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I'd be disappointed if they got a massive fine and one season in the Championship. The owners need to be barred from owning anything in UK and sell up the club pronto. And the clubs needs sending down the pyramid to the very core of the footballing earth.

Not sure they're asking for leniency, Henry.

Authoritarian hereditary dictatorships do not, I imagine, take kindly to being told to play by someone else's rules and especially not to lowly peasants being so insolent as to presume they can hand out punishments. I can see a scenario where they just shred the whole club out of spite.

They have also shown no contrition for comprehensively violating the rules of competition that others have complied with. If they refuse to comply with the rules, they cannot be allowed to compete = Man City must be ejected from the competition.

Agree. The feature of this process is that it has taken SO long, and while they were going forwards the (apparently) illegally enhanced City and it's group of superstar players were still competing. Every season they've been playing in has been a tainted season, and they are still dragging it out.

Could it be that the billionaire owner feels a little entitled and able to dictate what the rules are? Perhaps an overhang from being a royal family that’s profiting from their people’s natural resource wealth. No hard work or intelligence: just being in the right place at the right time.

Evil. 😉 Grimsby in January too.

Oooh, I know his one: Because it's football (or any sport) , it's totally corrupt and desperate for money even though it has loads. They'll get a token point deduction for one season and that'll be that.

Looks like the 'noisy neighbours' were running a crack den.

The high court will decide this one. You’ve had city guilty from the off.

I think that video might be Ai. He doesn’t blink once for more than 3 minutes

Might it make any more sense if they're already thinking about their own criminal trials rather than the level of punishment the club gets?

Distinct vibes of the immortal words of Emperor Hirohito in 1945 that “the war has ended, not necessarily to the advantage of Japan”. (Though TBF Japan’s history in ensuing decades suggested he wasn’t so far adrift)

That would be great news for Spain, which would immediately receive vast investment which would otherwise have gone to England, and La Liga would replace the PL as the world’s dominant league. Price worth paying? Genuine question

Having taken the Premier League this far and having been found guilty on so many charges they are not likely to show contrition at this stage. Their strategy will be to double down and dare the League do its worst. They will go for maximum chaos I should imagine and/or put City into Administration.

It’s a very good point. Although potentially CFG/Etihad might have got their act together once they knew they’d been caught. Evidently the deal was still not at “fair market value” though

Surely this is just a continuation of the ownership weaponising fan loyalty for their own means? The rumours are the UAE is already attempting blackmail by threatening other investments in the UK if authorities continue to investigate

Can’t work out if that’s a plus or a minus. 😂

That's fair enough, I should have said 'some' fans

I imagine the core of fatalist, self-deprecating City fans were half expecting the toy store to close one day. Seriously though, many true football fans no longer get the owners they deserve.

That's fair enough, I should have said 'some' fans

What i find so bizarre is people saying they should keep the titles. Theyve cheated in a massive way why would they not be punished in the harshest way possible. Its amazing to think they shouldn't be punished because of fans.

They sound like utter sociopaths.

Probably not. They should be down 2+ divisions and 5 year transfer ban.

Get them out of the sport.

Pure ego. Sheik Mansour and Khaldoon cannot countenance a universe in which any of the following might be true… -they might be subject to rules in the first place -bodies might exist with the power to formally declare them cheats -bodies might exist with the power to apply consequences

They will be lucky if criminal charges are not brought.

Manchester City (somehow?! despite blatant guilt) think any form of punishment for the actual decade-long cheating rort would be unjustifiably harsh and so they should not face any points deductions, relegations or title stripping. The next 10 seasons of 5x2 outfield players tied together then.

Hard to see how the Man City ownership can still be regarded as 'fit and proper people' to control a football club ...

Throw the book at them, pick it up and repeat.

The wealthy think they can get away with anything by calling it a hoax. Russian-style. Boycott the team.

He was door stopped by BBC at a conference and looked the most guilty CEO I have ever seen.

#GeorgeMonbiot said it perfectly… People pay taxes. Rich people pay accountants. Very rich people pay lawyers and the super rich pay politicians. Let’s see who’s on their payroll.

bsky.app/profile/onee...

Smacks of a ‘don’t they know who we are?’ attitude.

Sounds like Trump !

Everyone in football except some of the older corrupt lags, want to see City absolutely hammered into the ground. Strip the titles, kick them out of the league, fine them and a long transfer ban. Nothing less will do.

Or as we say en Espana ..NOTICIAS BULOS…. Gracias, el Presidente Trump!…

I was also thinking in other countries too but yep I do take your point regarding the scale.

*proceding

Yes, the signs were there, you are right. And obviously the whole case has dragged on for way too long. But when the fans have had the club and it’s entire leadership state for almost 2 decades that no rules were broken I think it’s understandable why most fans took this at face value

They are turning into the Reform of the Premier League. Massive donations from overseas, rules are for other people, it’s a Witch hunt, we’ve done nothing wrong. Let the people of Clacton decide.

And Trump will come to their defense in 3…2….1….

Even so what offence would the players have committed? Receiving too much money?

I recommend the death penalty for the organization

If they cheated, which appears to be the case, then surely City should be stripped of any titles they won during the period involved and forced to repay any prize money. Huge fines and a demotion are also likely and justified in my opinion. An example needs to be made and football cleaned up

Not smart. I suspect they’ll be looking at further charges after all the non cooperation and deliberate obfuscation. Brazening it out is definitely not a good ploy currently. Doesn’t work on the pitch ever. The referee would be very unimpressed. This is serious, guys, you will be made to own it.

Oasis benefit concert incoming!

There are sanctions including expulsion in the premier league rules. But also the commission has the power to recommend any sanctions they deem appropriate.

If they believe, as they have insisted numerous times, that this case hinges on a misrepresentation of how the sponsorship deals have worked, then why should they show remorse? They aren’t asking for forgiveness or leniency. They are saying they haven’t done anything wrong.

Made a comparison yesterday (on another platform) to the Lance Armstrong scandal. Very similar pattern (if wholly different execution): systemic institutional misconduct, aggressive concealment, and (now) total lack of remorse for wrongdoing. Hard to see why leniency should be offered at all.

'Hard to see how they can expect any leniency.' They are fully resigned to the fact that they aren't going to get any, so they're going out all guns blazing.

You wonder how much of the defiance comes from being directly controlled by petrodollar squillionaires marinaded in a consequence free environment with no meaningful boundaries. Actually not wondering about that much at all really.

I'm wondering about Garry Cook's involvement. He was Man City CEO for 2-3 seasons when this all started. He joined Birmingham City as CEO in July 2023 then resigned (unexpectedly) citing 'personal reasons' in January 2025 - around the time the results of the inquiry were originally expected.

If you started a completely blank slate team, would you be required to start on the bottom tier, regardless of who you’d signed or how much income you had? If so, then voiding their history for qualification purposes and treating them as a new entity would have the same effect(?)

These Trumpian tactics are misguided. Although their buddy Burnham might step in to help them out.

I've noticed that billionaires just double down and even sue their accusers! Tax the bar stewards.

What penalties? Fines, £9.5m per season, with £0.5m to each PL club in the 9 cheating seasons. + £25m to the PL itself. total £105.5m. PL wins - voided. Points 1 point deducted per game for next 100 PL games, then 1 point deducted per 2 PL games for following 100 games. Transfer limits? Enough?