Man City continue to embarrass themselves

There isn’t a single soul on this planet who expected Man City to take their guilty verdict lying down, but it is breathtaking just how undignified their response has been.

The north-west club are at the centre of the biggest scandal in the history of English football, having arranged ‘sham’ contracts that totalled £854.5 million in revenue, while they also understated their expenditure by £66.2 million, between 2009 and 2018.

That was the finding of an independent commission that reviewed the Premier League’s investigation into City’s dealings over that nine-year period. The path up to this point has been long and arduous, and it is not over yet.

In their initial response to the verdict, City were somehow “surprised” by the outcome and insisted they are innocent. Apparently, there is “a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” that will exonerate them. Perhaps we will see this evidence at some point in our lifetimes.

They promised they will be “relentless” in their efforts to clear their name and pursue every possible avenue to overturn the judgement by what they see as not an independent panel, but a ‘Premier League commission’.

City CEO Ferran Soriano called the charges a “Premier League conspiracy theory” that were based on “a single false accusation”. He has since denied the video, in which he doesn’t blink for three and a half minutes, was made with artificial intelligence.

On Thursday evening, City lodged their appeal and released another statement so they could get some more digs in on the Premier League. They referred to the commission’s decision as an “opinion”, as if it wasn’t based on mountains of evidence collected over many years, and said it “contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe”.

City added that they will “continue to respect due process”, which reads like a bad punchline. They have tried their very best to stifle the investigation at every step of the way, which incurred additional charges for their failure to cooperate.

Not content with disgracing the game, the people running City are intent on irreversibly soiling the image of a once proud club. They are carrying themselves with the grace of a reversing dump truck while weaponising and gaslighting their fans into thinking they are the victims of a witch hunt.

All that remains is for City to discover their punishment, with just about everything on the table. They are trying everything in their power to avoid accountability; Etihad, despite not being named in the findings, are threatening to sue the Premier League, while a Bloomberg report claims the UAE have warned the UK that any sanctions on the club could affect diplomatic relations between the two countries.

It reeks of desperation and the absence of any tangible response to the guilty sentence that is coming their way.

Read – Klopp plays down prospect of Liverpool being handed Man City titles

Man City statement in full:

“Manchester City Football Club can confirm that at 7pm on Thursday 1st October 2026 the club lodged its comprehensive appeal against the opinion of the Premier League Commission, in relation to the Premier League disciplinary matter.

“The club’s firm position is that, on multiple grounds, the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe.

“The club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case.

“We will continue to respect due process and are necessarily restricted in what we can say further until all proceedings are complete.”

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