Now that the financial charges against Manchester City are a thing, it might be harder to keep fans focused on the football
Erling Haaland of Manchester City celebrates after scoring during the Premier League match between City and Brentford on September 14th. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPAYou have to hand it to English football. It is above all endlessly adaptable. Everything is content. Never stop selling. Even if the thing you’re selling may just turn out to be the ground beneath your own feet.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta. Photographs: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images; Julian Finney/Getty Images The evidence out there – which City dispute – is most compelling on the key front of sponsor income. Der Spiegel’s 2018 investigation, supported by leaked documents from the Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto – and again disputed by City – suggested club officials solicited top-ups from state-owned entities in Abu Dhabi to avoid openly breaking the rules. Uefa’s financial rules have always been the enemy of ambition for City’s owners.
The real point is that while this may seem obscure, historical and procedural , it is utterly key to what happens on the pitch, and central to everything City have built. This is a success that can be plotted almost exactly against the flow of money out.
The fact remains City have yet to suffer significant punishment on any front. In the more recent Uefa case, key elements of evidence were found to be time-barred. Deals have been made with no less a figure of unquestioned rectitude than Gianni Infantino, Uefa’s general secretary at the time. The problem facing City, and indeed the Premier League, is that their current accusers are not Uefa but a collective of other clubs with their own competing desires for success, glory and profit.
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