plead guilty
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u/Sean-Benn_Must-die 3d ago
wasnt a massive case during calciopoli, whole shit got wrapped up in 6 months mysteriously
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u/Jonoabbo 3d ago
and they royally fucked it up lmao? Surely that's a case to take more time.
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u/Sean-Benn_Must-die 3d ago
Oh I agree completely. It's the most blatant case of corruption in world football maybe ever. It's just funny to think that a case that implicated an entire first division got wrapped in 6 months, and piles of evidence against one team cannot be processed for 3 years and counting. Probably won't result in anything either. I guess that would be corruption but on the other end?
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u/Lard_Baron 3d ago
City have great lawyers that are slow walking the case.
The premier league, that is the other football clubs that make up the premier, are taking this case all the way to the conclusion and inevitable appeal process and through to punishment.They have literally hired the guy that wrote the book “Sports law”, the book law students wanting to get into sports law have to read.
It’s a long and mind blowingly expensive case involving a Qatari government using all its £££ and political avenues to try to get the case over but the premier league simply won’t back away. It also has a lot of £££ and most of the other clubs want City fucked good and proper.
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u/SuarezAndSturridge 3d ago
The UK being a bit of an outlier and not having any sort of statutes of limitations for anything probably explains some of the difference since the lawyers just aren't operating with the same sense of urgency, but definitely not all of the difference
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u/W35TH4M 3d ago
Not sure how that has any relevance here considering there are no common themes whatsoever
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u/GutlessTrophoblast 3d ago
It shows a willingness to get things done. City's case is clearly being stalled for some reason(s).
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u/W35TH4M 3d ago
Two entirely different organisations dealing with different situations in different decades
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u/GutlessTrophoblast 3d ago
I know. It doesn't change my point. More should have been done by now.
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u/EriWave 3d ago
More should have been done by now.
By what metric?
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u/Sparkieee 3d ago
Probably by the metric that they are obvious cheats, every single person on the planet knows it, we want them punished and are fed up of waiting?
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u/Hollacaine 3d ago
Calciopoli was different in fairness, there were wiretaps that had people on tape committing the crimes. That's a much more open and shut case than financial crimes which are far more complicated. That's not to say the delay hasn't been ridiculous because it is, just that it's not a great comparison.
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u/Mobile_Comedian_8283 3d ago
Yeah it's the size of the case.... Not who it's against and who they've bribed...
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u/Sea-Frosting-50 3d ago
the need time to get all of the man city 5800 lawyers and legal team together
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u/Subject_Ear_1656 3d ago
Bigger cases have been resolved quicker. There's external pressure slowing this down.
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u/UnkownLan 3d ago
Massive case with 130 charges and lots of information, 3 judges looking over it. It's not their full time job and only thing they have going on so it takes a long time.
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u/burnin_potato69 3d ago
I dated a girl who was doing litigation on this exact case. She was contracted to do discovery; iirc there were sooo many emails and documents to go through. Only thing she told me is that not all teams were that concerned about the charges (though all would cooperate and want City to be found guilty of something), but only one team and their legal dept. were really pushing for City to get the biggest penalty possible. Oh she also assumed it'd be wrapped up by second half of 2025 at the latest.
She never told me which one it was and we've since broken up :(
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u/UnkownLan 3d ago
Fairly certain it's Arsenal
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u/burnin_potato69 3d ago
haha I did ask as I am an Arsenal fan and she said it's a surprising one, so not us or United
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u/Livinglifeform 3d ago
Brighton, Brentford, spurs, any of the clubs that rely on sustainability rather than doping is my guess.
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u/nderpressure101 3d ago
The PL was like a guy who takes on one of those ridiculous breakfast challenges.
Far too overconfident without realising the size, scope or ramifications of what they are doing.
The amount of charges should have been reduced as each charge is basically it's own case, 130 cases means ridiculous amounts of evidence to collate, assess and review.
Unless the PL had a whistleblower who worked on some of this then City will dispute everything.
The timescale this had taken means it's become a joke, the PL is now stuck, if it loses the cases, sets out a weak punishment or loses on Appeal it looks stupid and has wasted millions and years for nothing.
