The international friendly break continues and is it all over for Manchester City?

We’re still two weeks from the next Aston Villa match and it feels like the World Cup we just had was closer to the next Aston Villa match. Why do we need a break for international friendlies now?

It’s absolute madness and it’s not good for football, it’s only good for the FA, the same FA that had the Charity Shield this year moved to Wales so they could allow a concert to be played at the home of football.

Let that entire thing sink in for a moment. Wembley is the national football stadium, the Charity Shield happens every year. But no, the money they’d make from having a series of concerts is more important to them than a football tradition of over 100 years.

It’s almost pointless these days in just not embracing it’s all about money and money is the only thing that matters. Or is that all about to change?

Manchester City found guilty

So, the news broke yesterday that of the 115 charges, Manchester City have been found guilty of all but one. And it’s taken a while to get here, so I imagine it will take a while until we find out what the punishment is.

Or maybe not. But I think there will be an appeal process and it will probably take some time until we really see the outcome of this.

I asked an agent to give me a paragraph of the charges for this blog post, this is what I got back. It’s almost as if it knows how I’d like to write.

Fourteen years, one leaked inbox and a hearing that dragged on longer than some managerial reigns, and here we are: Manchester City reportedly guilty on 114 of 115 charges. Not a rounding error. Not a paperwork slip. A wall-to-wall verdict on a decade of alleged creative accounting, from 2009/10 through 2017/18, covering hidden sponsorship arrangements, undisclosed manager and player pay, and financial statements the Premier League says did not give a true and fair picture of the club. Throw in breaches of UEFA’s rules, breaches of the league’s own profit and sustainability rules, and 35 separate counts of stonewalling the investigators for four years, and you get a picture of a club that, according to the commission, did not so much bend the rules as redraw them. Three titles in 2012, 2014 and 2018 sit squarely inside that window.

Now, they’re going to be punished, but what is fair?

Is it fair that they are fined £100mn, deducted 20 points and have a transfer ban for three seasons? I don’t think anyone thinks it is, but would you really be surprised if that’s where we ended up?

I’ve read from some that they should be kicked out of the football league system and essentially shut down. If they want to come back they can, but not as Manchester City and from the very bottom of the pyramid.

Ironically, this might be the easiest thing for all parties. It’s over and there is no Manchester City any longer and nobody to sue. There would still be a mess to clear up, but when that’s done, it’s done.

If that happens, there can be no Burnley style suing of Everton heading the way of Manchester City.

These are the two ends of the spectrum. I don’t think it will be either of these, but I think it will be pretty much in the middle.

And I’m not sure where exactly, but I have something I think is fair that I’ll write below, but we have to remember that Manchester City are where they are today because of the cheating.

The cheating stopped because it was no longer needed .. they had gotten to where they needed to get to, to buy the players they wanted to because the real revenue was created.

And if that was just it, as in it was just the men’s team and everything was focused on just that, I’d say throw them out and never let them come back. But the owners did more and this is what will save them.

I also don’t think it’s fair to the supporters. The owners knew what they were doing and to make themselves feel better about that or maybe as part of the plan and if it was, it’s impressive, they completely regenerated an area of Manchester that needed it and invested in so many positive programs.

And because of what they’ve done outside of the men’s team that would likely not be sustainable without Manchester City in the Premier League, I think that is still going to be on the table, but not straight away and not without a real punishment.

We also all know what makes this game go around and we know that the FA and Premier League don’t really care about the game in the way they should. So we know money wins in the end.

Where I think it’s fair we end up

At the core of this for me is the Manchester City fan and most of them and all of the ones I know have supported Manchester City when they were nothing like the side they are today and they know what it’s like to be playing in the third tier. They know the struggle.

And they know what it’s really like to win, even if that was all created through cheating. They’ve tasted it now and you can’t get that taste out of your mouth and I think they’ll be okay with my idea of what I think fair is.

I think it’s a big fine, but less than a billion. I’m going to guess £900mn. On top of that there will be a three year transfer ban. And I think the fine is just what they would have spent. So they can’t stay in the League where they would be generating that money.

They need to be sent to League Two from next season, stripped of all titles since Sheikh Mansour took over and deducted a sufficient number of points from this season and removed from all competitions. This is a farewell season for Manchester City .. it’s about playing it out.

By the time they make it back and I have no doubt they will be promoted season after season, it’s all forgotten. They’ll be able to sustain the good work they have done locally and on the first season back, they have to operate based on the revenue they are generating, so they’re not going to be able to buy whoever they want to, but they will make it back and it will be on a level playing field.

And I think if something like this is offered, Manchester City just have to take their medicine and move on. The supporters will still have their memories but as a Club, they need to be punished in such a way that in time, will make it fair.

I think this works, but I am likely wrong. But when they come back, they won’t have the revenue they had and it will be harder, but it would be so much sweeter if they made it back to the very top again and they’ll have done it the hard way.

And yes, this is an Aston Villa blog, but I had to write about it so I had a prediction of sorts down in black and white.

And if you’ve read this far, please sign the petition to get the UEFA Nations League cancelled.