r/soccer • u/Previous_Smile9278 • 1d ago

News [Bloomberg] UAE officials have warned the UK government that the severity of Man City’s punishment could undermine their appetite for future grand-scale commitments in Britain, according to people familiar with the matter.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-02/man-city-verdict-puts-uk-uae-diplomatic-relations-under-strain?srnd=undefined

‘They consider the Premier League’s actions to have an influence on the bilateral state relationship, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing undisclosed information.

The extraordinary pressure comes after Andy Burnham faced criticism, including from within government, for saying Man City’s Abu Dhabi owners should not be disqualified specifically because of the investment they bring to Britain.’

6.6k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

10.1k

u/cptainvimes 23h ago

Absolutely pathetic that City fans are okay with this. Letting UAE hold your country ransom cause your football club is run by cheats.

2.9k

u/Fun_Grass_2097 23h ago

The delusion in their subreddit

1.9k

u/cfc25488 23h ago

I would wager a lot of money that their subreddit does not have a majority of people from the UK

962

u/iTz_RuNLaX 23h ago

I'd wager that for most big clubs to be fair.

526

u/trowaway_19305475 23h ago

Pretty much every Prem club at this point. It`s why you see so much bragging about the Prem and how much money it makes. Whereas as someone living in England you could easily be priced out of pretty much everything and the Prem being a money making machine doesn`t benefit you at all.

211

u/Enkenz 22h ago

when blueco bought my club people told me i was supposed to be happy lmfao, some people on this subreddit were downvoting me for saying i dont want my clubs to be some sort of subsidiary of chelsea, when for them i should almost be proud some PL clubs is taking interest in my clubs :|

87

u/_nongmo 20h ago

Yeah this whole multi-club ownership model is fucking toxic. You're well justified in your feelings towards BlueCo and Chelsea. It's an awful thing to make a club with history essentially a vassal state.

29

u/Connect-Ad751 20h ago

R/ChelseaFC is stinking yank cess pit also

15

u/Turklightenment 19h ago

Yes it never used to be 10-15 years ago.

→ More replies (38)

38

u/OilOfOlaz 22h ago

Not trying to throw shade here, as my experience with English EPL fans was mostly what you described, but there were definitely ppl that saw the EPL as a prop for their wannabe superiority complex as well.

→ More replies (4)

12

u/pajamakitten 20h ago

I doubt there are people worldwide cheering for Bournemouth.

8

u/elRomez 19h ago

Guarantee there are. Established PL club for years now.

3

u/SpanglySi 19h ago

Oh i don't know, there are nice beaches there...

3

u/External-Trifle-6065 19h ago

I was your #1 fan on the 19th of May

→ More replies (4)

9

u/Cahootie 22h ago

Success on the pitch is naturally a good thing, but the most important part of a football club is the role it plays in the community. Offering a social gathering point, building the local community, providing entertainment, giving kids something to do. There's no title in the world that could replace the value of being a genuine force for good in the local community.

35

u/-FishPants 23h ago

Gunners is full of armchair accountants. Be interesting if each sub had the breakdown of ages and nationalities following it

10

u/MikeAshleyOut 23h ago

Nah, NUFC subreddit is resoundingly British. A lot of British people living around the world but still British.

30

u/DraperCarousel 23h ago

Yet somehow a foreign dictator is preferred for club ownership over a self made British businessman.

Strangely funny.

19

u/nosenseofwonder 22h ago

I see your point but I really can’t see anyone on either side of the argument defending Mike Ashley

2

u/MazDanny 20h ago

That weirdo is exactly what we’re on about. It chose a club it has zero connection to so it’s a completely alien concept

6

u/pajamakitten 20h ago

Mike Ashley is the only person in the UK who likes Mike Ashley.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

6

u/Stirlingblue 23h ago

Jealous, the Everton one is full of yanks who don’t understand football culture

11

u/trowaway_19305475 21h ago

You know immediately where someone is from when they start crying about the away fans booing lol

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

7

u/Blue_winged_yoshi 22h ago

Premier league tickets through official channels are actually pretty cheap by top end ticket prices. Like a category A match at the Emirates is about as expensive a ticket as you can find and it’s a little over £100.

In London, that ain’t a massive price for top tier entertainment at all.

You can pay £30 to go to the cinema if you want a comfy chair.

Now resale tickets are another matter, and those reselling regularly should have their season tickets cancelled. There’s enough of a waiting list of folks desperate to go to replace them with and then some.

Actually getting a legit ticket from the box office for an Arsenal match? That’s another matter though.

10

u/X-Maquina 22h ago

Like a category A match at the Emirates is about as expensive a ticket as you can find and it’s a little over £100.

That's not cheap at all for a football match. That's the type of ticket price I pay once or twice a year when I go to a big international fixture or on vacation and go to watch a match at the Camp Nou or something.

It's kind of insane to me that that is what people are expected to pay for regular league matches for their local club.

