Readers respond to the guilty verdict against the football club for breaking the Premier League’s financial fair play rules.
Thirty six years ago, the team I support, Swindon Town, were severely punished for financial irregularities that pale into comparison with those of Manchester City. We were at first sentenced to be relegated two divisions but, after appeal, refused entry to Division One.
At the time, some journalists made the case that, as off-field crimes had resulted in on-field success, the punishment was fitting. What is different this time is the scale of the offences and the amount of on-field success. Once the appeal process has concluded, and if Manchester City still face punishment, a proportionate scaling up of consequences from those that we experienced in 1990 could mean that club facing relegation and removal of titles.
Money did not enable City players to train harder or run faster, let alone put together all the manifold and qualities that go into making the football team that they have been at various times.
As the Rodri has said, City’s victories were paid for with effort, with partnership and with being shoulder to shoulder each and every day. The claim that City wouldn’t have won this or that trophy without this or that player is impossible to prove.
Tens of millions of pounds have been spent on the successful regeneration of a large area of urban decay and the club’s City in the Community scheme has benefited large numbers of children through its training sessions in schools and imaginatively planned multifunctional play areas in parks.
Barney Ronay might be right to feel some sympathy for Manchester City followers.