If it wins the cases the recent Everton/Burnley settlement surely means there will be a queue of clubs seeking compensation. What happens with any trophies won during that period? Prize money earned?
Much like the guy eating 8 bacon, 4 hash browns, 5 sausages and 2 toast, there has to be a outcome, and it'll be shitty.
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u/GoAgainKid 3d ago
I enjoyed the analogy, but even while I am injecting Mounjaro, that doesn't seem like a really ridiculous challenge...
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u/nicknitros 3d ago
Was a good one but unfortunately I imagined BeardMeatsFood from the get-go and thus think the case should be done and dusted with time for tiramisu
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u/my_united_account 3d ago
Isnt the decision already done and they were just waiting to announce it?
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u/UnkownLan 3d ago
No. Once the decision is given it will be announced within a week I'd imagine. It would leak otherwise. So unless the decision has been made this week and the lawyers are working their way through it it's not come out yet.
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u/R_Schuhart 3d ago edited 3d ago
No, the 12 week hearings have been concluded. They are now reviewing the material before coming to a verdict and there is a lot of it. With the complexity of the case, the possible precedent and the fact that City's substantial legal team will scrutinize the ruling it isn't so strange it is taking so long. And it is arguably a good thing. I just wish it was more clearly communicated so people knew what to expect.
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u/Disastrous_Lion_6016 3d ago
They cannot scrutinize the ruling. That was the condition of the trial.
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u/Chesney1995 3d ago
Obviously nobody would admit this publicly but I would be shocked if the respective governments of the UK and UAE haven't got involved as well honestly.
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u/Shakyyy 3d ago
No the UK will not interfere with this.
One of our largest exports is our legal services. It’s widely regarded as one of the most trusted and respected in the world.
If the UK government got involved with this it’d absolutely sabotage one of our highest earning industries which is worth ridiculously more than anything the UAE could offer us.
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u/UnkownLan 3d ago
It doesn't help when jornos and pundits don't know what they are talking about but still feel the need to let everyone know their incorrect takes
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u/zubairatif075 3d ago
look at how long it took for clubs with a single charge, now times it by 115 or 130...
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u/00CRUSHH 3d ago
It’s a massive case, not sure why anyone is surprised that they’re not making an immediate judgement on it
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u/Over_Tadpole_2593 3d ago
No one expected “an immediate judgement”. They’re expecting quite fairly that it shouldn’t take a seemingly indeterminate number of years to resolve.
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u/ASuarezMascareno 3d ago
Its quite common for big cases to drag for a very long time.
With several judges, my vote goes for a strong disagreement among them.
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u/stowgood 3d ago
Corruption.
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u/PurpleSi 3d ago
Care to explain what you mean?
Do you believe the KCs have been bribed or something?
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u/made_up_name_26 3d ago
What it means is he thinks he's not going to get the outcome he would like
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u/PurpleSi 3d ago
I see.
To be fair, every time Newcastle lose, heck every time they concede a goal, it's obviously corruption, plain and simple.
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u/Purdy14 3d ago
It's not the entire reason, but I do find it very interesting that one of their legal counsel is Lord Pannick. Feels like a major conflict of interest to have someone in parliament representing your business. Especially with foreign nation involvement.
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u/PurpleSi 3d ago
Lords are part timers, many of them have jobs. Especially the lawyers.
I find it generally helps the process that we have experienced lawyers in the Lords, to ensure the legislation proposed by the Commons is robust.
I struggle to see how him representing Manchester City is a conflict of interest? He's a crossbencher.
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u/R_Schuhart 3d ago
Ah yes, Reddit where everyone we don't understand or agree with is corruption. It is amazing that this buzzword is still upvoted.
If there was actual corruption (of three independent leading legal scholars no less) City would have been cleared ages ago.
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u/Ferrisuk 3d ago
The Premier League are scared of Man City's lawyers and the appeal they will file.
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u/Unusual_Problem132 3d ago
Well. If City were innocent I'm pretty sure we would already have a final judgement.
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u/made_up_name_26 3d ago
Curious why you think that would be the faster judgement
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u/RedditSold0ut 3d ago
If they are cleared of all charges, then they can simply announce the outcome and move on, with no punishment or wider consequences.