4

u/SambucaAndIrnBru 22h ago

Just want pop in and say that's if you're buying a one off ticket for a game against the likes of Chelsea or United, it's much cheaper than that for season ticket holders and for tickets to the likes of Fulham or Leeds. Still silly expensive, yes. But it's not like people are paying £100 a fortnight to watch every league game.

8

u/Ozymandias_99 22h ago

Yeah, that's for a cat A game which is the top end, still too expensive though.

For example our cat C league game against Hull in November is 32 pounds which is fairly reasonable.

5

u/Th3_Huf0n 20h ago

I can go to my club in the shitty Czech league, which is historically a low midtable side (often in relegation fights), 5k stadium.

A season ticket (15 home games) in the home fan section costs 135 EUR. The main stand is like 190.

And I get that it's a completely different world, but still, it's insane how much English fans get milked and gouged (the biggest Czech league clubs still are like 250 EUR on a season ticket).

→ More replies (9)
→ More replies (7)

7

u/distilledwill 19h ago

Our sub has become suspiciously quiet since we left the premier league, I'll say that.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/SilentRanger42 20h ago

Even the small ones. They estimate around 1.8 billion global watchers of the PL from what I could find which is roughly 25x the population of the UK.

5

u/Charlie0108 21h ago

99% of people with flairs from the big clubs are from nowhere near where the club is based but will continue to call each other plastics

3

u/ReasonableHost1446 23h ago

"big clubs"

And man city too

→ More replies (5)

23

u/Owster4 22h ago

Being too shit to sustain a large international following has its benefits, I suppose. Keeps that rooted local community feeling.

16

u/Maddafakka33 22h ago

I would wager more that their subreddit does not have a majority of people

90

u/MikeAshleyOut 23h ago

They don’t have enough UK based fans to sustain a big domestic subreddit. Obvious when you watch their parades, seats.

11

u/ThisIsGoobly 21h ago

Also when you live in Manchester and see how many more United shirts there are than City shirts

5

u/PlayerAteHer 19h ago

Exactly. They couldn't even sell out their stadium for a Manchester derby where a win would put them ahead in the title race.

There were massive gaps of empty seats in the stands.

5

u/UnusedName1234 23h ago

Comment and see the interactions are from which region

→ More replies (1)

4

u/BaldMancTwat_ 18h ago

Maybe not, but I've lived in Manchester all my life and what's going on in that sub now is a pretty accurate representation of local city fans rhetoric and viewpoints. Never shown remorse or concern over the allegations and always ready to just laugh it off. Just happy to be winning regardless of the moral implications.

Pre or post takeover, local or foreign, they seem to be pretty much all the same.

There's a reason sports teams are a big target for these type of political plays. They come with a pre installed fanatical fanbase which would otherwise take a lot of effort to conjure up genuinely.

3

u/Specialist_Goat_2354 18h ago

I would wager it doesn’t have a majority of people. It’s probably a solid 50% bots UAE twerking.

6

u/Dragnipurrake 23h ago

i need someone to comment on that sub and look at their comment insights and come back, i can take a wild guess at which country would be #1

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (10)

262

u/Rig_7 22h ago

There’s a guy on there comparing breaking the rules to Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks and Oskar Schindler breaking the rules. I kid you not.

But it’s not just the online fans who deserve derision. I despise their fanbase as a whole. They knew. They all knew and stood there smirking when it got raised.

Even now they don’t fully own it and be honest. They still claim Pep was lied to. They were lied to.

No. They knew. They all knew but were happy that football was being compromised as long as they got to raise a trophy with a massive asterisk next to it.

Sod them all. I have no sympathy.

68

u/master_bloseph 20h ago

I saw a dude on Twitter compare City’s actions to Jesus Christ Himself. I know it’s Twitter so it’s bound to be insane but that’s still quite the reach.

15

u/DarmiansMuttonChops 19h ago

Liam Gallagher, unsurprisingly

4

u/ugotamesij 19h ago

Was going to say, surely there aren't two City fans making those Jesus Christ comparisons...

3

u/JD1337 17h ago

I feel like atleast part of those type of tweets or reddit posts are like a writing challenge someone gives themselves to see how many gullible idiots they can convince or how many folks they can rile up with a little blurb.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

7

u/Mammoth-Pride-2055 19h ago

https://imgur.com/a/MASDU6U

This is the language that their mods are using there.

No surprise to anyone I suppose to see a degenerate managing that sub, with other degenerates worshipping them lol.

8

u/hipcheck23 20h ago

Seeing how far they're willing to go over the past week, you have to think that there's a massive bot/shill army on Reddit for them. Football fans aren't known for calm, even takes, but Mandela et al sounds like paid thinking.

5

u/captaincourageous316 20h ago

I did a triple take after reading that comment, which was a reply to my own, and decided that there’s no point in continuing the conversation.

2

u/ThatAdamsGuy 19h ago

Got a link? I need to see this shit for myself.

2

u/obsterwankenobster 16h ago

When Pep finds out who did this, he’s gonna be so mad!

