Football Daily wasn’t alone in spending the weekend wondering if we might have a legal case against Manchester City, while pondering what fiscal value we’d put on the mild disappointment of seeing our team lose the 2014 Fizzy (nee Credit Card) Cup final to a team since found guilty of cheating. Elsewhere, Tony Pulis has made it clear he wants the FA Cup his Stoke City sophisticates didn’t win in 2011. Romelu Lukaku used a Nations League match to accuse Gianluigi Donnarumma of owing him two Premier League titles and the Michael Sheen/Brian Clough “chuck all your medals in the biggest effing dustbin you can find” gif has been doing seriously big numbers on Social Media Disgrace.
While the Premier League has yet to confirm Friday’s leaked news that City have been found guilty of the vast majority of more than 100 charges, it’s already clear the ramifications will be far-reaching and potentially endless. Enormous fines, relegation, multiple giant asterisks, staggered points deductions and demotion to the North West Counties League have all been mooted as possible punishments. If the most pessimistic harbingers of doom are to be believed, the club will do well to end this episode in their history without having their entire Etihad Campus uprooted and catapulted straight into the sun.
Considering we’ve all seen them protest their innocence throughout the entire investigation into their financial shenanigans, all but the most delusional City conspiracy theorists could be forgiven for presuming the club might now prostrate itself obsequiously before the beaks and beg them for some modicum of mercy. Sadly, that is not and has never been how they roll under their nation state owners and on Saturday they came out swinging haymakers. Of course while Martin Tyler and Sergio Agüero mournfully contemplate the fact that the goal they made more famous than any other scored in Premier League history may ultimately be consigned to the big dustbin of Didn’t Happen, it remains to be seen what effect the guilty verdicts will have on the current City team.
While they lead the Premier League, costly mistakes made by Nico O’Reilly and Marc Guéhi in England’s defeat at the hands of Spain suggest the potential for apocalyptic sanctions being imposed on their club may prove quite the distraction. And ideally in a process that can’t be hurried. Join Michael Butler from 7.45pm BST for hot clockwatch action in the Nations League with Belgium 2-3 France, Northern Ireland 0-2 Hungary and more.
It’s about the players and they’ve shown today how much playing for Ireland means to them. They represented themselves on the pitch with dignity but also with the power of proud Irishmen. They’ve shown today how much playing for Ireland means to them and hopefully they will have the support of the Irish people.” – Heimir Hallgrimsson, the Republic of Ireland head coach, after his side’s 3-0 victory against Israel in the Nations League.
Before Sunday’s controversial Nations League fixture, the Irish players looked down at the grass with their heads bowed and hands behind their backs during the Israeli national anthem, and the Irish captain, Dara O’Shea, shook hands with the referee and his assistants but there was no attempt to shake the hand of the Israel captain, Manor Solomon. Well, this was a very disappointing article. I was hoping at the very least for some indication of the formations but the only information appears to be that it was basically three-a-side” – Tim Eveleigh.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
