Nothing that happened in English football between 2009-10 and 2017-18 that involved Manchester City actually happened. City beating Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford? Sergio Agüero’s 94th-minute winner to clinch the title in 2012?
A figment of the imagination. That season City reached 100 points? Bobby Ewing dreamed it in the shower.
Without those successes, City wouldn’t have been in the position they were for the past eight seasons (and 35 of the charges relate to a failure to cooperate with Premier League investigations between 2018 and 2023). The 14 successive wins that took them to the league title in 2018-19 would not have happened without what went before. Neither would the Treble of 2023 or the record four league titles in a row.
So while it may turn out those successes did indeed happen, they are tainted by what went before. Turns out none of us have been for quite some time. This is not yet the final truth, which could still be a long way off.
But it may turn out that Jürgen Klopp was a lot more successful than anybody thought, that Brendan Rodgers and Ole Gunnar Solskjær are title-winning managers. Probably not, because the authorities seem reluctant, even if titles are stripped from a club, to reallocate those titles – and understandably: if one team is streaking clear, priorities for others change. None of this feels right, but it would feel off if a team won a league because a rival had chosen to prioritise a cup or European campaign at the expense of an apparently unwinnable title.
Ersatz glory satisfies nobody. If the guilty verdicts are upheld, the consequences will be profound. There will be appeals for mitigation.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