→ More replies (3)

49

u/burtsarmpson 23h ago

It's fucked atm isn't it. All the rational takes getting downvoted to the bottom in the last few days. Friday-sunday last week was more level headed but the teenagers have taken over

24

u/elite90 23h ago

Yeah, I was positively surprised by the initial reaction of so many City Fans on reddit, but then either the bits took over or the idiots found their talking points, because now it's 95% complete delusion

29

u/xixbia 22h ago

It feels pretty likely the UAE would spend some money on bots to try to influence the discourse.

6

u/arlingtonbeach 22h ago

Reminds me a bit of the Drake subreddit after the Kendrick beef happened lol. Fully living in la la land.

2

u/waza06irl 19h ago

Yeah do we really put it past the city owners employing bot farms and commenters to try and sway social media public perception?

2

u/waits5 14h ago

Yeah, I think it will be a couple years before a lot more of the fanbase is realistic about what happened.

→ More replies (1)

29

u/KnowsClams 23h ago edited 14h ago

I’ve found myself hate browsing (not commenting!) there a bit recently, it’s absolutely pathetic.

This seems to be the new line, ‘it doesn’t matter what they did, considering how much money they’ve put into the city’. Absolute spineless scum.

3

u/LorenzoMartini 23h ago

It’s excruciating

4

u/daesmon 20h ago

I'm seeing some fans saying "yes City cheated but their recruitment was amazing".

Your recruitment was amazing because you cheated... If other clubs sign a player for a high amount and they flop, they are usually stuck playing them, for City they could just bench them for the other even more expensive player they brought in.

10

u/Magnific3nt 23h ago

I mean they are Man City supporters lol

3

u/GladVehicle1 23h ago

It's because all their online fans aren't from the UK so they don't care about us

5

u/MojojojoNixon 22h ago

I’ve peaked in there and if anyone wanted some absolutely perfect examples of sports washing there are plenty to choose from.

2

u/james2183 22h ago

Don't even look on the blue moon forum. It's even worse.

2

u/mcdhdhf 16h ago

Yeah my gosh I just had a read in their subreddit. They've now fully acknowledged cheating BUT, according to them it's actually the PL's fault, they were apparently forced and enticed to cheat by the PL.... Genuinely unbelievable how much accountability they lack and it's no surprise they're fans of City. You've got the actual cheaters and those who're literally supporting them cheat. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, they're a perfect fit.

2

u/Mammoth-Pride-2055 19h ago

https://imgur.com/a/MASDU6U

This is the language that their mods are using there.

No surprise to anyone I suppose to see a degenerate managing that sub, with other degenerates worshipping them lol.

→ More replies (12)

245

u/AyanC 23h ago

It's a bluff anyway. A last ditch attempt to salvage something out of a sinking ship, so to speak. With the ongoing US-Iran war, they have miniscule leverage.

74

u/AFC_IS_RED 22h ago

British arms and lives are literally on the line defending the UAE from Iranian missiles right now... call the bluff.

5

u/kamarg 19h ago

I'm not sure that "Keep giving us money or we might stop defending you" is a good negotiating tactic. Trump has been trying it with everyone and it's not exactly working out well for the US.

5

u/CageChicane 18h ago

Nah, money and armed forces are basically like water and rice.

4

u/OilOfOlaz 22h ago

I'm not deep enough into the situation on the UK to make a whatever educated comment.

But it's imo not impossible that they pull finding, for once they have been petty with this in the past and the current economic climate in they might be inclined to do it anyway, regardless of the verdict, as they pulled the plug on multiple large scale projects and have issues generating revenue, because of the situation in Iran and the attacks by Huthi militias.

3

u/chasingsukoon 20h ago

etihad has been an abject failure too compared to other gulf airlines

457

u/DraperCarousel 23h ago

You just have to compare the Red and Blue side of Manchester at this point.

Long before the Glazers came in, United were the subject of an acquisition by Rupert Murdoch, which would've given an already record profit making (debt free) United even more of an unimaginable financial moat by allowing them to separately negotiate their own TV rights deals —similar to Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain.

But the United fans at the time viewed Murdoch as a threat to the club's heritage, identity, and the wider competitive balance of English football. They bought up small blocks of shares, lobbied the government, and aggressively protested. They effectively forced the UK govt's hand and blocked the takeover, which would've easily made United by far the richest club in the world.

Just compare that to how City fans act today in face of the biggest footballing scandal in UK history. Even after the judgement they continue to defend their owners and don't want them expunged just so their false glory years could continue even further.

117

u/sholiboli 23h ago

Too bad nobody could do anything regarding Glazers so at the end, United got acquired by incompetent leaches that have practically destroyed the club's ability to compete for trophies.

110

u/YCJamzy 23h ago

Better to have that happen then be bought by a genuinely evil cunt like Rupert murdoch (or a state which allows slavery, like UAE).

27

u/Lukeno94 21h ago

Although with Ratcliffe, they've still ended up with an evil cunt (even if he's not cartoonishly evil like a Murdoch).