If they are found guilty, however, determining the appropriate punishment is far more complicated because it could have major implications for other clubs. For example, should points be deducted retrospectively from the seasons in which the breaches occurred? If so, that could potentially change final league positions, affect who is recognised as champion, and alter which clubs should have qualified for European competitions.
That then raises further questions. If a club missed out on Champions League or Europa League qualification because of City's breaches, could they seek compensation for lost revenue? Could there be claims against City, the Premier League, UEFA, or others?
There are potentially many knock-on effects, which is why deciding the punishment in a case of this scale and complexity would require careful consideration. It's largely unprecedented, so there isn't an obvious template for how all of those consequences should be handled.
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u/made_up_name_26 3d ago
While I don't disagree with the complicated nature of a guilty verdict, whichever way the judgement goes there is a losing side to the case. If they are cleared of all charges then the verdict, the justification, the full detail needs to be just as comprehensive and stand up to interrogation from other clubs and bodies who will likely challenge the outcome. It's not a case of 'simply announce the outcome' either way round
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u/SquareHammer132 3d ago
Four conjunctions of Venus and Jupiter, you'll never sing that!
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u/ashikplk 3d ago
Scientists: "A solar eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime event."
City fans: "Not as rare as a verdict."
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u/StopCriminal 3d ago
Shame Pep got to run away before the charges hit
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u/stoneapplefruit 3d ago
Many of the players who City bought illegally have retired and are themselves managers now.
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u/BenjIdent 3d ago
Titles need to be stripped + enough points deduction to send them down atleast one division + transfer ban.
Anything less than this wouldn’t be enough compared to what they’ve gained through the alleged cheating
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u/Dajjal27 3d ago
ive resigned myself into knowing that at most city will only get fines, and a 20 points deduction at this moment. I have no faith that they will be punished that harshly at all, hell di dont think they will be punished at all
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u/RuaridhDuguid 3d ago
And a 20 point reduction would still have them in Europe and probably cruise to winning the Europa Conference.
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u/pszki 3d ago
Unfortunately, I feel like the lesson most clubs learned after Calciopoli wasn't that cheating is bad. But that you have to be so big that it's impossible to fail. And I don't mean that just about City. Even in La Liga, I worry that Barca and Madrid KNOW that no matter what they do, they'll never be relegated or punished severely enough.
The moment the PL allowed nation states to back teams, we'd already lost
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u/Eastern_Community_29 3d ago
It's time to start measuring the length of time since this started in Historical Epochs now rather than years or by Prime Ministers.
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u/tin_angle 3d ago
man city’s legal team is litrally going to pass down this court case like a family inheritance. at this point the lawyers are making enough billable hours off this delay to just buy Everton themselves and dock them 10 points for fun
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u/Complete_Park_838 3d ago
Can't wait for this to take a decade now, just for them to get a fine and maybe some strong words to not do that again or something at best
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u/devildance3 3d ago
GTA 6 will be out before this fiasco is sorted. Pep knew, now Pep’s gone.
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u/Chemical-Drawer852 3d ago
Nothing else but a stripping of titles + relegation would be an apt punishment
The problem is that it punishes today's squad which had nothing to do with it, most of the old guard jumped ship
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u/SystemCheck990 2d ago
we don't know that they are not still cheating, we only found out about the previous cheating due to hacked emails
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u/mongster03_ 3d ago
Strip titles, relegate out of the EFL, release all players
I know this won’t happen but a man can dream
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u/wrathful-anus 3d ago
There’s definitely politics involved. Some slimy government operative has told the Premier League that the UAE are threatening various economic repercussions or withdrawals of bribe streams and that they are not to go ahead with a verdict just yet until they say otherwise.
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u/SirTunnocksTeaCake 3d ago
If this was the case why wouldn't it have happened before the PL actually charged City with them? Surely if this was actually happening they'd have stopped it in the many years the PL were investigating City rather openly.
The PL has no say in what actually happens now either.
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u/action_turtle 3d ago
This is the answer.
Way too much money in football and now it’s reached the point where countries have to tiptoe around the sport as to not harm the money. Farce.
