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Man City charges leave Premier League clubs ‘furious’ as Liverpool and others made to wait
Just one day after UEFA confirmed it was investigating Manchester City over alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play, the Premier League issued a similar announcement. That was March 8, 2019.
Since then, UEFA has reached its verdict, banned Manchester City from the Champions League for two seasons, and seen that verdict overturned before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. By contrast, the Premier League only leveled charges in February of this year, after a four-year investigation.
In the meantime, Manchester City has won four of a possible five titles. The other was claimed by Liverpool, while Jürgen Klopp missed out by a single point to Pep Guardiola’s men on two further occasions.
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Amid the latest celebrations, the first to take place under a cloud of actual charges (115, to be precise) rather than just investigations, there is a sense that everyone would welcome some kind of resolution to the situation one way or the other. Indeed, the Independent claims that Premier League rivals are ‘furious’ at the length of time it is taking the league to deal with issues like this.
It’s not just Manchester City. Just across Stanley Park, Liverpool’s great rival Everton has been referred to an independent commission over possible breaches of Profit and Sustainability rules. Favorite to narrowly stay up on the final day, the second consecutive season in which the Toffees have been in a relegation scrap, immediate competitors will inevitably be irked by the lack of a verdict.
If charges against a team are proven, every season in which it can compete without sanction is a further injustice. In this campaign, for instance, Arsenal, Leeds United and Leicester would surely feel the most hard done-by if it transpired that rivals in the immediate vicinity had cheated.
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Likewise, a prompt resolution should really be in the best interests of Manchester City too. If Sheikh Mansour’s team successfully defends the charges, it will feel aggrieved that so many of its triumphs have had an asterisk attached to them by many, with plenty of debate currently taking place about the topic.
But there is no realistic prospect of this issue being wrapped up any time soon. Having consulted legal experts, City AM concluded that this would be likely to drag on until at least 2025, and quite possibly 2027.
From Manchester City’s point of view, that means unwanted skepticism about all of its achievements until then. For the likes of Liverpool, it means having to continue to find ways to go toe-to-toe with Guardiola’s juggernaut, regardless of whether or not it has been fairly assembled — knowing that the prospect of earning retrospective titles in the event that the charges are made out is remote.
Even for the Premier League itself, it is hardly a good look. It is simultaneously charging Manchester City and heralding it as one of the all-time great sides, awarding the latest title with all the usual pomp and ceremony. All in all, it’s a huge mess, and has left the biggest league in the world effectively in limbo.
That is not to say that the Premier League position deserves no sympathy. It knows the stakes are high for everyone involved: Manchester City, Everton, and all of the rivals of those teams. In the case before CAS, it was noted that ‘particularly cogent’ proof would be needed because of the gravity of the charges, which would have the potential to implicate various sponsors and individuals as well as clubs. There is a need to be thorough.
But Premier League clubs cannot be blamed for their ‘fury’. The longer cases like the Manchester City one are left unresolved, the more the division loses its competitive legitimacy, and that is in the best interests of precisely nobody.