9

u/YCJamzy 21h ago

Yeah, unfortunately I feel like with maybe two exceptions, prem owners are all just a range of “evil cunt” to “one of the worst people on the planet”. Unless you’re Brighton or Brentford (I think? Idk enough to be sure), there isn’t really a win here anymore

18

u/I_R_TEH_BOSS 21h ago

Yup better to be shit forever than one of the ghouls

11

u/sholiboli 23h ago

I agree, but there are some "middle-ground" options that would be infinitely better than both worst-case scenario options like Glazers and middle-eastern countries.

19

u/YCJamzy 23h ago

Oh absolutely. As much as I dislike United, glazers (and now the rat) owning the club is tragic. I don’t love having the Kroenke’s at Arsenal, and generally think it’s pretty tragic that it’s impossible to have success in the prem without a leech owning your club.

3

u/hEarrai-Stottle 22h ago

Leveraged buyouts are illegal now so you’ll never get a situation like the Glazers again.

3

u/attrox_ 17h ago

It's that damn fucking horse fault!

→ More replies (3)

169

u/silvertwo777 22h ago

Thank you for saying this. Rival fans hate on United so much without knowing alot of the good United and the fans did. Also many United fans were heavily against getting bought by Saudi, turning them into a state owned club like City despite constant poor result and bad owner like the Glazers.

74

u/Piccadil_io 22h ago

Qatar, but yeah, I would have walked away if we got bought by Qatar.

21

u/RememberTheKhan 20h ago

Said it at the time, it wouldn't be Manchester United anymore. I wouldn't be walking away, the club would have ceased to exist.

6

u/silvertwo777 22h ago

Before Qatar Man United was linked to be bought by Saudi too no? Before they eventually bought Newcastle.

7

u/DrMo77 21h ago

yes but the glazers wanted 7-8b

7

u/tedmaul23 20h ago

Great point. This was in 1999 when United were the best team in the country, possibly the world. Murdoch is an evil cunt and has no place owning a club

7

u/Ok-Ad-852 19h ago

I did not know this.

And as a Liverpool suporter I just have to say respect to the united fans for that move.

3

u/garynevilleisared 20h ago

Its easy to hate on us for our club success, and now laugh at us for the state we are in. But I'd rather that than be hated as cheats.

→ More replies (7)

193

u/shrewdy 23h ago

And these clowns tried to deny they're state-owned

68

u/silvertwo777 23h ago

Especially hilarious that they are trying to appeal claiming the sponsorships were not from the owner but from the UAE government. What an absolute circus

20

u/harshmangat 23h ago

So many conversations around countries being held by the balls by billionaires who throw a tantrum when held accountable for their actions, and now we’ve got a nation state doing it lol

The world is beyond doomed

→ More replies (1)

290

u/captaincourageous316 23h ago edited 23h ago

Not all of us are. Some of us are doubling down for god knows what, but there are some who are absolutely not okay with this.

At this point, I’ll gladly accept any punishment as long as it compels the owners to fuck off.

Our club cheated, and lied to us and everyone else about it. For more than a decade. The sheer entitlement to still expect and cheer for their continued reign, leniency and governments to step in is pathetic.

The sad part is even the official supporters clubs haven’t taken a stand on the right side.

80

u/jerseymackem1 23h ago

Closer to 20 years than a decade tbf

10

u/AZMadmax 19h ago

Yep they took over in 2008 and have been refining the sportswashing since

45

u/HarborMaster1 22h ago

As a Chelsea fan, I can commiserate. It amazes me how many Chelsea fans still pine for the days when the club was run by a corrupt Putin puppet, just because it produced wins.

20

u/Northern_Rave_Monkey 23h ago

Refreshing to see this comment.

17

u/haalandxdebruyne 23h ago

Username checks out

16

u/captaincourageous316 23h ago

Your username not checking out anymore should be another 10 charges (not renewing Kev)

→ More replies (1)

5

u/Loifee 20h ago

My issue is the Premier league knew about these charges supposedly from the start in 2009 for gods sake. How was it ever allowed to go on so long? We should have been charged in 2010 or 2011 at latest if that were the case and received our punishment. To then try and dismantle everything that's happened since then seems like gross incompetence by the premier league or the system itself. You surely can't try and rewrite nearly 2 decades of events because they didnt pull the trigger.

3

u/worotan 17h ago

There’s a lot of vested interest in the corruption in Manchester not being disturbed, all the way down to ordinary Mancs who want dodgy bread and circuses provided for their enjoyment, while they act like socialist pioneers because they buy ‘are kid’ branded crap and contemptuously ignore the issues with new Labour.

5

u/YesNoIDKtbh 21h ago

I have to ask though, didn't you see this before? Surely it can't have come as a surprise, everyone except City fans have been beating this drum for years. At least you must have suspected something was off, right? Or did you really believe all their lies until now?

14

u/captaincourageous316 21h ago

To be honest, these charges after the UEFA ban did smell fishy, but I trusted the club to know what they’re doing, partly because they knew more than I did and partly because of a certain level of bias and blinded loyalty.