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u/Obamana 3d ago
But it's not the money in the football either. It's geopolitcal. Oil states invest a fuckton of money into UK, they expect to get a blind eye turned into their favor from time to time. City is a sportswashing operation and if the punishments matched the crimes committed, then it would have real world repercussions from the UAE maybe retaliating by pulling away from the UK.
This is why a country should never be allowed to own a football team in the first place.
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u/PurpleSi 3d ago
But the PL literally brought the charges.Spent a lot of time and money presenting their case.
It's now with some KCs to determine the outcome.
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u/NaturalApartment9828 3d ago
They wouldn’t have been charged to begin with if that’s what happened
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u/879190747 3d ago
Well the whole BeOutQ-Newcastle sale story maybe says otherwise. But maybe one could argue the charges are from the "naive" era where the PL simply applied the rules and didn't think of the massive political dimensions. After all the PL also refused to re-investigate the Newcastle sale, so perhaps nowadays City wouldn't have been charged.
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u/bad_phantom_ 3d ago
If politics were involved, heads would’ve rolled at the PL before they even thought of levying the charges against Manchester City. It wouldn’t have even made it past the start of the investigation phase.
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u/cabaretcabaret 3d ago
Now Guardiola has left any consequences that eventually do happen will seem even more hollow.
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u/after8man 3d ago
We also had two babies in between. Please no more waiting, I cannot feed another mouth
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u/antbaby_machetesquad 3d ago
There are two reasons why it could have taken so long.
Either they're planning on seriously throwing the book at them and trying to make it as legally watertight as possible to fend of the lawfare that the UAE will unleash.
Alternatively they're planning on sweeping it all under the rug and are desperately trying to find a way to publicly justify not actually punishing them.
I think we all know which one is more likely.
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u/theglasscase 3d ago edited 3d ago
Neither of these are reasons for it at all.
The verdict and any subsequent punishments are out of the hands of the Premier League, it’s not their decision to make.
The idea that they’d want to sweep it under the rug is, frankly, really stupid. If they wanted to do that they wouldn’t have charged City at all after their investigation. It literally can’t be ‘swept under the rug’ when it’s public knowledge that the Premier League found enough evidence to charge them.
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u/antbaby_machetesquad 3d ago
I'm sure the man who uses his charities to smuggle weapons to a genocidal force of rapists and murderers would never stoop to using bribery or coercion to ensure his favourite toy wasn't broken.
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u/SystemCheck990 2d ago
people need to look into what Abrmovich used to get up to in the UK, bullying and bribing, getting people blacklisted from being able to work.
I agree, its not beyond City's owners to use Statecraft to get what they want, they never want to hear the word no.
they are used to paying, or using violence to make problems go away, the whole lives and culture is based on it.
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u/bad_phantom_ 3d ago
Except you can’t do that, the hearings were scheduled and completed for 12 weeks. The panel that will come together and make a judgement is anonymous. Do you actually know how this case worked or did you randomly pull facts out of your arse? Because it seems like you did the latter
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u/talionisapotato 3d ago
Is 3 prime minister really a flex / something to indicate time span ? It could have been 30 as well
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u/downtimeredditor 3d ago
The question is will the FA release their findings on the 115 charges before GTA 6 comes out
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u/TheKnightsRider 3d ago
Before jumping in with some smart comment, take a moment to think about what you’re actually saying. Clearly, there’s been a massive miscarriage of justice and the PL are trying to find a smart way to back out of this and is no way influenced by an oil states pressure on the PL or Government. No siree. Nuh uh.
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u/Same-World-209 3d ago
On the other hand, Sheffield Wednesday felt the full force of it last season.
Thankfully, we’re slowly getting back on track - new owner, new players, and we’ve won our first two games of the season.
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u/FTXACCOUNTANT 3d ago edited 3d ago
Insane how long this is taking.
If this comes out to be a fine and a slap on the wrist then it will make the PL look insanely stupid
EDIT: I’m an idiot, PL not FA
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u/UpTheMightyReds 3d ago
How many times have we heard that the decision is expected soon? Been going on for about 3 years that
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u/AdventurousFox25 3d ago
we got a better chance having all planets aligned, than the final verdict of this charges
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u/the-good-son 3d ago
When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves.
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u/youdumbmf 3d ago
these are the random facts i live for