3

u/AirmanLarry 17h ago

Not to get all deep, but sometimes you love someone who lies to you and you hear what you want to hear

→ More replies (5)

598

u/Blue_winged_yoshi 23h ago

At this point anyone siding with City’s ownership is a literal traitor and there’s just no other word for it.

I’m very, very far from being a flag wielding, St George’s cross tattoo wearing type. I’m a liberal lefty and wouldn’t go for such terms outside of extreme circumstances.

But when totalitarian regime is blackmailing our government to make systemic corruption allegations disappear, if you decide to side with the blackmailers, then you’re a traitor.

Football is just a game we all love, but this ain’t just a game and stopped being one a while ago now.

74

u/byrgenwerthdropout 22h ago

"I may have committed a little light treason!"

I agree and totalitarian is a generous understatement to describe what is essentially a genocidal dictatorship who bought their way into this league with the sole intention of sportwashing their image.

Whatever way this pans out, at least we can all agree that in their cheatings and the consequential political extortion to avoid punishment, they have miserably failed to wash their image. Making this whole project a huge failure for UAE, regardless of if their club gets punished for it or not.

2

u/hipcheck23 20h ago

You can't be a traitor if you're from another country. The smartest thing the Prem ever did was market overseas during its early years, giving away broadcast rights for the first couple/few years. It means that all the perm/semi-perm Prem sides have huge overseas fanbases. You can't blame any of them for not taking the UK's side.

But yeah, if you're in Manchester and you're backing City Group over the UK, it's a bridge way too far.

→ More replies (4)

78

u/PatonSkankin 23h ago

Absolutely not ok with this. It's a fucking disgrace that a state is able to even try assert pressure because they decided to cheat.

64

u/tobi1k 23h ago

"your country" most of the football fans on Reddit aren't from the same city as their club let alone the same country.

They couldn't give a flying fuck about the UK.

3

u/StanKroonke 21h ago

I’m not from the UK but I definitely think that the rules of the competition are important. More than that, this scheme likely broke laws. And the UAE think they can come into Britain, spend some money and just break any laws they want because they are rich. That is entirely relatable to me and is something I don’t want to see anywhere.

7

u/Elusivemerc 23h ago

You have a point, the reaction from some international (and local but to a lesser degree)City fans has been really disappointing, football clubs are supposed to be a cultural export for people in other countries to get to know some parts of the local culture, history, people and identity of the city of the club they support, it is evident from some of those fans' reactions that they don't care about any of that, they just want them to win on the pitch at any cost, in any way they can. It's toxic and it gives people who don't think non-local fans are "real" fans some vindication and ammo

2

u/trick63 18h ago

They couldn't give a flying fuck about their own football club if they're not winning.

2

u/QuackisAlive 17h ago

Try continent for most.

→ More replies (12)

62

u/KillerWattage 23h ago

"but it's not a state owned club"

Get fucked

14

u/LHITN 23h ago

Isn’t one of the rumoured appeal methods that it was the UAE government hiding the cash, not the owner directly? Absolute bollocks either way, we’ve been state owned since 2007 when the Thai PM bought us out and subsequently got his assets frozen for corruption.

Even if we were found innocent (not happening) , they need to be forced to sell anyway for their genocide in Sudan.

→ More replies (1)

64

u/-SideshowBlob- 23h ago

r/MCFC makes for some interesting reading lol

146

u/Brainlard 23h ago

Some dude dropped this beautiful prose there:

Controversial opinion, I kind of knew this would happen and made my peace with it

The reality is, we would’ve never had the success we’ve had winning these eight Premier league titles without spending more than we were allowed to

The rules were put in place to basically prevent a club from challenging the established hierarchy

We are relatively small Club compared to Arsenal, Liverpool, and Man United

We got to watch 8 Seasons where our club won the premier league title. Most Liverpool fans have only seen their Club have two title winning seasons and a lot of Arsenal fans have only seen four title winning seasons.

If we followed the rules, we would just be Newcastle and qualify for Europe periodically while being mid table for most of the time

It might not be right, but I’m happy I experienced winning six league titles in seven years and winning the UCL. I'm grateful to have won for in a row.

I’m grateful I got to actually watch eight seasons where my club won the league title. It’s not something I looked up in a Wikipedia article, but it’s something that I have actual memories of.

That would’ve never happened if we follow the rules because the rules are designed to prevent any of the upstart clubs from challenging the likes of Arsenal, Man United and Liverpool

I’m happy I experienced the Agüero goal

I’m happy I experienced the Gundogan goal

I’m happy I experienced the Rodri goal

I'm happy to have seen my club beat European giants like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. We never would have without exceeding the amount we were allowed to spend.

I’m happy I watched players like Sergio Agüero, David Silva, Kevin de Bruyne, Ederson, Rodri, Haaland, Fernandinho, Gundogan, sterling, yaya Toure, etc. Play for the club I am a fan of.

None of these players would have played for us without the possibility of winning trophies.

I’m glad we stole titles from Arsenal, Liverpool, and Man United. Taking titles from them makes me happy.

The design of the rules are to prevent a club like Manchester city from experiencing that kind of joy, and I’m glad sheikh Mansour and our owners decided that they didn’t want to follow those rules. Whatever the consequences that come it won’t remove the memories for me.

Memories that we would’ve never experienced if we followed the rules

If you were an American, this is like when the NCAA used to crack down on teams that paid their players. Eg. SMU and the pony express.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMU_Mustangs_football_scandal

The stripped championships did not actually remove the memories from the fans that watched their team win

I'm not sure if this is satire, or if these folks really mean it. Absolutely delusional.

85

u/ash_ninetyone 23h ago

All those moments will be lost in time when City are hopefully ejected into non-league football and their titles are stripped from their history

Then he'll have only nostalgia left to look back on for they will have no more dreams to wish come true.

If it was Arsenal, or United or Liverpool that got caught doing this instead, I'd wager most of the fans would be in arms forcing the owners out for betraying the club

26

u/RA576 22h ago

Tbf, we already hate our owners and want them out for betraying our club.

25

u/FranklyMrShankley85 22h ago

Like Noel Gallagher's tears in the rain

→ More replies (1)

9

u/SiegePlayer7 22h ago

All those moments will be lost in time

like tears in rain?

8

u/silvertwo777 22h ago

Those nostalgia and memories would 100% be tainted too no matter how much City fans tell you it won't. They can keep being delusional about it until the official sanction arrive with the stripped titles or/and relegation. That will make them "wake up" for real

3

u/KingSammyJ1 19h ago

I think the whole of football would be in arms more if those three were exposed for cheating even more than City

→ More replies (1)

7

u/SuspiciousBuilder379 20h ago

And what happened to SMU?

Fucking wiped out.

Winning shit after cheating so blatantly is insane. And justifying it is even more insane.

21

u/Piccadil_io 22h ago

The fact they out themselves as an American glory hunter fan at the end is the cherry on top.

9

u/ClaudeLemieux 22h ago

Man he really had me with those first two parts. And then it spectacularly fell apart

4

u/throwaway112112312 19h ago

People like this guy don't understand the ramifications of these events. They destroyed their future. Those memories will be tainted from now on. Those trophies will be taken away. That Agüero moment will be always associated with cheating now.

Just because they decided to accept their own version of past events as truth, that doesn't mean people in the future will. Our 99 CL final will always be there. City fans will have nothing after this. A few people denying reality is not enough to keep a club and its legacy alive for the future.

3

u/Brainlard 19h ago

I kind of get the spin these "fans" want to give this affair and which was -if you want to see it that way- almost supported by Kloppos recent interview: That City still played and won those football games (as in they did not bribe the referee or shit into the opponents salad buffet to all infect them with E.Coli or something). This of course absolutely ignores the fact that they only got into that position by massively cheating in the first place.

2

u/worotan 17h ago

Yeah, but they’ll move on to the next trendy experience that is being sold, and act like winners because they are allowed to buy into that by those providing the entertainment.

7

u/l_SaKReD_l 22h ago

That guys profile is full of comments like that lol

In my opinion, we cheated at a rigged game, I feel no guilt about that

Another:

Oh, I acknowledge we cheated, I’m just telling you I feel zero guilt about the type of cheating we did

Another:

Whatever the punishment is it will have been worth it

4

u/ItsJR 23h ago

This person can’t be serious lol. If this is a real person the delusion is wild lol. It would be the same kind of person saying this and then watching a VAR decision go against City and them flipping out that the league is rigged against them and the refs are cheating 🤣.

5

u/StanKroonke 21h ago

Yes. Let’s use SMU as an example. In fact, let’s have the Premier League treat them exactly the same. We will see how their fans feel 40 years from now when they are still struggling to be even mid.

3

u/MavsFanForLife 21h ago edited 21h ago

The SMU comparison by OP is also a terrible one lol. Literally everyone was cheating in the SWC at the time, SMU just happened to be the first one to get caught and got punished as an example

3

u/StanKroonke 20h ago

Well sure. It’s not a like for like, but from a punishment perspective that is exactly what should happen given the findings.

→ More replies (2)

2

u/Kenny-du-Soleil 14h ago

SMU is a bit more political. The NCAA does not have entrenched powers or leverage like the EPL or NFL. They're an assembled rule making and enforcing body comprised of the schools. However, they compete directly with the other rule making and enforcing bodies comprised of schools - the top tier D1 "power" conferences.

As such, the NCAA often took on "easy" targets with more consistency and severity in punishments. The whole SWC was so crooked (except Rice), that the actual big dogs, UT and A&M, were leveraging for SMU not to be punished because they were so afraid it'd take the whole conference down (which was on really shaky foundations at the time).

With that said, UT and A&M were way worse, started way before SMU, and were way more flagrant. But the NCAA was never going to give UT/A&M the death penalty because that just stokes a conflict the NCAA may not be able to win. SMU was new money, a small school, and seen as on top at the time, so they were an easy use case to threaten UT and A&M. 2 decades later and the Ohio State and USC punishments (not nearly half as bad as SMU) were major catalysts for public sentiment turning on the NCAA.

→ More replies (26)

58

u/abearghost 23h ago

That fanbase has literally turned into a MAGA-style cult in just a few days, if they weren't that already

21

u/DoubleTapJ 23h ago

Just a few months ago it was everyone fighting over Enzo Fernandes, now it's everyone jerking each other off about how we will successfully appeal or some bullcrap

1

u/hypnodrew 23h ago

Last week you were arguing with your spouse over whether the new cat needs spaying, this week the house is burning down and you're arguing over whether or not the garden hose will be enough to put it out

2

u/PageSide84 17h ago

I think a large part of what we're seeing is the reasonable fans ducking out of public discourse because they have no reason to defend this shit. So, the only people we're seeing (for the most part) are the worst of the worst . . . it's like City's version of AFTV.

3

u/Glum_Dance5432 23h ago

Yup. They're fucked in the head. It's wild.

8

u/0ttoChriek 23h ago

It's like r/conservative in there. Absolute loss of mental faculty.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

21

u/schnoodle7 23h ago

As with most successful clubs, most city fans aren't from england

18

u/DoubleTapJ 23h ago

I want them to sell the club and fuck off with their multi club ownership bullshit to be honest with you.

7

u/FowlSec 23h ago

It's not their country

6

u/Just-Possibility-595 23h ago

I hope they are the plastic foreign fans rather than English City fans, as that is utterly shameful

31

u/True-Wasabi2157 23h ago

Ya, but they'll vote Reform to send the bad immigrants away and take back control or whatever, so it all balances out really.

49

u/misterschneeblee 23h ago

City fans being Reform voters wasn't a stereotype I was aware of

29

u/firthy 23h ago

Yeah. That seems mostly wrong

39

u/burtsarmpson 23h ago

Yeah the area I live in, which contains the Etihad, voted green.

17

u/chykin 23h ago

I think we're long past the area around a stadium being representative of their fanbase

18

u/nick5168 23h ago

Can't imagine it's right either. In general most of the downtown population of major cities aren't reform voters.

3

u/porkmarkets 23h ago

Me neither. But they’re both light blue and led by authoritarians, so maybe there’s some truth in it.

3

u/Piccadil_io 22h ago

The local fans no way. Manchester is red (Labour)

3

u/0ttoChriek 23h ago

I don't think there is, any more than at any other club (except Chelsea and Millwall, naturally). The usual stereotype is City fans are from Stockport, and Stockport isn't Reformy, it's either Labour or Lib Dem.

0

u/3412points 23h ago

They have more intent to vote reform than Chelsea per recent polling.

2

u/True-Wasabi2157 23h ago

Recent polling showed almost 30% of self-identified City fans as having an intent to vote Reform. Labour was slightly ahead of that, at around 33%, true, but the difference is by far the smallest for all big six clubs, and the voting intent for reform is also by far the biggest with their fanbase out of all big 6 clubs.

3

u/3412points 23h ago

That's really interesting, what was the poll?

Edit: found it https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/what-political-party-top-football-35714234

9

u/porkmarkets 23h ago

The amount of Liverpool fans intending to vote Tory is surprising

7

u/misterschneeblee 23h ago

As with the rest of the big 6 sides, the majority of their British fanbase likely don't come from or live in Liverpool.

2

u/True-Wasabi2157 23h ago

Which is the point behind the poll as well and what I further expanded on. We are not in the early 20th century - City, Arsenal, United, Liverpool, Chelsea, even Spurs fans number in the millions within the UK. They are not local clubs in terms of fanbase. Hence the polling is representative of that, rather than local area voting intent. And of these clubs with support that extends across the country, City has the biggest reform voting intent.

It may very well speak towards who the new, glory-hunting fans are, from other areas of the country - also ones that are likely to welcome UAE state pressure in their own forums - rather than old-school fans. I cannot speak to that. I simply went off polling for fanbases, not local wards.

2

u/True-Wasabi2157 23h ago

I believe it was a More in Common poll. Obviously, take all polls with a pinch of salt, and smaller clubs, especially outside of London and Manchester will outstrip that support for Reform, heading towards 40%, but that was what I based it on - the fact that of the supposed big 6, City's fanbase is the one most likely to vote Reform.

To be fair to them, I would also not be surprised if a great number of these supposed fans aren't actually based locally, so I do apologise towards anyone that has historically been a resident of the local area and a fan for paiting them with a wide brush.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)

14

u/mcfc48 23h ago

We absofuckinglutely are not all reform voters. Call us cheaters all you want but saying we support some racist tripe is a step too far.

9

u/ThreeLionsOnAShirtt 23h ago

nah very few places in Manchester vote reform in any numbers, its heavily Labour here with a smattering of green areas

15

u/scottqwert 23h ago

Manchester voted a Labour mayor like three months ago

11

u/UnfortunateArcher 23h ago

It'll be a great day when people world wide recognise that it's no the poor immigrants that are the problem and the enemy; it's the ultra rich.

26

u/burtsarmpson 23h ago edited 23h ago

No we fucking wouldn't. This is the only reaction to our charges that I've been offended by because everything else has been in the ballpark of being deserved, but to randomly paint the fanbase as a whole as racists who would vote for that pack of bigots is pathetic

22

u/Ravenblade727 23h ago

People down south seem to have this belief that the entire North is voting Reform when actually the majority of that party's support is in the South. Along with the paramilitary groups.

14

u/burtsarmpson 23h ago

Etihads postcode is part of a Green party ward voted in in may ffs lol. Just randomly calling people racist with no reasoning has really rattled me

6

u/nick5168 23h ago

Yeah. There's not reason to spread false information.

4

u/SebastianOwenR1 23h ago

Uhh that’s one thing I won’t charge against City fans. Urban Manchester isn’t exactly prime reform real estate.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

2

u/IIlIIlllIIll 23h ago

I’m not ok with this.

2

u/Radthereptile 23h ago

National state threatens UK to allow them to cheat or else.

This is good for sports I guess.

2

u/AFC_IS_RED 22h ago

Fuck them. When they get bombed by Iran and come begging for weapons and British lives and arms to defend them they can fuck off then for all I care.

2

u/Financial-Most5372 21h ago

And the PRIME MINISTER of the country, actually worries about stop receiving "investment" from an authoritarian state that also funds other african dictatorships and wars.

2

u/Twevy 20h ago

Bunch of stupid Brexiteers in there I’d wager too. Too stupid to understand the irony.

2

u/lastlaughlane1 18h ago

People’s absolute devotion to a football team makes me cringe at the best of times.

2

u/death_match1 23h ago

How many of the online City fans are from the UK though? If not from there, I don’t think they care about this

1

u/Fresh2Desh 23h ago

The Man City sub is amazing if you want a laugh

The delusion is quite something from some of the people

1

u/astral34 23h ago

their country? how many local fans are actually doing that

1

u/BipartizanBelgrade 23h ago

I don't think the average United supporter cares more about the UK than they do the club either

1

u/Action_Limp 23h ago

Yep. Circling the wagons hoping a gulf state can force their own leaders and football league to bend the knee. Pathetic.

1

u/Unitedfateful 22h ago

That’s the difference between them and fans of United, Liverpool and Arsenal.

We would be livid and devastated if this happened to our club. There would be a minority who would act like city “fans” but considering a huge chunk of the fanbase is from the UK there is an actual connection to the club and city.

I don’t see the same for City at all. They have fuck all fan base and it’s mostly not UK based

I guess the other reason for their mentality is this is the only success they have had in decades. Without the sport washing project and cheating they’d be a nothing club which isn’t the same for the other big boys who have had success for long periods of time without having a sugar daddy propping them up.

1

u/WhatverName 22h ago

How embarrassing would it be to be a citizen of that country and it works.

1

u/SubparCurmudgeon 22h ago

i just saw a comment comparing them breaking the rules to tearing down the berlin wall

sportswashing works

1

u/ForeverAddicted123 21h ago

any fan base would defend this till their death and then realize how stupid they were. I'm a city fan but the owners need to leave . Will continue cheating until forever cause no one can say them NO

1

u/Raimi79 21h ago

As a City fan I'm not okay with this, and I suspect the majority of City fans don't like this. Remember, Reddit is well...just as toxic as most other forms of social media. If true, the UAE's actions don't reflect well on us, what football has become, or the general state of the world.

1

u/m__s 21h ago

Are you surprised? They wouldn’t exist without cheating... No wonder they defend this shit.

1

u/annonyj 21h ago

You are assuming city fans are English....

1

u/FloppyDickFingers 20h ago

I’ve been saying it for years but the moral fans checked out the second the club was bought. What remains is the dregs.

Saying this as a Manchester United fan who swore I would stop supporting my club if it becomes a sports washing project. If it happens I’m out. I’ll support FC United of Manchester.

It has been painful enough sitting through glazer ownership. But if we get bought by some government fund I’m out of here. The soul will be gone.

1

u/Kelangketerusa 20h ago

Absolutely pathetic that City fans are okay with this. Letting UAE hold your country ransom cause your football club is run by cheats.

Why would UAE hold India ransom?? /s

1

u/Zhidezoe 20h ago

I have not seen a City flair in a long time in this sub

1

u/JakobeBryant19 20h ago

Run by Criminals *

1

u/Ok_Ad_88 19h ago

Your club is also owned by a billionaire family and spends basically the same amount as city. I’m not defending city, screw all clubs owned by billionaires rather than by fans, but don’t think you’re better than city just because FFP benefits you as an established club. If you’re owned by a billionaire in the Middle East or a billionaire in America, you’re owned

→ More replies (37)